New book: The Digital Storytelling Handbook

Posted on by Marc Drumm
Heavily contrasted view of a building entrance and tree with blurred car lights out front.

The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of our ninth free and open eTextbook: The Digital Storytelling Handbook by Dr. Jordan Schugar, Professor of English, and Dr. Chris Penny, Professor of Educational Foundations & Policy Studies, at West Chester University (WCU). Other contributors include Hannah Glatt, Learning Experience and eTextbook Designer, and Autumn Hudson, Tu Le, Sarah Mangano, and Victoria McQuiston, Graduate Students at WCU.

“The Digital Storytelling Handbook is designed to provide an introduction to digital storytelling and its multifaceted applications in the higher education classroom space. This eTextbook gives storytellers practical tools to help them think about different reasons for making digital stories and different ways to think about using and incorporating digital stories into teaching, learning, and living. In this eTextbook, readers will also learn how experiencing digital stories — as either the author or the audience — builds cultural competence and teaches us about humanity and the human experience. Co-authored with students, this eTextbook was written in the spirit of OER with the expectation that future readers and students have an opportunity to contribute a chapter, idea, approach, or methodology of the eTextbook’s basic content.”

Hudson, Le, Mangano, and McQuiston were all students in Dr. Penny’s EDT 530: Digital Media Production and Storytelling course during the Spring 2024 semester. In this course, students participated in the development of an Open Educational Resource (OER) utilizing an approach known as Open Pedagogy. As explained by the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, it is “the practice of engaging with students as creators of information rather than simply consumers of it. It’s a form of experiential learning in which students demonstrate understanding through the act of creation. The products of open pedagogy are student created and openly licensed so that they may live outside of the classroom in a way that has an impact on the greater community.” This is the first PA-ADOPT eTextbook to utilize Open Pedagogy.

Please help us spread the word about our books and web site to further our work to reduce costs for students, bring equity to higher education classrooms, and give faculty the flexibility to design their own learning experiences. All of our books are available to download in both ePub and PDF formats from our Bookshelf.

The Digital Storytelling Handbook

The Digital Storytelling Handbook

by Jordan Schugar & Chris Penny
Hannah Glatt, Autumn Hudson, Tu Le,
Sarah Mangano, Victoria McQuiston

Keywords: Literacy, Multimedia, Mobile Pedagogy, Humanities, Rhetoric and Composition
ePub
PDF
Heavily contrasted view of a building entrance with blurred car lights out front.

About the Book

The Digital Storytelling Handbook is designed to provide an introduction to digital storytelling and its multifaceted applications in the higher education classroom space. This eTextbook gives storytellers practical tools to help them think about different reasons for making digital stories and different ways to think about using and incorporating digital stories into teaching, learning, and living. In this eTextbook, readers will also learn how experiencing digital stories — as either the author or the audience — builds cultural competence and teaches us about humanity and the human experience. Co-authored with students, this eTextbook was written in the spirit of OER with the expectation that future readers and students have an opportunity to contribute a chapter, idea, approach, or methodology of the eTextbook’s basic content.

Chapters

  1. Before the Beginning
  2. Setting the Stage
  3. Using What You Have
  4. Process of Digital Storytelling
  5. Why Use Digital Storytelling?
  6. Building Cultural Competence with Storytelling
  7. Strategies for Digital Stories
  8. Video Interviews
  9. Storytelling Using Emotion
  10. Storytelling Through Visual Aids (Photography and Videography)
  11. Short Films
  12. Six Words, Six Shots Video Story
  13. Documentary
  14. Color’s Impart on Digital Storytelling
  15. Conclusion
  16. Appendix

General Information

  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Edition: First
  • Subject: Educational Technology and Digital Literacy

License

cc by-nc
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) as a part of PA-ADOPT, except where otherwise noted.

Usage

Readers

The eTextbooks created as a part of this program are provided in two formats: ePub and PDF. Please refer to our Reader Support section for guidance on which format may be best for you and the device(s) you use.

Instructors

If you are an instructor seeking to use this eTextbook in your own course(s) please feel free to download the ePub and/or PDF file(s) for your use, but make sure to complete our eTextbook Usage Survey (this information is used for program evaluation purposes).

If you are interested in making revisions and edits to this eTextbook please note that this is possible since the book is under a Creative Commons License, which allows you to remix, reuse, revise, and redistribute the eTextbook. Please refer to the Faculty Support Page, specifically looking at Remixing. You can download The Digital Storytelling Handbook Pages File in order to use the original document to revise and remix the eTextbook for your purposes.

