Ancillary Resources
Open textbook authors should consider adding ancillary resources to their textbook whenever possible. Traditional textbooks often provide instructors with ancillary resources like slides, test banks, image banks and videos.
A BC Faculty Survey on Open Educational Resources found that 12% of faculty wouldn’t adopt an open textbook that was not accompanied by ancillary resources, and 28% reported that they felt they didn’t have the time to experiment with OER in their classroom.
Adding features that will make it easier for instructors to integrate your book into their teaching will increase the likelihood that it will be adopted or adapted. Ancillary resources that can be created with the help of the OER Design Studio are:
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Slide decks
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Instructors guide
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Chapter summaries
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H5P formative assessment tools
Slide Decks
Slide decks are created using Microsoft 365 and then downloaded and checked for accessibility before being loaded to the back matter of the book. The Studio uses a standard template for slide decks. The slide decks created are basic and take into consideration the learning outcomes and key points of the chapter. Faculty are able to customize the decks to suit their needs.
Instructors Guide
An instructor’s guide can be developed to include ideas for in-class activities, or assessments. The Studio can assist in collating additional resources to be included in the instructor’s guide.
Chapter Summaries
The Studio can create quick chapter summaries to be added to the end of each chapter. The summaries created will need to be reviewed by the book’s author.
H5P
The Studio will create H5P interactives based on content provided by the book’s author or other faculty. See the H5P: Enhancing Interactivity in Pressbooks section in this book for more information.
The author or other faculty can create test banks for the book. The Studio does not create test bank questions. However, the Studio can provide step-by-step instructions on leveraging technology to create and use test banks.
