15 Teaching Guide: Expand an Open Textbook
Julie Ward; assistant professor of 20th; and 21st-century Latin American literature at University of Oklahoma
Below is a teaching guide from Dr. Julie Ward at University of Oklahoma for instructors wishing to expand an existing open textbook project in their classes. While this project is specific to Spanish literature, the advice is relevant to similar projects in other disciplines.
Critical Edition Assignment Implementation Guide
Welcome to the Antología Abierta de Literatura Hispana (AALH) team! I (Julie Ward) am so thrilled that you and your students will be participating in this enriching learning experience and providing materials for other students around the world.
This guide is a week-by-week overview of how I implemented the critical edition in my third-year university Spanish course, Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Culture. Feel free to use what is helpful and ignore what isn’t. I do ask that if you plan to stray too far from the format here that you email me<EMAIL_ADDRESS>so we can discuss how it will fit into the AALH.
You’ll see that I dedicated seven class periods over ten weeks to the critical edition group project. It’s an intensive research project that introduces many students to the concept of literary research for the first time, and I think you’ll be very impressed at students’ in-depth knowledge of their chosen texts and authors by the time they present their final products.
Good luck, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch<EMAIL_ADDRESS>Week 1: Group Work, an overview
Time: 50 minutes
Objective: Discuss and reflect on group work; share best practices; create team expectations agreements.
Prior work for instructor:
- Set up groups of 4-5 students each (I highly recommend using CATME if possible; either way, see the best practices laid out in Oakley et al. section II.C, pp. 12-13, including Getting to Know You Form pp. 24-25).
- Make copies of “Coping with Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes on Teams” (1/student, Oakley et al. pp. 33-34).
- Make copies of “Normas y expectativas del equipo de trabajo” (1/group, Appendix A).
Prior work for students:
- Read “What Google Learned on its Quest to Build the Perfect Team.”
- Complete 5-question reading quiz (sample here).
In Class:
- Follow the script in Oakley et al., Section II.D-III.C, pp. 13-16.
- Have students read “Coping with Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes on Teams” in Oakley et al. pp. 33-34 in their groups and discuss the following questions:
- What is your overall opinion of group work in classes?
- What was the worst group-work experience you’ve ever had? What made it difficult?
- What was the best group-work experience you’ve ever had? What was great about it?
- Elicit responses from students as a group.
- Acknowledge possible difficulties with group work and discuss the strategies you will implement to address them proactively.
- Go over Team Policies (Oakley et al. p. 26 or see Appendix A for ve