Introducing myself to Rebus Community: I am Maura Rosenthal

Hello there,
My name is Maura Rosenthal and I am a professor at Bridgewater State University (as state University) in Massachusetts. I am in the planning stages for an Open Textbook filled with Social Justice lessons co-created with students. The topic areas will be of interest to faculty teaching in Recreation, Health, Physical Education and Kinesiology. I have a sabbatical beginning the fall of 2019 so I am actively seeking the best ways to publish and work on this book. I am excited to learn from all of you and to share what I am working on.

@mrosenthal Hi Maura, welcome to the Rebus Community! I’m really interested in hearing more about the open textbook project you are planning, and how you’d like to involve students throughout the creation and publication process. @dave-dillon also worked on his OER projects during sabbatical, and might have some words of wisdom for you.

We will soon share some resources with you to better guide you through the process, based on our experiences of supporting similar projects, so stay tuned! If you have any questions along the way, please don’t hesitate to ask. :slight_smile:

@mrosenthal Hi Maura,

What a great project!

As Apurva noted, I worked on a College Success OER textbook project on sabbatical last Fall. If any of my experience may assist you, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m happy to share.

@dave.dillon Hi Dave, Thanks so much for reaching out. Right now I am writing my sabbatical application (due Oct 1). Did you do work on the College Success text over one semester or two? How much did you aim to accomplish in one semester? Thanks much and let’s stay in touch. I have loads of questions.

@mrosenthal Hi Maura, One semester sabbatical, but the project took a full year and is still ongoing. :slight_smile: The peer review took longer than I had originally anticipated and was delayed due to the writing and editing not being completed by my first draft timeline and by faculty schedules. Please send me an e-mail at dave.dillon@gcccd.edu and maybe we can schedule to chat by phone.

@mrosenthal Great to see you chatting with Dave!

Since you’ll be co-creating this open textbook with your students, I wanted to point you to A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students, a handbook for instructors working alongside students on open pedagogy projects. The guide contains some case studies from instructors and students who have participated in these kinds of projects, and also contains some helpful information about licenses, digital literacy, and also a sample MOU that you could adapt for your textbook. Hope you find this helpful! :slight_smile:

@apurva This is fabulous! thank you very much. Maura

@mrosenthal You’re very welcome! Huge thanks to @lizmays for putting together the resource and to all those who contributed.

Please feel free to reach out on the forum if you had any more questions!

@apurva seconding this, what a great resource. “open pedagogy” and oep all the way!

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@figosdev Thank you so much!

Hi Maura, Welcome!

I’d be interested in seeing your College Success OER! I am the coordinator of our ESL orientation program and need some good materials! What a great subject for OER :slight_smile:

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Thanks for your interest. The Blueprint for Success in College and Career OER is here if you haven’t already found it:

https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/

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