Office Hours: Beta Testing Open Textbooks
Channel: Rebus Community
Date: 2017-10-30

Guest speakers for this episode of Rebus/OTN Office Hours included Michael Laughy, Assistant Professor of Classics, Washington & Lee University; Dianna Fisher, Director of Open Oregon State; Linda Bruslind, Senior Instructor and Lead Advisor in Microbiology at Oregon State University; and Elizabeth Mays, Rebus and Arizona State University. They discussed the competitive advantages and logistics of beta testing open textbooks with students and faculty in order to improve them quickly and repeatedly based on feedback.

The discussion covered: What are the logistics of beta-testing an open textbook? Is the process different depending on whether the testing happens in the author’s or a colleague’s classroom? When and how can publishers of OER market a new work to benefit from beta testers? What are the best mechanisms for collecting and integrating feedback? How do you decide which suggestions should be implemented, and when?