Text
Many OER are text-based resources. These can be simple word docs of questions based on an open text, an open document such as a subject guide or a complete open textbook with multiple authors. The opportunities are endless. There are also a variety of formats to choose from when developing your resource. You may choose to use Word, Google Docs, Pressbooks or an open source document creator. Regardless of the format you choose, it is important to consider from the start the purpose of the resource and its accessibility.
Which software or platform?
When developing a text based OER, platform choice can be dependent on the resource you are developing:
| Purpose | Platform/Software |
|---|---|
|
Shorter OER Examples: Question bank, information sheets |
Word, Google Docs, OpenDocument Note: PDF is not considered a useful format for OER as editing and reusing capabilities are reduced |
|
Long OER Examples: Textbooks, Handbooks |
Pressbooks (Preferred as we have a subscription), GIThub, Bookdown |
For information on developing long form text based resources on the Pressbooks platform, look at the Pressbooks section of this guide.
Adapt or author?
Before you commit to writing a new open text, it’s worth evaluating some existing open texts to see if you could adapt them to suit your needs. Explore the Pressbooks directory or contact the library for assistance in locating OER texts that may be suitable for adaptation. Further information on this topic can be located on the Library Open Educational Resources (OER) guide on the Adapting vs. Adopting page.
Where to start?
If you are thinking of developing an open textbook a good place to start is the CAUL Open Educational Resources Collective Publishing Workflow. This comprehensive guide steps you through the process of developing a textbook from conception to design to authoring to publishing including:
- Planning and managing open textbook publishing projects
- Choosing a Creative Commons licence for your open textbook
- Copyright for open textbooks
- Using Pressbooks to author and publish open textbooks
- Making open textbooks diverse, inclusive and accessible
- Quality control measures for open textbooks
- Making open textbooks discoverable
- Measuring the impact of open textbooks.
Image and adapted text from CAUL Open Educational Resources Collective Publishing Workflow CC BY 4.0
Style guide for Deakin developed text OER
Having a consistent style in your OER improves the quality and the user experience. To ensure consistent structure and quality in Deakin developed OER, the following guidelines apply to Deakin developed text based OER.
General text style
Text based OER (including Pressbooks) should be styled as best suits the intended use of resource and the pedagogical theory. Basic style of chapters could include:
- The page begins with a paragraph or two of introductory text
- If learning objectives are relevant, these should follow the introductory text in a Learning Objectives box
- Use active voice
- Use 'and' not '&'
- Capitalisation signifies specific or proper names and titles, as opposed to general or common terms. In general, use capitals for titles of books and journals, days of the week, months of the year, names of places, nationalities, proprietary names, trademarks and forms of address
- Use minimal capitalisation in headings and subheadings, lower case after a colon
- Use they/them/their as the gender-neutral singular pronoun
- Use contractions where appropriate eg. It’s, can’t
- Bullet lists should have an introductory statement that ends in a colon (:). No commas should be used at the end of each bullet point with a full stop at the end of the last point to finish the sentence.
- Within text, express numbers one to nine in words, numbers from 10 onward as figures.
Spelling and abbreviation list
When developing your OER, following a style guide maintains consistency in your resource. For Deakin developed resources:
- Refer to A–Z guide of spelling, grammar, punctuation and University-specific terminology | Deakin University (assetbank-server.com) for advice on preferred words or phrases. Additional University style guidance is available on the Deakin asset bank Style guide hub.
- The Style Manual: the standard for Australian Government Writing and Editing is a useful resource for additional information
- For spelling, please refer to the Macquarie Dictionary.
Citation style
The preferred citation style for Deakin Pressbooks is APA. Details on using this style are included in the Deakin guide to referencing.
Inclusive language
You should aim to make your OER as diverse as possible by including a wide range of perspectives in your writing and choice of content. This will ensure more readers identify with and relate to the content, which in turn makes your resource more inclusive.
Some of the benefits of producing diverse and inclusive OER are that they can:
- engage more students because they recognise themselves or their life experiences in the content
- appeal to instructors in a variety of educational settings
- create a more interesting reading and learning experience.
