Your institution may already have specific open textbook projects identified for publication via the CAUL OER Collective.
If you haven’t yet identified projects, it’s recommended that you put in place a transparent local application or expression of interest process to decide on which open textbook projects to undertake as part of your OER Collective participation.
You may wish to start by asking prospective authors to complete a simple OER proposal.
The first step in setting up this kind of process is to identify your institutional priorities for open textbook publishing. Institutions will have different priorities aligned to their goals in pursuing open publishing. Internationally, many institutions and collaborative open textbook publishing initiatives prioritise first year, high enrolment courses because these provide good return on investment. Other priority activities might include developing textbooks
Developing open textbooks takes time and resources, so it’s important that your institution considers the types of open textbook projects it wants to prioritise. Different institutions will have different priorities, but articulating what your institutional priorities are will assist you with selecting projects.
A transparent application or expression of interest process will help you to identify which projects to pursue.
At a minimum, you will need to gather the following information about prospective open textbook projects.
Using criteria can help you to assess expressions of interest in an open and transparent manner. Consider developing a scorecard or rubric with points allocated for particular criteria.
The criteria you choose and the score you associate with each criteria will vary from institution to institution and should align with your institutional priorities. Criteria you might like to consider including are outlined below.
Each criteria should have a number of points allocated to it. Some criteria might be more heavily weighted, depending on institutional priorities and importance of the criteria. An example breakdown is provided below.
Criteria | Points |
---|---|
A compelling rationale is provided for the textbook | 5 points |
Author/s has/have the expertise required to write the textbook | 5 points |
The timeline for the project is realistic | 5 points |
Audience:
|
2 points each |
To support the longevity of open textbook initiatives at your institution, provide feedback to applicants who are unsuccessful and maintain links with them to support possible future projects.