Introduction to the Book

In this workshop, participants will learn about Iowa State University Digital Press’ book publishing software, Pressbooks. Pressbooks is a tool that allows authors to export their online text into multiple formats (PDF, EPUB, XML) and integrate interactive videos and tools for active learning. In addition to learning about Pressbooks as a tool for authoring open textbooks, participants will receive:

  • access to examples of the types of projects that can be created in Pressbooks,
  • an overview of various tools and features available in the platform, and
  • hands-on experience editing and writing in this demonstration Pressbook.

Introduction to Pressbooks

Pressbooks is utilized at Iowa State University to facilitate the publication of select monographs, handbooks, and open textbooks. Open textbooks are a type of open educational resource (OER), openly licensed educational materials that are free for anyone in the world to access and use.

While you can create OER in any tool, from Word and PowerPoint to Canva and Adobe Premiere, we utilize Pressbooks because it is optimized for both creating and exporting book-type OER. It includes built-in formatting support for creating content optimized for teaching, like placing content in eye-catching textboxes, embedding videos, hosting interactive activities, and exporting to various formats for print or online use. Additionally, since Pressbooks is based on the WordPress editing system, Pressbooks is incredibly user-friendly once you get over the first skill gap.

Pressbooks at Iowa State University

To support authors who want to create open textbooks, Iowa State University Library has paid for an institutional instance of Pressbooks, which allows for more creative control over the content created and a more official release in our catalog of published books. Additionally, our Digital Press team helps authors get their open textbooks published on Pressbooks peer-reviewed by experts in their field.

If you’d like more information on OER and open textbooks generally, sign up for our annual “Introduction to Open Educational Resources workshop,” review The OER Starter Kit, or contact the Scholarly Communications Librarian and OER program coordinator, Abbey Elder, at aelder@iastate.edu

License

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Demonstration Book for Pressbooks Authors Copyright © 2021 by Abbey Elder is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.