oer e books publishing @oer13
DESCRIPTION
Making OER available on multiple platforms, including iBooks and eBooks. A presentation from OER13.TRANSCRIPT
Making OER available on multiple platforms (U-Now, iBooks, eBooks)
Andy BegganHead of Learning Technology
Steve StapletonJoshua BakerOpen Nottingham
27th March 2013
OER13
Outline
• Background
• Creating eBooks
• Impact & conclusions
• Next Steps
OER13
Sustainability OpenCourseWare
Created 10 x 10 credit modules on sustainability from different subject perspectives
5 new modules converted to eBooks
Modules released as Open Educational Resources (OER) on the institutions OER site ‘U-Now’
Taught modules available under the Nottingham Advantage Award scheme
The project team included academic staff and learning technologists. Most were working with OER for the first time.
Collaborative development
Reuse and reuse-ability
Existing third party OER was re-used wherever possible! Over 200 third party open resources were included
across the 5 modules!
‘Well it’s taken a lot of work to do, but like to
use it, it was just, I don’t know, it just
flowed.’
Student feedback on OERs
“I can’t ever imagine buying a textbook digitally for the benefit of a few extra quizzes or a video or two… [but another] found them really useful but not interactive enough, so it depends on the discipline”
Roberta Wiafe, Sussex University
19th March 2013
Student views on eBooks
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/student-life/9933453/Academic-e-books-will-they-ever-take-off.html
Question…
Where open resources are ‘born’ digital, are
eBooks seen as attractive alternatives
to students and do they broaden access?
Created five eBooks from the OER materials and released them as free downloads.
We used CC licenced images to ensure strong presentation of materials. This shows how OER can drive up quality.
We are now working on ePub versions to ensure availability across multiple platforms and multiple devices
eBooks
OER resource converted to .Doc file
.Doc edited to suit desired formatting
Graphs redesigned where needed for B&W Kindle display. Tested on Kindle through conversion to .mobi format (KDP)
Reduced amount of imagery to suit Kindle display….in direct contrast to iBooks
.Doc uploaded to Smashwords and made available through ‘meatgrinder’ into multiple formats:- ePub
- Mobi
- HTML
- RTF
ePub creation process
Platform Published Comments
Apple iBook store
Yes Proprietary format, but high quality results are easily achievable
Amazon Kindle (KDP)
No Not able to publish for free – will price match with other providers
Smashwords Yes Easy to use and facilitates access to other eBook stores.
CC licencing not possible in metadata but can be added to description
Barns & Noble
Yes Publishing possible through Smashwords distribution.Requires credit information if publishing through B&N directly.
Kobo No Publishing possible through Smashwords distributionRequires ISBN
Bibliostatic No Response from provider that they cannot add much to the distribution beyond what we already have with Smashwords
Project Gutenberg
Yes & No No longer used due to difficulty in using site and reliability concerns
eBook Distribution
Impact: Accessed
1.5%
67.0%
6.0%
25.5%OER downloadOER viewedePubiBook
• Conversion to ePub format does widen access… no surprizes there!
• 33% increase in access over a 5 month period• OER eBook publication is relatively easy…
– even if publishers aren’t facilitating this process yet!• Online remains preferred access route• iBooks currently most popular downloaded format• Authors see eBooks has a higher quality output• Comparative focus groups with students a potential
next step
Conclusions
