Cascadia Open Education Summit

1.Share in-progress experiences and observations of a project to revise an existing open access text for better program and course fit
2.Share innovations associated with such a project
3.Brainstorm how and why similar projects might be undertaken

In 2018, we received a grant from Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and began a project to collaboratively modify an existing BCCampus Open Access textbook to improve its fit for sociology courses at KPU. Although already widely assigned in the department, the open text in question had drawbacks that present barriers to wider adoption by faculty. We proposed to abridge the text to 1) enhance its accessibility through its ease of use for both instructors and students 2) reflect the insight of a student advisory council and 3) eliminate and/or amalgamate several chapters in order to create a text that can easily be adapted to the three-month schedule typical of 1st year sociology courses. In this roundtable, we reflect on design, innovations, challenges, and dilemmas of this project. This roundtable will expose attendees to an ongoing project to revise an existing text, give participants ideas for how they might go about engaging in a similar project, and offer participants the chance to discuss their concerns and goals for engaging in similar project. Recognizing that the revision of open access resources is a new practice in academia, an interactive component will ask participants to brainstorm possible challenges and dilemmas they may face if undertaking a similar project in their field and faculty. Participants will then to team with other participants to think of existing institutional or other resources that can meet demands of those challenges or of what may need to be innovated to overcome them.