Elevating Student Voices in Collaborative Textbook Development

Leah M Wiitablake; Amber Taylor; Landry Samuels; Jalani Ziad Eanochs; Caleb Jovan Hardin; Shi'ron Williams-Mattison; Samuel Cole Fambrough; D. Matthew Boyer

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) Technical Session 3
Tagged Division: Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43259
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43259
Download Count: 87

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Paper Authors

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Leah M Wiitablake Clemson University orcid.org/0000-0003-1024-3658

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Leah M. Wiitablake is a current doctoral student in the Engineering and Science Education department at Clemson University. Her dissertation research focuses on undergraduate student interest and perceptions, in particular, the perceptions of and interest in the geosciences from students from traditionally minoritized groups. As a graduate research assistant, Leah has worked on designing and assessing virtual reality field experiences for introductory geology courses and is currently involved with educational research focused on the collaborative development of robotics textbooks as open educational resources.

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Boyer is a generalist in the learning sciences, with a PhD in educational psychology and educational technology. His interests focus on effective knowledge building and transfer with digital technologies. His current work involves how STEM knowledge and skills are developed in technology-enhanced learning environments.

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Abstract

Traditional proprietary textbooks for undergraduate students often cost hundreds of dollars and create barriers to learning by restricting which and how many courses students take and forcing students to decide whether or not they purchase their textbooks (Florida Virtual Campus, 2019; Senack and Donoghue, 2016). Having low-cost or free alternatives for course textbooks helps give all students access to learning materials and can lower barriers such as affordability and retention (Colvard et al., 2018). Such alternatives to traditional textbooks are considered Open Educational Resources (OER). OER can be comparable in quality to traditional textbooks (Hilton, 2016), and given the proper context, they have been shown to lower the number of D, F, and Withdrawal letter grades, or DFW rates, in classrooms (Colvard et al., 2018). This evidence, showing the potential for OER to improve student learning outcomes, informed our intention to bring students into the process of designing OER.

This paper describes the design and implementation of our model for the collaborative development of OER that intentionally integrates undergraduate student perspectives. Situated in a U.S. Department of Education grant-funded interdisciplinary, cross-college project creating OER in the form of three robotics textbooks. We focus on the work of the Collaborative Design Team, comprised of undergraduate students from project partner institutions, a graduate Research Assistant, and a faculty member from engineering education. Specifically, we share the process of elevating and incorporating undergraduate student voices into the design of OER content authored by graduate students with subject matter knowledge in Robotics. We discuss our process for reviewing each chapter of the OER textbook, including readings to prompt student thought and reflection, and how we leverage the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines (CAST, 2018) for examining the chapters for learner-centeredness. We highlight the benefits of including students in creating learning materials, such as how students know what works in teaching and learning and what falls short. As such, incorporating student feedback can infuse materials with learner-centered elements and provide opportunities to improve how textbook-based OER presents information, perspectives, and ways of thinking about the subject matter in ways that traditional textbooks often lack.

Citation
Format

Wiitablake, L. M., & Taylor, A., & Samuels, L., & Eanochs, J. Z., & Hardin, C. J., & Williams-Mattison, S., & Fambrough, S. C., & Boyer, D. M. (2023, June), Elevating Student Voices in Collaborative Textbook Development Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43259

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Traditional proprietary textbooks for undergraduate students often cost hundreds of dollars and create barriers to learning by restricting which and how many courses students take and forcing students to decide whether or not they purchase their textbooks (Florida Virtual Campus, 2019; Senack and Donoghue, 2016). Having low-cost or free alternatives for course textbooks helps give all students access to learning materials and can lower barriers such as affordability and retention (Colvard et al., 2018). Such alternatives to traditional textbooks are considered Open Educational Resources (OER). OER can be comparable in quality to traditional textbooks (Hilton, 2016), and given the proper context, they have been shown to lower the number of D, F, and Withdrawal letter grades, or DFW rates, in classrooms (Colvard et al., 2018). This evidence, showing the potential for OER to improve student learning outcomes, informed our intention to bring students into the process of designing OER.

This paper describes the design and implementation of our model for the collaborative development of OER that intentionally integrates undergraduate student perspectives. Situated in a U.S. Department of Education grant-funded interdisciplinary, cross-college project creating OER in the form of three robotics textbooks. We focus on the work of the Collaborative Design Team, comprised of undergraduate students from project partner institutions, a graduate Research Assistant, and a faculty member from engineering education. Specifically, we share the process of elevating and incorporating undergraduate student voices into the design of OER content authored by graduate students with subject matter knowledge in Robotics. We discuss our process for reviewing each chapter of the OER textbook, including readings to prompt student thought and reflection, and how we leverage the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines (CAST, 2018) for examining the chapters for learner-centeredness. We highlight the benefits of including students in creating learning materials, such as how students know what works in teaching and learning and what falls short. As such, incorporating student feedback can infuse materials with learner-centered elements and provide opportunities to improve how textbook-based OER presents information, perspectives, and ways of thinking about the subject matter in ways that traditional textbooks often lack.
AU  - Leah M Wiitablake
AU  - Amber Taylor
AU  - Landry Samuels
AU  - Jalani Ziad Eanochs
AU  - Caleb Jovan Hardin
AU  - Shi'ron Williams-Mattison
AU  - Samuel Cole Fambrough
AU  - D. Matthew Boyer
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Elevating Student Voices in Collaborative Textbook Development
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/43259
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43259
ER  -