October 7: Monthly Check-in

Textbook Success Program February 2020 Cohort
1

Hello @feb20-cohort! We are due for our check-in next week, on October 7th, at 9am ET. As usual, if there are pressing topics that you would like us to delve into and discuss, please let me know. I recall 2 topics from our previous conversations, but am not certain if you are still keen on these:

  • assessing OER efficacy (this might include similar strategies discussed last month in our classroom review mini-session)
  • EPUB formats (@alminervini - I think you suggested this at one of our previous sessions; could you elaborate on what you’d like to explore?)

Let me know your thoughts about these topics, whether there are new angles to explore, or if there’s anything else that you’ve encountered recently that you would like to discuss. I’m also open to having a more informal conversation or question and answer session. What do you think? These check-ins are structured for you to get the most help and support, so tell me what best suits!

2

@apurva: When we are asked “who is your publisher,” should we (for our PSU 3R OER project) respond “Pressbooks?” Or is this ‘just’ our platform? Help appreciated, MP

3

Hi Michael, you can actually list yourself or Penn State Libraries/University as the publisher! Pressbooks is merely a tool that you are using to publish, but are not the publishers of your text, nor are they the copyright holders. And while Rebus is supporting the work on your project, we’re not necessarily functioning as a traditional/typical publisher either, and would definitely not want to take away any of your rights. Hope this helps!

4

@feb20-cohort, thanks to all who could attend our session this week. We had a pretty informal session, with lots of updates from you all. I’ve pulled out some highlights from our discussion below. As usual, I’ve also saved our chat transcript and resources shared for reference.

Some important logistics notes:

  • We had considered rescheduling our check-in in November, but have decided to stick with our original date of November 5th. We’ll meet at 9am ET as usual.
  • In terms of topics for our next session, some suggestions include assessing efficacy of OER. Please let me know if there’s anything else that you’d like us to dive into when we next chat, or if this topic is something that interests you all.

Discussion

One of the common themes in our discussion was how using the books you are creating in the classrooms is informing the work you have left to complete.

  • @Daniel-Hauptvogel shared how his & Jinny’s experience with their TAs has been surprising and challenging, but could prove useful when putting together the instructor guide to accompany their lab manual.
  • @karasinc shared how she is hopeful for more feedback about the OER following a test assigned to her students next week.
  • @lizalong revealed that her team was writing additions to the book as students identify gaps.

Others noted how they have a renewed focus on their projects.

  • @mjlove noted that the Math team is narrowing in to create a targeted project workbook, and is excited to build on the framework they have already created.
  • @mfp11 noted that their focus is shifting to editing as chapter drafts are coming in!

We also spent a bit of time talking technology, mainly Google Analytics and glossaries in Pressbooks!

  • @Daniel-Hauptvogel — you should be able to adjust the colour of the glossary terms in Pressbooks using this code, which you can enter in the “Web” Custom Styles:

      .glossary-term {
      color: blue; }

If you’d rather change the colour of the regular hyperlinks, you can target it with this piece of code:

  .front-matter a, .part a, .chapter a, .back-matter a { color: blue; }

See step-by-step instructions in the Pressbooks Guide: Customizing your Exports with Custom Styles, and let us know how you get on. You may need to add this CSS to the EPUB and PDF stylesheets to keep things consistent across the web and other formats.

  • @mattruen, let me know if I should coordinate with you, Jackie, Melina, or others about setting up Google Analytics on Courtney and Gerry’s books!

Resources

These are the resources shared in the chat and ones I said I would share with the group:

5

Thanks, @apurva. One more thing, though. I was able to change the color of the glossary link, but not the color of the dotted line, which still comes up in red. Any chance you know what to do for that to make it match?

See the second paragraph here for example: https://uhlibraries.pressbooks.pub/historicalgeologylab/chapter/chapter00-geologicskills/

6

No problem! Yes, making the colour of the dotted line that displays below the glossary terms is simple. Just modify your code as follows:

  .glossary-term {
    color: #00866c;
    border-bottom-color: #00866c; }
7

Awesome, thanks. Everything looks good now.

1 Like
8

Great, thanks for confirming! I look forward to hearing if this makes it easier for students to distinguish between the glossary terms and links, and if it encourages them to look at the definitions more often.