The Chickasaw Nation Law Library Open Textbook Adoption Program is a new library service to assist law school faculty in finding no- and low-cost textbooks, casebooks, and other open resources for law school courses.
The adoption process is designed to be very simple for instructors, saving them time and extra work. The process for participating in the Open Textbook Adoption Program is broken into 5 steps.
Step 1: Consultation
Any interested faculty should contact Syd Stephenson to set up a consultation. The consultation can be conducted via Microsoft Teams, email, or office appointment. The consultation's main goal will be to determine any relevant criteria for selecting an open textbook or casebook.
Step 2: Researching and Selecting Appropriate Content
Library staff will research and compile an appropriate list of resources based on criteria provided by the participating faculty member. A final selection of textbooks and/or casebooks will be sent to requesting faculty for feedback and approval.
Step 3: Organizing/Modifying Content to Fit Course Needs
Once the librarian and faculty select open educational resources (OER) for the course, the librarian will assist in organizing and modifying content to meet course needs. The modifications that can be made will depend on the creative commons license. The license type will determine how users can modify and remix content for their courses or individual use. The license will also determine how faculty will need to attribute open content. This stage will also include the librarian modifying content as needed to meet accessibility standards.
Step 4: Implementation
The librarian will work with faculty to effectively implement the OER into the course before the course start date. Throughout the duration of the course, the librarian will be available to assist with any access issues, dissemination of OER, or further modifications of the selected resources.
Step 5: Assessment
At the course's end, faculty can provide feedback on their experience utilizing the program and the quality of the resources implemented into their courses. They can also provide feedback on how this program can better support faculty and students. Feedback can be verbal or through a short survey.
For faculty who wish to create their own open textbooks or casebooks, the library can assist in publication. The H20 Casebooks platform is free to use and for faculty to publish materials on. Law faculty can choose to either publish as a general user or request to be a Verified Professor. Casebooks published by Verified professors are publicly searchable and accessible on the H20 Casebooks platform. Contact Syd Stephenson for more information.
Law faculty can also publish open textbooks on CALI’s platform. This process involves submitting a book or chapter proposal. Submitted materials to CALI’s publishing platform may be eligible for compensation. For more details on publishing through CALI, visit the Become an Author page on CALI’s website or contact Syd Stephenson.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This guide was adapted from SPARC: Open Education and the Michigan State University Libraries OER Program Guide.
