RSS 1.0Teaching and Learning Materials
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“Yeah, I Wrote That!”: Incorporating Critical Information Literacy to Build Community Inside and Outside of WikipediaIn this chapter, we examine the relationship between open pedagogical practices and critical information literacy and how they intersect when Wikipedia is introduced in the classroom. Specifically, we discuss the collaboration between a librarian and a course instructor on iterations of Wikipedia assignments across three years and two classes. We unpack the importance of existing infrastructures, such as edit-a-thons and the WikiEdu dashboard, to support bringing Wikipedia assignments into the classroom. We also explore how we worked to connect course content to the renewable assignments and brought larger discussions of representation and community on Wikipedia into the classroom and assignments. Finally, we outline the lessons we learned through this collaboration. In sum, scaffolded projects allowed students to practice their contributions to Wikipedia in a supportive space and fostered critical engagement with course content. In their end-of-semester reflections, students stated that contributing to Wikipedia felt more meaningful and elicited feelings of pride that traditional, disposable assessments did not. They saw themselves as knowledge creators and scholarship creation as part of an ongoing conversation rather than an “end product.” By engaging in peer-review assignments, participating in edit-a-thons, and discussing the assignments with librarians who were not their professors, students also saw their work as part of a broader academic conversation. Through Wikipedia assignments, students can appreciate their own information privilege in terms of access to costly resources and become proactive in sharing that knowledge and their own growing expertise with a wider public.
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Bridges: United States Academia for First-Generation and International College StudentsBridges introduces students to a wide range of concepts, institutions, histories, and artifacts of United States college and university life. After discussing these items in easy-to-scan, concise, nuance-free prose, this textbook then offers useful lists, templates for writing and speaking in different discourses and situations, thought-provoking questions and activities for self-study and for classroom work, and pertinent hyperlinks for further information. Bridges is designed to help first-generation, first-year, English language learners, and/or culturally unfamiliarized students more fully and successfully explore their educational environments. By using this book, students will be better prepared for the academic and social challenges of successfully undertaking higher education in English.
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¡Que viva la música! Repaso de conversación en español¡Qué viva la música! Repaso de conversación en español, or Long Live Music! Spanish Conversational Review is an open textbook intended for conversational review, typically a fourth-semester Spanish class. The textbook is organized around nine different songs that provide students opportunities to practice, aurally and orally, as well as in writing, the main communicative goals and key grammatical structures learned in previous classes. It can also be used in similar high school classes.
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Structural AnalysisStructural Analysis by Felix Udeyo is intended to teach students the methods and techniques for the analysis of structures. A sound knowledge of structures is a prerequisite for their proper design and ensures the structural integrity of civil engineering infrastructural systems. This textbook is comprised of three parts. The first part consists of an overview of structural analysis and introduces several structural loadings that may be considered during the analysis and subsequent design of structures. The second part covers classic methods of the analysis of determinate structures. The final section discusses classic methods for the analysis of indeterminate structures as well as methods for the analysis and construction of influence lines for indeterminate structures.
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Open versus Traditional Textbooks: A Comparison of Student Engagement and PerformanceThis study compared student engagement and performance in both open educational resources (OER) (n[open textbook users fall 2018] = 72) and traditional textbook (n[traditional textbook users fall 2017] = 66) classes. Data were drawn from the Learning Management System (LMS). Results show (1) final grades in the OER class were on a par with the traditional textbook class, and (2) OER equalize student engagement and performance by narrowing the dispersions of page views, on-time assignment submissions (OTAS), attendance, and final grades. (3) OER increased attendance and lessened excessive dependence on LMS course materials recorded in the traditional class. (4) The indirect effect of attendance on final grades was stronger than the direct effect of OTAS in the OER class. Attendance provided the opportunity for the instructor and students to be on the “same page,” which helps students better assimilate course content and comprehend lectures. (5) The availability of textbooks appears to be a factor influencing student course success. However, it remains unknown how much of the variance was explained by OER. It is apparent that OER are more important than ever in elevating overall student academic success.
