Working in a development book & Transferring updates

Why should we create a development book instead of working in a live OER?

An unpublished copy of an OER in use allows us to:

Minimize impact to students while developing/correcting/adjusting content
Develop new features, reorganize content and test new features
Complete larger updates and changes that can be quickly moved over to the published book between semesters

Use Pressbooks Clone a book feature
- Name with a shortened version of the original title, and the word developmental
- Select a URL that is representative but also contains “develop”
- Set the Book visibility toggle in Sharing & Privacy settings to “Private”

Add a tracking page to the front matter of the book to allow faculty to log pages they’ve worked on
Add an Updates & Change log page to the back matter of the book.
- Keep a running list of content/sections that have been updated with brief notes
- See Comm Essentials for College for a sample

Lots to think about here. Notes for reassigning the URL:

Doesn’t duplicate all the content (as re-importing would do).
Check that linked files are referring to the “new” book as opposed to the old
Search & replace needed to change any internal links to the book itself, eg: the development book was “chemistrydevelopment” all the chapter links will point to that instead of “enhancedchemistry”, so links will be broken

Follow the established procedures for OER pre-publication audit for copyright & AODA
Test & review the updated content/sections by exporting a PDF and search/locate the updated content, ensure it meets ready to publish guidelines for webbook and PDF export
When applicable:
- Update PowerPoint files

Temporarily publish the developmental version of the book using the Book visibility toggle in Sharing & Privacy settings
Use the import tool in the published book to access and import the updated sections
- Check that imported content will not be visible in the web version of the book on import screen (bottom)
Once content is imported, set the developmental book back to unpublished using the Book visibility toggle in Sharing & Privacy settings
Copy & Paste the source code for edited pages/sections from the imported pages to replace the source code on the original page
- This maintains URLs and book structure so links to the book are not affected
- Import tool should import updated H5P/images/etc
- ALL H5P embedded into re-imported pages must be checked carefully. Pressbooks switches the H5P numbering in the back end of the book, which may conflict and refer to a different H5P in the source book when imported back in.
Delete the imported page(s) from the Organize page as they’re copied over to avoid confusion
Preview each page to ensure all materials imported correctly
Copy the Update & Change log content into the published OER on the same page, to ensure there’s a record of what was completed

Note: re-importing will duplicate

Differences in H5P versions between books – may need to update h5P libraries – in two places
- The overall H5P page
- Specific activities

Check any internal links (within the same book) carefully to ensure the import process adjusted the links – they may not point to the correct page within the book and may need to be adjusted
Remove the open=”open” in any details/summary tagging as needed.
Generate and check the Print PDF export against the list of updated sections
Fix any issues

Add updated PowerPoint files to the media library & link on Ancillary resources page (if applicable)
Generate a new Print PDF export
Create PDF by chapter files and update the files linked to the Accessing & Using this OER page (if applicable)
Generate final Print and Electronic PDFs (so that the electronic one has the correct PDF by chapter links)

To be continued…

Except where otherwise noted, “Working in a development book & Transferring updates” by Jen Booth is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

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