Citations

MLA: Schugar, Jordan, Chris Penny, Hannah Glatt, Autumn Hudson, Tu Le, Sarah Mangano, and Victoria McQuiston. The Digital Storytelling Handbook. First, The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT), 2024.

APA: Schugar, J., Penny, C., Glatt, H., Hudson, A., Le, T., Mangano, S., & McQuiston, V. (2024). The Digital Storytelling Handbook (First). The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT).

Chicago: Schugar, Jordan, Chris Penny, Hannah Glatt, Autumn Hudson, Tu Le, Sarah Mangano, and Victoria McQuiston. The Digital Storytelling Handbook. First. The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT), 2024.

Peer Review

This eTextbook went through an Open Peer Review process. The peer review process used the Open SUNY Textbook Peer Review Guidelines, allowing peer reviewers to read the text carefully and evaluate the following:

  • Educational Significance of Content including accuracy, appropriate and  useful materials, valid and significant concepts, models, and skills, and key  elements; 
  • Effectiveness as a Teaching Resource including a clear explanation of the  concepts, alignment of materials to the learning process of the target audience,  and alignment of the learning objectives with course goals; and 
  • Readability and Ease of Use including clarity and comprehensiveness,  consistent writing style, readability and ease of use (logic, sequence, and flow),  appropriateness for target readership level, and quality of Interactivity and  multimedia learning objects.

As a part of the open peer review process, the public review conducted by Dr. Laquana Cooke is made available: Peer Review Document (PDF).

New book: Intro to Journalism Handbook

Posted on by Marc Drumm
two people facing each other

The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of our fifth free and open eTextbook: Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students by Dr. Michael Downing, Professor of English at Kutztown University.

“This book is intended as an open educational resource for beginning journalism students. It contains information on such topics as the First Amendment, 5 Ws (and H), the inverted pyramid, headlines and subheads, AP and in-house style, writing and editing exercises, and guidance on strategies for covering various stories and/or events.

This book essentially replicates the structure of the author’s journalism classes, which are writing-intensive classes. As such, it focuses upon helping student writers begin working on reasonably serious, campus-level journalism assignments as quickly and effectively as possible. The goal is to submit stories, photos, and occasionally video to a university newspaper for publication, all the while following professional standards related to accuracy, clarity, grammar, and AP style.”

Please help us spread the word about our books and web site to further our work to reduce costs for students, bring equity to higher education classrooms, and give faculty the flexibility to design their own learning experiences. All of our books are available to download in both ePub and PDF formats from our Bookshelf.

Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students

Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students

by Michael Downing, Ph.D.

Keywords: Journalism, Writing, News, Reporting, Newspapers
ePub
PDF

Michael Downing Book Cover

About the Book

This book is intended as an open educational resource for beginning journalism students. It contains information on such topics as the First Amendment, 5 Ws (and H), the inverted pyramid, headlines and subheads, AP and in-house style, writing and editing exercises, and guidance on strategies for covering various stories and/or events. 

This book essentially replicates the structure of the author’s journalism classes, which are writing-intensive classes. As such, it focuses upon helping student writers begin working on reasonably serious, campus-level journalism assignments as quickly and effectively as possible. The goal is to submit stories, photos, and occasionally video to a university newspaper for publication, all the while following professional standards related to accuracy, clarity, grammar, and AP style.

Chapters

  1. Introduction
  2. Key Concepts in Journalism
  3. Format and Style
  4. Obits, Hard News, Press Releases, Sports, Options
  5. Checklists for Covering Various Stories
  6. The Impact of Social Media on Journalism
  7. Artificial Intelligence and Journalism
  8. Journalistic Code of Ethics
  9. Careers
  10. BLS: New Analysts, Reporters, Journalists
  11. Exercises, Self Tests, and Useful Tools
  12. Resources
  13. Appendix

General Information

  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Edition: Fifth
  • Subject: Introductory Journalism Handbook

License

cc by-nc

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), except where otherwise noted. 

Usage

Readers

The eTextbooks created as a part of this program are provided in two formats: ePub and PDF. Please refer to our Reader Support section for guidance on which format may be best for you and the device(s) you use.

