User:Michael rowe

Basics

Short description: Most academic textbooks are published in America or Europe, which brings with it several problems, not least of which is high cost, lack of contextual relevance and outdated evidence. A locally produced textbook that is culturally relevant, inexpensive and able to be updated regularly would solve several problems in physiotherapy education.

Advantages of this approach:

• The content can continually be updated e.g. links to new studies can be added immediately
• The content can be distributed across geography and timezones
• Digital multimedia adds a depth to the content that is impossible to achieve in print e.g. hyperlinking to relevant sources, embedded video and audio, and animated graphics are just a few possibilities
• Individuals taking responsibility for only small sections, rather than an entire book or even chapter, reducing the time commitment from authors
• The use of more permissive / less restrictive copyright licenses, allowing greater freedom in how the content is used (and paid for)
• Print runs could be limited only to the number of students requiring that specific content, with individuals paying only for the content they need, rather than entire textbooks
• A social and cultural relevance lacking in international publications
• Encouraging student participation on multiple levels e.g. basic editing of grammar and spelling, checking of references and using digital multimedia (images and video) created by them
• Ability to translate the content into any language (one advantage of less restrictive licensing)
• The inclusion of content not normally associated with a particular topic e.g. adding a significantly more prominent ethical / human rights component to a chapter on stroke rehabilitation i.e the ability to take the content in new directions, limited only by the author's creativity
• Finally, as an academic exercise, it will stimulate a national discussion / debate around both educational and clinical practices in South Africa

Audience: South African physiotherapy clinicians, educators and students.

Goals:

1. Create a framework for the development of a South African physiotherapy textbook
2. Make use of local examples, case studies, etc.
3. Emphasise the unique health-related problems in South Africa
4. Establish a platform for discussion and debate among healthcare professionals

How does it work?: Summary of the design. I'm uncertain at this point if it's going to be a workspace for the collaborative authoring of a printed textbook, or an online "textbook" that makes use of the internet and communication tools to facilitate engaged learning among students.

Similar projects: Write about similar projects or initiatives, how your project can learn from them and extend what the have done - or how you could collaborate. Know what others are doing!

1. Connexions: I started a module on ankle rehabilitation on Connexions but didn't enjoy the interface. I didn't feel it was intuitive and simple enough to work on freely, and definitely not collaboratively.
2. Wikiversity
3. Wikibooks: I started a book on assessment a few years ago, which has been added to by a few others since then. I haven't put any work into it since I began it because I felt (at the time) that there was no-one else working in this space. Also, it's an international project, so not really relevant for this particular one.

Challenges: Of course, there are challenges to a project of this nature, not least of which revolve around controversial topics such as intellectual property and the management of the content generated in this manner i.e. who “owns” it. I would propose that the profession would own the content and it's generation should be seen as a contribution to the continuing evolution of physiotherapy in the country. Authors would be “paid” in terms of the community's recognition of their contribution and with the knowledge that better education and patient care will be a direct result of their work. Those who feel that the technological barrier is insurmountable could very quickly be shown that the technology has reached a point where it is almost invisible and that only a limited knowledge of computers and the Internet is required to participate. This could be achieved through workshops at conferences, or through students teaching staff!

Open Technology

Uncertain about the best tool for collaborative authoring. Wikis (e.g. Mediawiki) clearly have the upper hand with the "collaboration" part, but aren't great for authoring/ formatting a book. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to use a wiki for creating content and then exporting the content to another platform to manage the editing? Editing a book will involve a lot that a wiki couldn't handle efficiently, like specific annotation of various components. Does anyone know of an open source, distributed book authoring platform?

A blogging environment would be useful to syndicate the progress of the project, and Twitter (or maybe a more secluded platform like laconica, seeing that Twitter is now mainstream) for pushing out relevant content. I'm thinking multiple streams of content e.g. having different blogs/microblogs for clinical content (and maybe even split that again into different subject areas), educational content, writing guidelines, etc. Contributors can then subscribe to the content areas that they specialise in.

The fact that it's online should make use of that fact e.g. the "book" could have an IRC channel, Twitter stream, blog, etc.

Open Content / Licensing

What types of content are you using or producing, and how are they licensed. Do you need to clear copyright for any of them? Are there institutional policies that affect what you can (or cannot) do?

I'll push to use a Creative Commons license but ultimately it might depend on the wishes of the profession as a whole (I'm hoping it will be a national project). The use of open content studies for background evidence will also be encouraged.

The "textbook" will also make use of free online resources to further inform their learning.

Open Pedagogy

How do participants learn? What forms of assessment are you using?

Each section / chapter will incorporate various ongoing assessment tools (e.g. self-study questions, personal reflection).

It's also important to remember that this is about collaborative editing, not mere reproduction of book technology on the screen.

Although once again I come up against the idea of an authoring environment to create a traditional textbook, or an online book that uses technology to facilitate teaching and learning? Could it be both?