Reflection on writing an OER text

 In 2017, I released a OER textbook with a few other faculty members from my institution.  I had received an internal innovations grant to work on three connected project. One component was a textbook to support redesigned course content (another component).  

The book was initially promoted to publishers.  This was through encouragement of the Dean and supported the promotion and tenure process. This was because a published text would fair better for promotion and tenure than an OER text. The book concept was accepted by a well known publisher with a few modifications. The modifications including adding to the text to make it more comprehensive.  

This deviated from the small handbook text I had planned. I also expected this information would continue to involve and need frequent updates.  With the publisher, it would be a large text for which a larger price could be charged and frequent revisions would require purchasing new editions frequently. Disclaimer: I worked 3 jobs during graduate school; I am not a fan of expensive text books.  

At the same time, the university was starting a new initiative for OER texts. I connected with the librarian focusing on this effort. She encouraged me to consider OER. I was excited about the idea but was discouraged by others.  I was told by leadership and others that an OER would not be worth the effort. It would not be viewed positively as scholarly work for promotion and community acceptance. However, I had the grant money to support my writing time and to pay others to edit and write. 

So I chose the OER option. I completed the text with other faculty member from my college.  Once we finished the drafts of the chapters, we set up our own peer review, managed by the librarian who also developed the text into the online format. We revised in response to the peer review and three of us reviewed the whole text for consistency. We also paid students to review, revise and edit the text. 

After publishing in 2017, we revised the text for a second edition in 2020.  At this time we updated the creative commons licensing. 

When deciding how to license the project I knew we wanted attribute for ourselves. I didn't want it to be used for commercial use so that student could have free access. The final option was difficult and I am still reconsidering while reading this weeks content. I wanted other instructors or students to be able to use the content. However, I wasn't sure about others redistributing modified versions. I selected no derivatives instead of share alike because of the connection to the university who funded the project.  

I appreciate the opportunity to create this text. I still use it in my teaching. I believe I was able to demonstrate through the publisher acceptance that OER is a choice not a default. It shouldn't be viewed as representing academic scholarly work of little value. I hope others who wish to pick OER over traditional publishing have the ability to make the same choice.