6 How Do I Develop My OER?

There Is More Than One Way to Develop an OER

You have decided what you want to adopt, adapt, remix, and create. Now it is time to begin developing the actual resource.

There is no single correct way to do this. Your development process should depend on what you found, how much you need to change, whether you are collaborating with others, and where you eventually want the finished OER to live.

Your path might look something like this:

• Word → Pressbooks: Draft and collaborate in Microsoft Word, then move the developed content into Pressbooks;
• Pressbooks → Pressbooks: Start with an existing Pressbooks book and do most of the adaptation directly in Pressbooks;
• Multiple Pressbooks → Pressbooks: Bring together content from several Pressbooks resources and develop the remix there;
• LibreTexts → LibreTexts: Remix and develop content within LibreTexts;
• Multiple sources → Word → Pressbooks: Collect content from several sources, combine it with your own material in Word, collaborate and revise, and eventually move it into Palomar Pressbooks; or
• Existing course materials → Word → publishing platform: Develop your lecture notes, Canvas pages, handouts, PowerPoints, and other materials into polished student-facing content before moving them into your final publishing environment.

These are only examples. You may develop a workflow that looks completely different.

Choose a Development Environment That Fits Your Project

You do not have to choose your development tool based only on where the finished book will eventually be published. Think first about the work you need to do.

Microsoft Word May Make Sense When You Are Writing or Collaborating

Word can be a practical development environment when you are writing substantial amounts of new content, combining material from many sources, or collaborating with colleagues.

It gives you familiar tools for:

• drafting and revising;
• using comments and Track Changes;
• working with multiple authors or reviewers;
• reorganizing large amounts of content;
• reviewing the entire manuscript in one place; and
• developing the content before spending time on final publication formatting.

You can develop the book in Word and move it into a publishing platform later.

Pressbooks May Make Sense When Your Starting Point Is Already in Pressbooks

If you found an existing Pressbooks book that closely matches your needs, moving the content somewhere else just to bring it back into Pressbooks later may create unnecessary work.

Depending on the resource and its license, you may be able to bring an existing Pressbooks book into Palomar Pressbooks and begin adapting it there. If you are remixing several Pressbooks resources, working directly in Pressbooks may also be an efficient option.

If you plan to use Palomar Pressbooks, How Do I Build My OER in Palomar Pressbooks? will walk you through that pathway in more detail.

LibreTexts May Make Sense When Your Work Is Already There

If you find that much of the content you want to use is in LibreTexts and you want to develop your resource within that environment, it may make sense to continue working there.

You do not need to move a project to Pressbooks simply because Palomar supports Pressbooks. Choose the environment that works for your project and allows you to create the open, accessible resource your students need.

Turn Your Development Plan Into the Working Draft

In the previous chapter, you created a development plan identifying what you want to adopt, adapt, remix, or create. Now use that plan.

For each part of the resource:

• Adopt: bring in the content that already works;
• Adapt: begin revising the content you want to change;
• Remix: bring together the compatible openly licensed resources you selected;
• Use your existing materials: develop useful Canvas pages, lecture notes, handouts, PowerPoints, and other materials into student-facing content; and
• Create: develop new material for the gaps that remain.

You do not need to perfect every section as you add it. At first, the goal is to get the pieces into the working draft so that you can see the resource taking shape.

Work in Passes Instead of Trying to Perfect Every Chapter

Developing an entire book can feel overwhelming if you try to make every section publication-ready as soon as you touch it. It may be easier to work through the resource in several passes.

Pass 1: Assemble

Bring together the content you already know you want to use. Put adopted material, content you plan to adapt, your own existing materials, and content from other OER into the appropriate places. Leave notes or placeholders where something is still missing.

Pass 2: Fill the Gaps

Now focus on what is missing. Develop the explanations, examples, transitions, or other content that your students still need.

Pass 3: Make It Coherent

Read the resource as a whole rather than as a collection of individual pieces. Look for differences in terminology, organization, depth, voice, repetition, and transitions.

Pass 4: Refine

Improve clarity, examples, learning supports, citations, attribution, accessibility, links, images, and other details.

Make a Remix Feel Like One Resource

If your OER brings together content from multiple authors or sources, students may encounter differences that make the finished resource feel disconnected.

Once the major pieces are assembled, review the resource for consistency. Look for:

• Terminology: Do different sources use different terms for the same concept?
• Organization: Are chapters and sections structured in ways students can predict and navigate?
• Depth: Does one chapter provide far more or far less detail than the others?
• Voice and tone: Are there abrupt changes that could distract or confuse students?
• Repetition: Did multiple sources explain the same concept?
• Transitions: Does one section logically lead to the next?
• References: Does imported content refer to chapters, activities, resources, or features that are no longer part of your version?
• Examples: Do examples make sense in the context of your course and the surrounding content?; and
• Formatting: Are headings, lists, tables, callouts, and other elements used consistently?

You do not need to erase the voices of the original authors. The goal is to make sure the finished resource feels intentional and is easy for students to follow.

Don’t Forget the Front and Back Matter

Developing an OER involves more than creating the chapters students will read. A complete book also needs information that helps readers understand what the resource is, who created it, how it can be used, and where its content came from.

This information is typically included in the front matter and back matter of the book. What you need will depend on your project, but it is helpful to develop these pieces along with the resource rather than trying to reconstruct them at the end.

Front Matter Introduces the Book

Front matter appears before the main chapters and provides important information about the resource.