For extensive guidance on inclusive language that is Gender, disability, and culturally inclusive and respectful for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, please explore the Inclusive Language section of Enhancing inclusion, diversity, equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in open educational resources (OER).
Adapted from Write with Inclusion and Diversity in Mind by Council of Australians University Librarians CC BY 4.0
Usability
Usability is a way to measure how easily and well a user can navigate a specific resource to complete a task. You have probably heard of usability testing on websites or may have participated in a usability test yourself. According to Nielsen, a leader in usability studies,
“Usability” is defined by five quality components:
- Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
- Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
- Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
- Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
- Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?
There are many resources available to help you understand the importance of usability, such as the "What is Usability" website that explains how to design for optimum usability (Interaction Design Foundation, n.d.). OER usability covers everything from content to user interface to navigation. A key factor is knowing your audience, considering who the resource is meant for.
Doing a usability review or audit, if not an actual usability study or audit, can help you identify the pain points in the OER. You may not have control over some things, such as the hosting platform not being completely accessible or you cannot integrate certain functionality. In other cases, you may be able to catch problems early and correct them before the development process goes any further. Keep in mind that a usability review is not a definitive process but one tool that you can use to make the OER as user-friendly as possible. For more guidance on doing a usability review, see A Quick Guide to Conducting a Usability Review (Interaction Design Foundation 2016).
Adapted from 16 Universal Design, Accessibility, and Usability for OER by Stefanie Buck CC BY NC 4.0
The style sheet
As you are writing and editing, you will make a number of style decisions, such as:
- Style manual(s) to base your work on, and any variations
- Specialist dictionaries or vocabulary
- Spelling variations
- Referencing style, and any variations
- Inclusive language conventions
- Formatting choices (font, colours).
Download the following Style sheet to record your choices for your resources. Having these decisions documented ensures consistency through the resource.
Adapted from "The Style Sheet" RMIT Open Press Style Guide by RMIT University CC BY NC 4.0
Accessibility tips for text based resources
When using images in your unit site or OER consider the following checklist for accessibility best practices before using or creating images.
Structure your resource using the heading styles
Organising content so it has a logical flow just makes sense. Using chapters, headings, and sub-headings to organise a resource allows students to clearly see how the main concepts are related. In addition, headings are one of the main ways that students using a screen reader navigate through a chapter.
Textboxes with titles
Chunking your text using call out boxes can identify particular sections of the text. Boxes with different purposes such as Learning Objectives or Key Points may be structured differently but keep these consistent throughout the text.
Links
Links can be helpful in a text. For usability and accessibility:
- the link text must describe the content of the link when taken out of context for the surrounding paragraph
- If you want to link to something that isn’t a web page—such as a Word document, Excel file, or PDF—you should include this information in the link text.[1] This is important because it informs the user what will happen when they click on the link, thus preventing confusion.
- Links preferably should not open in a new window or tab - this can be confusing for users.
Tables
Keep data tables as simple in structure as possible. The more complex the design of a data table, the less accessible it will be for some students using screen-reading technology to access their textbook materials. Screen readers move left-to-right, top-to-bottom, one cell at a time, and because a screen reader does not repeat a cell, merging or splitting cells can affect the reading order of a table. Useful features of simple tables include:
- Includes a caption
- Has one row in which cells are tagged as column headers , and one column (beginning on the second row) in which the cells are tagged as row headers
- Avoids the use of merged or split cells wherever possible
- Has adequate cell padding to provide space buffering around the data in each cell for visual learners.
Formulas
When including equations, the file format can provide alternatives to including equations or formulas:
- In word docs, use the equation editor to write your equations
- If you are using Pressbooks, Latex equations can be added using MathJax.
- Another option is to create an image of the equation and then insert the image into a document with an alt tag.
Adapted from Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition by BCcampus CC BY 4.0 International
References
- "WCAG 2.0 and Link Color," WebAIM, accessed June 7, 2018, http://webaim.org/blog/wcag-2-0-and-link-colors/. ↵
https://deakin.assetbank-server.com/assetbank-deakin/action/viewContent?index=31&showTitle=true