Main Body
Resources for the New Pressbooks User
The Beginner User: Tools to Learn
I have found the Pressbooks User Guide essential to my understanding of the ins and outs of the technology side of Pressbooks and for learning how to use the tool well. The Pressbooks User Guide notably has a wonderful brief section on Making Your Book Accessible and Inclusive. The Pressbooks User Guide is full of the basic knowledge you need to be able to start using Pressbooks. I encourage all those new to the system to take the time and go through the guide.
This is another guide I’ve come across, an updated version from University of Manitoba Libraries in 2024.
Using Pressbooks: A Reference for OER Creators
A great guide on Low Bandwidth Teaching and Learning – for optimizing technology files.
OER in the Classroom
Thinking more about how to create and integrate materials for the class and beyond, the Rebus Community I’ve found to have some of the best materials to read through. Rebus Community is an initiative of the Rebus Foundation, a Canadian registered charity and they support a model of publishing that is collaborative, efficient, and open. [1] Rebus Community has powerful resources on Making Open Textbooks with Students and The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far)
Example Texts to Explore
These are a few resources I’ve found after researching many Pressbooks sites and materials that I like to share as aspirational Pressbooks that university members could look to in terms of different ways to build and develop their Pressbooks. I see these again as aspirational and valuable resources to help you consider how you might use Pressbooks.
The Word on College Reading and Writing
This is an introductory collegiate material.
This is a subject Material written by an expert.
This is a collaboration between students and faculty.
Pressbooks Directory
In the winter of 2020 – Pressbooks also launched a new resource that is extremely valuable for searching Pressbooks materials. The URL is simply: pressbooks.directory . We here at Plymouth launched our cataloged materials in 2021 onto Pressbooks Directory. You can also read more about Using the Pressbooks Directory.
Pressbooks also wrote an interesting blog post about their launch of the directory.
Plymouth State University – University System of New Hampshire
We were out front in the use of Plymouth State’s Pressbooks, and whilst our independent account has retired. This material is now hosted on the University System of New Hampshire’s (USNH) Pressbooks Site, where you can find some of the materials that were in our original Plymouth State Catalog.
Our Catalog is a public place, where you can find materials that our community members have published. It’s a good place to start idea gathering and to find our other Plymouth State University community members who have used Pressbooks. You could inquire and ask about questions to them or some of the other experts we have in the Pressbooks world on our campus.
Course Textbook
Creating Games by Cathie LeBlanc
I wanted to create a textbook to support my face-to-face class while his material is intended to be an entire online course. That said, I will make the materials that I use in my course freely available as I develop it.[2]