Depending on your OER, you might include:

• title and author information so readers can clearly identify the resource and its creators;
• copyright and open license information explaining how your original work may be used, shared, and adapted;
• an adaptation statement identifying an OER that served as the foundation for your book and explaining that your version has been adapted;
• an accessibility statement describing your commitment to accessibility and how readers can report accessibility barriers;
• acknowledgments recognizing collaborators, reviewers, contributors, funding, or other support; and
• a preface or introduction explaining the purpose, intended audience, organization, or approach of the book when that information would help readers.

Back Matter Supports and Documents the Book

Back matter appears after the main content and can provide supporting information that does not belong within an individual chapter.

Depending on your resource, this might include:

• references or a bibliography;
• attribution and source information when you have chosen to collect some of it in one location;
• a glossary;
• appendices;
• additional resources; or
• other supporting material readers may need.

Not every OER needs all of these elements. Include the information that helps students, future adopters, and other readers understand and use your resource.

Write for the Student Who Is Learning This for the First Time

Your disciplinary expertise helps you know what students need to learn. Writing instructional content requires one additional challenge: remembering what it was like not to know it yet.

As you develop or revise content, consider where students may need:

• a term defined before it is used;
• a difficult idea broken into smaller pieces;
• an example after an abstract explanation;
• a connection to something they learned earlier;
• an explanation of why a concept matters;
• a visual representation;
• an opportunity to pause and think; or
• practice applying what they just learned.

A textbook does not have to be a collection of information. It can help guide students through the process of learning.

Build Learning Into the Resource

As you develop the content, consider whether the resource can do more than explain information.

Depending on your discipline and the purpose of the resource, you might incorporate:

• reflection questions;
• knowledge checks;
• worked examples;
• practice problems;
• case studies;
• scenarios;
• application activities;
• examples connected to students’ lives, communities, or future work; and
• chapter summaries or key takeaways.

You do not need to add every possible feature to every chapter. Add learning supports where they serve a clear purpose.

Develop the Materials You Have Already Created

Your existing teaching materials may contain some of the strongest content for your OER because they reflect the ways you have already learned to explain concepts to your students.

But materials created for teaching do not always immediately function as textbook content.

For example:

• lecture notes might become a student-facing explanation;
• PowerPoint slides might provide the outline, examples, and visuals for a section but need additional written explanation;
• a Canvas page might become a section or chapter;
• a handout might become an activity, reference guide, or practice exercise;
• a recorded lecture might help you develop a written explanation or become companion media; and
• a discussion prompt might become a reflection question, scenario, or case study.

Think about what the material was designed to accomplish and how it needs to change so that a student can use it successfully as part of the OER.

If You Plan to Move From Word to Pressbooks, Plan Ahead

Microsoft Word can be a practical place to draft and collaborate, even if you eventually plan to publish your OER in Palomar Pressbooks. If that is your plan, a clean and consistently structured Word document will make the transition easier.

When you are ready to move the content into Pressbooks, you will have several options, including importing a structured Word document or using AI to convert developed content into structured HTML. We will explore those options in How Do I Build My OER in Palomar Pressbooks?

Collaborate While the Content Is Easy to Change

If you are developing the OER with colleagues, the drafting stage is a good time to make substantial decisions together.

Before the project becomes heavily formatted, collaborators can:

• divide chapters or sections;
• comment on one another’s work;
• suggest revisions;
• agree on terminology and organization;
• identify gaps and repetition;
• review disciplinary accuracy; and
• develop shared expectations for the finished resource.

If several people are contributing, it is also helpful to decide early who will be identified as authors or contributors, who is responsible for different parts of the resource, how major editorial decisions will be made, how versions and revisions will be managed, and who will take responsibility for the resource as it moves toward publication.

Keep Attribution With the Content

As content moves from one resource into your working draft, move its attribution information with it.

Content and attribution should travel together.

If you copy a section into your working document and plan to figure out where it came from later, it can become surprisingly difficult to reconstruct the source after months of writing and remixing.

Continue recording:

• title;
• author or creator;
• original source;
• license; and
• changes you made.

If you are remixing several resources, keeping this information attached to the relevant content will make preparing the final attribution much easier.

Return to How Do I Know If I Can Use and Change an OER? whenever you need to review attribution or license compatibility.

AI Can Also Help Move Your Content Into Its Final Format

One useful role for AI may come after you have already done the intellectual work of developing the content.

For example, imagine that you and several colleagues develop a chapter in Word. The content has been reviewed and revised, but you now want it formatted consistently for Pressbooks.

Rather than manually recreating every heading, list, link, callout box, and other design element, you can ask an AI assistant to convert the developed content into appropriately structured HTML based on the design you want to use.

You can provide:

• your developed content;
• instructions about the heading structure;
• examples of the HTML used elsewhere in the book;
• the styles or content boxes you want to use; and
• instructions to preserve your wording while changing the formatting.

This allows you to use AI for repetitive production work while you remain responsible for the content.

If you plan to publish in Palomar Pressbooks, we’ll explore this workflow more fully in How Do I Build My OER in Palomar Pressbooks?

When Are You Ready to Move On?

Your OER does not need to be perfectly formatted or ready for publication before you move to the next stage.

At this point, you should have a working resource in which:

• the major content has been assembled;
• the important gaps have been filled or clearly identified;
• the organization reflects the learning journey you planned for the course;
• remixed content has been reviewed for coherence;
• your original and existing course materials have been developed as needed;
• appropriate front and back matter has been developed;
• source and attribution information is being maintained; and
• you have a clear sense of what still needs refinement.

You now have the substance of the OER. The next steps will help you move that resource toward its final, accessible, reviewed, and publicly available form.

Where Would You Like to Go Next?

Your next step depends on where you plan to build the final version of your OER.