Project Description

Outline

In groups of two, you will create one chapter of an open textbook for 100-level non-science majors.

You will have the choice of whether or not your final product is shared openly. This choice will not affect your grade.

Your chapter will introduce  a topic we have covered this term in the context of a real-life example. You should check out what an example of such a chapter would look like.

Your work should be in your own words and reflect the way you personally understand the material being covered.

Details

You will need to include at least one ancillary feature, such as a link to a relevant video, simulation. These must be linked, or preferably embedded in the chapter.

You must include at least one image that helps a reader to visualize the content you are writing about.

You must use at least one diagram to help explain your topic. The diagram must include a caption and alternative text.

You will need to have at least one worked out Example problem.

You will need to have at least one Reinforcement exercise or question for students to reading the book to answer for themselves. You will need to provide the answer/solution to this problem to your instructor, but it will not appear in your chapter.

Any problems, images,  diagrams you use must be either your own or found  in the public domain or open source, meaning they can be used without permission under a creative commons copyright licence. Wikimedia commons is good place to start. Often information on government websites sites under public domain. If you are unsure about a copyright, check with your instructor or a librarian.

References

All sources of information including must be cited using footnotes, including ideas, text, images, diagrams, example problems, solutions, etc. Follow these guidelines to avoid plagarism.

Use the open attribution builder to maintain consistency in your citations.

Accessibility

Your chapter should follow a standard heading structure. All images and diagrams should contain alternative text. If colors are important to understanding an image or diagram, those colors should be black, blue, pink.

Platform

We will use the Pressbooks platform to create our chapters. The Pressbooks editor looks like a typical word processor such as Microsoft Word or google docs and makes embedding videos, images, and citations really easy with a couple of mouse clicks.

Additionally, pressbooks makes adding alternative text and captions to images easy.

Equations are more difficult to render in Pressbooks. If you are interested in learning Latex typesetting code I’ll help with that. Otherwise use an online program which creates an image of your equation that you can embed in Pressbooks. The equations can be converted later (by me).

You should get an invite to our book soon. In the meantime you can work in another word processor and easily import to Pressbooks later.

Timeline

Outline (Week 6)

Your group will submit a basic outline/plan of your chapter before the end of week 6 of the term.

Revision (Week 8)

Your group will go through at least one revision process which involves meeting with your instructor to discuss a complete rough draft of your chapter. Working with your instructor, you will apply the rubric found below to your draft in order to identify strengths and weaknesses in your draft and prioritize improvement efforts. This draft will not be graded, but will fulfill the revision requirement in the rubric. The revision meeting must happen before the end of week 8.

Peer Feedback  (Week 9)

Your group will work with at least one other group to exchange peer feedback. You will take notes on the feedback you receive and add brief comments about what changes you make in response to that feedback. These will be submitted to your instructor to fulfill the Presented to Peers requirement in the rubric.  This must happen before the end of week 9.

Final Submission  (Week 11)

Your group will submit a final completed chapter in electronic format before the start of week 11.

Project Grading

Your final will be graded according to the following rubric, which the class developed together.