Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay
If you've ever longed to make a textbook more relevant to your unit and students then adapting an Open Textbook might be the option for you.
Updating could include:
You don't have to write your own textbook from scratch, you can adapt an existing Open Textbook for your own needs (providing it has the correct licence).
Check out the tabs below to find out about the steps to adapt an Open Textbook
Check the licence - Can I adapt this book?
You can adapt any Creative Commons licensed material that doesn't include the ND No Derivatives term in the licence.
|
CC-BY with any combination of SA-NC |
|
|
CC-BY-ND with any combination of SA-NC |
|
You can change a little...
Your changes can be simple:
• Changing the title of the book, some or all of its chapters or chapter sections
• Adding one or two new images, or an interactive quiz
• Removing a chapter that isn’t pertinent to your unit
You can change a lot...
Sometimes, an adaptation might require more than a few simple changes. For example:
• A significant number of chapters might be removed, leaving behind just the ones that fit the unit curriculum.
• Chapters might be reordered to more accurately fit the order in which material is presented in a unit.
It might be necessary to add material from other open textbooks or open educational resources to the open textbook you are adapting. For more information on where to find openly licensed images and other content, see Resources: Search and Find in the Self-Publishing Guide. Also take a look at Resources: Only the Open.
Maybe you decide to write new material to fill in the gaps of an existing textbook such as new examples or exercises. (If you do this and plan to release the finished work as an open textbook, remember that your new work will be included under the same license as the original work.)
Follow the example 
Find Open Textbook |
Australian Politics and Policy published in 2021 by Sydney University Press and available on their Sydney Open site is available in two editions, senior and junior. Citation: The Open Textbook Editorial Group (eds). 2021. Australian Politics and Policy: Senior Edition. Sydney: Sydney University Press. DOI: 10.30722/sup.9781743328415 |
| Licence check |
A check of the information shows the book is released under a Creative Commons licence CC BY offering flexibility to adapt to your unit needs. You can adapt / change / alter / delete and add content to any parts of the book without the permission of the copyright holder as long as you attribute (as the descriptor BY refers). |
The text above is an adaptation of Aesoph, L.M. (2016). Adaptation Guide. Victoria, BC: BCcampus and is used under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Changes include adding example content and adding original material.
Here are some guides to adapting materials which include more detail.
Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know
This is a five-step guide with step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook file and platform types. The steps included are:
1. Check license 2. Identify format 3. Assess editability 4. Determine access 5. Publish
How easy or difficult adapting an Open Textbook will be depends on a number of factors, including;
• How much content do you wish to change? Do you want to remove chapters, or rewrite entire chapters of content?
• What technical format is the original textbook in? A Word document is much easier to modify than a PDF document.
• How comfortable are you with using technology and creating content?
Keep it simple is a good first principle.
Example
In our example book the process to access the files is through submitting a form, with the reply email from the publisher including the files and extra teaching content (PPTs). Watch the process in a video about it from the publisher. See below.
The publisher site provides the files after a form is completed, along with additional PPT content.
Australian Politics and Policy open textbook (3.22 min) by UniSydneyLibrary. Youtube.
The text above is an adaptation of Aesoph, L.M. (2016). Adaptation Guide. Victoria, BC: BCcampus. and is used under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Changes include adding example content and adding original material.
As the author, you retain copyright of all new material you create. This means that even if the new material you create is released under an open license, as the author, you will receive attribution for your contribution.
As you edit and make changes (text and images) and/or add new material, such as a chapter or section within a chapter, keep a list so these additions/changes:
If you add material from another openly licensed work to your adaptation, especially text, record the source and where it is used in your adapted version. This information is needed for the wording and placement of each attribution statement required for each open CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licensed work you use. For more information, see Attribution Statements
With an openly licensed resource, you are welcome to remove images that don’t fit your needs or you can add new ones.
You are also permitted to edit existing images, but do check the license of the image you plan to change to ensure that its permissions fit your intended change.
For more information on:
Even the best author benefits from the keen eyes of a copy editor. This individual looks at your work with fresh eyes and can provide feedback on
A subject matter expert (SME) — presumably a colleague or other individual who is an expert on the topic you’re writing about — can provide suggestions about the content. It is best that the SME reviews your work before the copy editor.
One final step is to have a copy editor (preferably different than the one who copy-edits your work) proofread the final draft.
Example
The Example book offers an ePub download option. You can edit this file type fairly simply, though Calibre software does require some understanding of HTML coding.
The text above is an adaptation of Aesoph, L.M. (2016). Adaptation Guide. Victoria, BC: BCcampus and is used under a CC BY 4.0 license. Changes include adding example content and adding original material.
Once you’ve completed your adaptation, you will need to decide who to share your work with:
And then you need to consider how to share your work.
Also, what file types will you provide, what ancillary resources will you/could you include, and how will you ensure longevity for your work?
Students like flexibility when it comes to their textbooks.
Some may prefer printed versions of the textbook, others will prefer using a website. Still others will like to use an e-reader or e-reading software.
To make your book as accessible as possible, consider making your textbook available in multiple formats so students have the ability to choose the format that works for them.
Also remember to include editable files so that others can use your work to create their own adaptations. Pressbooks allows a variety of files to be export from your book, both editable (.xml, .odt, .html, .epub) and less editable (.pdf) files.
For students, you can distribute your adapted textbook by:
For colleagues:
For your institution’s library:
For your institution's printer
For your teaching and learning centre:
Consider sharing your work with the larger open community. One way to do this is by adding your adapted textbook to an established repository or open textbook collection. Some of these require undergoing a formal review before being accepted.
Consider providing ancillary resources for your adapted open textbook or asking colleagues with whom you share your adaptation, to share back any supplemental materials they develop for the book. These might include:
Now that you’ve completed your adapted open textbook — whether the changes were minor or major — here are some question you might ask yourself:
The text above is an adaptation of Aesoph, L.M. (2016). Adaptation Guide. Victoria, BC: BCcampus, and is used under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Changes include adding example content and adding original material.
  |
Federation University Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters where our campuses, centres and field stations are located and we pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations Peoples. |
