19. Creating OER: Tools for Authoring and Publishing

There are dozens of tools available for authoring, publishing, and sharing your OER. Consider the following questions when selecting a tool:

1. What technology platforms am I already comfortable using? Do I want to learn to use a new tool as I author my OER?
2. What technology platforms are my audience most comfortable using? Will authoring or publishing in a particular platform require them to learn a new tool?
3. If someone wants to reuse or adapt my content, will it be simple for them to do that with the format(s) I’ve made available?
4. Do I have budget to pay for access to a tool or for advanced features in an otherwise free tool?

Authors usually select an authoring tool based on experience and comfort. For example, many writers use Microsoft Word because they know it well and their institution provides them with it.

An authoring tool may also be a publishing tool. Certainly many tools work to meet both needs. In addition, there are new tools currently in development that aim to robustly support authoring and publishing functions in one. For now, there are often tradeoffs between the two, and many authors write using one tool then publish using another.

Google Docs and MS Word

Arguably the two most popular authoring tools for writing textbooks are Google Docs and MS Word.

Google Docs is free and online. It allows for multiple authors and editing, which can work well for groups writing together. Collaborators can @ each other with comments, make suggestions and track revisions. You can also upload existing files to Google Docs, and export to both PDF and EPUB.

Microsoft Word is a tool available for purchase and installation on a personal computer. Most people have access to it through their institution. Users have to deliver the file to others in order for them to access it, usually via email or online file sharing. It is possible to track changes and ask others to leave comments and suggestions. You can save a Word file as a PDF.

If you are a Word user who seeks the collaborative aspects of Google Docs, consider Office 2016 or using OneDrive, using these options, users can “Save to Cloud” and then invite collaborators to work together in real time.

Pressbooks

In addition, especially for authors familiar with WordPress, Pressbooks is another popular authoring tool. “Pressbooks is simple book production software. Write your own book on Pressbooks, or import your manuscript, choose a book design theme, and export into all the file formats you need to publish your books:

• MOBI format (for Kindle ebooks)
• EPUB format (for all other ebookstores)
• designed PDF (for print-on-demand)
• more exotic XML formats

Pressbooks is used by authors and publishers around the world.” (From https://pressbooks.com/about/)

Canvas and Commons

If your institution uses the Learning Management Software titled Canvas, you can openly share that content via the Canvas Commons. You may have already authored course content that you’d like to share openly in Canvas. Canvas makes it easy to license and share all of your course, or just particular elements of it, like pages, modules, or quizzes through Canvas Commons. In Canvas Commons, you can elect to share your content only with other instructors at UT Austin or with anyone publicly. You can also select the Creative Commons license that aligns with how you’d like others to be able to reuse your content. Read more about how to share your content to Canvas Commons.

Open Author

OER Commons is one of the largest repositories for OER, and they make an authoring tool available for free use. Open Author allows educators to write directly in a simple interface, they can import their own documents. One of its best features is the Accessibility Checker that reviews content and alerts users to opportunities to make their material more accessible. See an example of content authored in Open Author.

LaTeX

Depending on the length of the text, I would encourage authors to write in whatever word processing software they prefer but then to create the textbook itself using LaTeX, which is a free and open software package used for typesetting documents. I taught myself how to use the software for this project and it not only will make your textbook look more professional, but you can also use it to easily create a glossary, a list of figures, and a table of contents. — Caitie Finlayson, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Mary Washington. Author of World Regional Geography (CC BY NC SA).

“LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents. LaTeX is available as free software.” (From https://www.latex-project.org)

If a first-time author plans to produce their own book — i.e., type setting — I think it makes sense to use a powerful tool like LaTeX if one is doing a traditional hardcopy book. If I had to do it over again I would also use a versioning system, such as the open source github system, to keep track of versions and edits. — Ralph Morelli, Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus, Trinity College. Author of Java, Java, Java: Object-Oriented Problem Solving (CC BY).

In general, for authors who are writing textbooks that includes formulas, LaTeX is most recommended.

We have found that Pressbooks is not very good for math based books, or more specifically books that require a heavy amount of LaTeX. LaTeX is the preferred method of writing math based content for many STEM faculty, and while Pressbooks has LaTeX capabilities they aren’t typically as robust as is needed by these faculty content providers. — Shane Nackerud, Technology Lead, Library Initiatives, University of Minnesota Libraries

Other Tools for Support

Digital Repository

Faculty, staff, and students at the University of New Mexico have the option of publishing their scholarly and educational works on the Digital Repository, which is the university’s institutional repository. The repository has an option for applying Creative Commons’ licenses to your work. People with a UNM affiliation can make their textbooks, articles, and course materials freely available. The repository is indexed through Google, and the platform can provide usage reports, so you can see how many people are accessing your work from different parts of the world. You may contact disc@unm.edu with questions about posting materials the repository.

Collaborative tools

Making a textbook involves more than writing. Especially if there are multiple collaborators on a project, it can help to use a collaborative tool for tracking communication and setting deadlines. There are many free tools available. For example, Trello is a collaborative list-making tool that can help authors and project teams communicate with one another. Basecamp is a project management tool often used by creative teams to move projects forward and track communication. All of these tools can send automated updates to teams.