Calling BC Geography Faculty – come book sprinting with us

taken from, http://open.bccampus.ca/2014/02/13/calling-bc-geography-faculty/

Calling BC Geography Faculty – come book sprinting with us

BCcampus has a unique opportunity for Geography faculty to participate in an innovative open textbook project. We are looking for 6 Geography faculty to take part in a 4 day “textbook sprint” June 9-12 in Vancouver.

What is a textbook sprint?

A textbook sprint is a collaborative, face to face book writing event. For 4 days, 6 faculty, along with a number of support personal such as a graphic designer, programmer, facilitator, technical support and open educational resource librarian, will work together to create a 1st year Regional Geography textbook.

A textbook sprint is a facilitated event. This book sprint will be facilitated by Adam Hyde, a skilled and experienced book sprint facilitator who has facilitated the creation of over 70 books using the book sprint methodology.

Photo credit: Re:Group – Collaborative Futures book sprint #11 by Eyebeam Art & Technology Center used under CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 license

What can participants expect?

The book sprint itself will be much like a workshop retreat. It will be an intense and professionally rewarding experience, working with peers to collaboratively author a textbook.

People love participating in Book Sprints partly because at the end of a fixed time they have been part of something special – making a book – but they are also amazed at the quality of the books made and proud of their achievement. However Book Sprints are also hard work and participants should be prepared before time to expect that the week will be extremely rewarding but also will require long hours of hard work. All contributors should be careful to come rested as there is much work to be done!
Introduction to the Book Sprint Methodology

Who we are looking for?

We are looking for 6 faculty to participate. Ideally, you will have taught, or are currently teaching, regional geography. You are an open collaborator, willing to share and compromise to meet the goals of the project. You also realize that working on an innovative project means having a flexible and playful attitude. Oh, and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Specifically, a WiFi enabled laptop (Mac or PC). Authoring software (and training) will be provided.

Logistics

Dates: June 9-12, 2014
Location: UBC Vancouver (Point Grey)
Because this will be an intense week that may involve working outside of normal business hours, accommodations & meals for participants will be included on site. Participating faculty will receive $2000 for their participation.

About the book

• the textbook will be a suitable alternative to a commercial publishers textbook for B.C. faculty to use in a 1st year regional geography course.
• the textbook will be released as an open educational resource licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license, meaning that the textbook could be freely used, reused, adapted and modified by others.
• the final textbook will be made available in PDF, ePub, and HTML formats. It will also be available as a print on demand book via the open.bccampus.ca open textbook repository.
• the textbook will be planned, written & produced from start to finish in 4 days.
• while not a requirement, the textbook will try to use as many existing open educational resource whenever possible. This might include content from the open Geography resources that have been created over the years as part of the BC Online Program Development Fund.

More information

If this sounds like an event you would be interested in participating in, please contact Clint Lalonde at BCcampusclalonde@bccampus.ca.

Additional background

• What is a Book Sprint?
• Introduction to the Book Sprint Methodology a short 2 page PDF document with participant testimonials
• Thinking about a BC Textbook booksprint and A Sprinting We Will Go are posts specific to the BC textbook sprint

Examples

• Writing in Book Sprints Over the course of the three days the authors wrote and edited a complete draft of a 21,000 word book titled “Technology for Open Educational Resources: Into the Wild – Reflections of three years of the UKOER programmes”.
• Finnish Teachers Are Writing An Entire Math Textbook This Weekend
• Need a Better Textbook? Hack It Yourself is about a textbook sprint done in the fall of 2013 by University of Otago to create a 1st year media studies textbook.