Introduction

For the Unit Assignments in the ‘Beer Through the Ages (GNED 1478) course, we will be working collectively to create this ‘open textbook’ called Beer Through the Ages to help educate future students as well as a general audience about the historical significance of beer and its pivotal role throughout history. This is a renewable assignment designed to create an active and collaborative learning opportunity through which you can enhance your knowledge of, and appreciation for, the role of beer throughout history.

An open textbook is a textbook that is made available online to be used freely by students, teachers, and members of the public. Open textbooks are openly-licensed, usually with Creative Commons licenses, and can be reused, retained, redistributed, revised, and remixed (BC Campus, 2019). An open textbook provides a collaborative space in which you can generate and curate content related to the course themes and materials and serves as a platform for reflection and extension of the course material. Creating an open textbook also hones research, writing, editing, peer review, and digital literacy skills, which are all important aspects of general education (Rebus Community, 2017).