Instructors

If you are an instructor seeking to use this eTextbook in your own course(s) please feel free to download the ePub and/or PDF file(s) for your use, but make sure to complete our eTextbook Usage Survey (this information is used for program evaluation purposes).

If you are interested in making revisions and edits to this eTextbook please note that this is possible since the book is under a Creative Commons License, which allows you to remix, reuse, revise, and redistribute the eTextbook. Please refer to the Faculty Support Page, specifically looking at Remixing. You can download Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students  Pages File in order to use the original document to revise and remix the eTextbook for your purposes.

Citations

MLA: Downing, Michael. Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students. First, The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT), 2024.

APA: Downing, M. (2024). Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students. (First). The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT).

Chicago: Downing, Michael. Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students. First. The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT), 2024. 

Peer Review

This eTextbook went through an Open Peer Review process. The peer review process used the Open SUNY Textbook Peer Review Guidelines, allowing peer reviewers to read the text carefully and evaluate the following:

  • Educational Significance of Content including accuracy, appropriate and  useful materials, valid and significant concepts, models, and skills, and key  elements; 
  • Effectiveness as a Teaching Resource including a clear explanation of the  concepts, alignment of materials to the learning process of the target audience,  and alignment of the learning objectives with course goals; and 
  • Readability and Ease of Use including clarity and comprehensiveness,  consistent writing style, readability and ease of use (logic, sequence, and flow),  appropriateness for target readership level, and quality of Interactivity and  multimedia learning objects.

As a part of the open peer review process, the public review conducted by Dr. Robert M. Folk is made available: Peer Review Document (PDF).

New book: Web Writing

Posted on by Hannah Glatt
three scrabble tiles spelling "Web"

The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of our second free and open eTextbook: Web Writing, by Dr. A. Nicole Pfannenstiel, Associate Professor of Digital Media at Millersville University.

“Web Writing (2023) by Dr. A Nicole Pfannenstiel is designed to provide a practical, rhetorical approach to web writing and content strategy analysis for students completing advanced writing courses. The eTextbook uses the rhetorical situation and key concepts to help readers/students understand how to write within specific web spaces for specific audiences drawing on appropriate discourse community conventions. It includes a chapter devoted to the rhetorical situation and key concepts to help students analyze and build their understanding of existing communication. It also includes a chapter outlining approaches to content strategy analysis, using the rhetorical situation and key concepts to understand the rich public data provided through social media accounts to support learners understanding effective web writing. The content analysis overview helps students build skills for analyzing writing, for collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative social media data, and for drawing conclusions about content strategy best practices.”

Please help us spread the word about our books and web site to further our work to reduce costs for students, bring equity to higher education classrooms, and give faculty the flexibility to design their own learning experiences. All of our books are available to download in both ePub and PDF formats from our Bookshelf.

Web Writing

Web Writing

by A. Nicole Pfannenstiel, Ph.D.

Keywords: Writing, Web Writing, English
ePub
PDF

Nicole Pfannenstiel Book Cover

About the Book

Web Writing (2023) by Dr. A Nicole Pfannenstiel is designed to provide a practical, rhetorical approach to web writing and content strategy analysis for students completing advanced writing courses. The eTextbook uses the rhetorical situation and key concepts to help readers/students understand how to write within specific web spaces for specific audiences drawing on appropriate discourse community conventions. It includes a chapter devoted to the rhetorical situation and key concepts to help students analyze and build their understanding of existing communication. It also includes a chapter outlining approaches to content strategy analysis, using the rhetorical situation and key concepts to understand the rich public data provided through social media accounts to support learners understanding effective web writing. The content analysis overview helps students build skills for analyzing writing, for collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative social media data, and for drawing conclusions about content strategy best practices. 

Chapters

  1. Introduction to Web Writing
  2. Web Writing with the Rhetorical Situation
  3. Content Strategy and Content Management

General Information

  • Publication Year: 2023
  • Edition: First
  • Subject: Writing

License

cc-by-sa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) as a part of PA-ADOPT, except where otherwise noted. 

Usage

Readers

The eTextbooks created as a part of this program are provided in two formats: ePub and PDF. Please refer to our Reader Support section for guidance on which format may be best for you and the device(s) you use.

Instructors

If you are an instructor seeking to use this eTextbook in your own course(s) please feel free to download the ePub and/or PDF file(s) for your use, but make sure to complete our eTextbook Usage Survey (this information is used for program evaluation purposes).

If you are interested in making revisions and edits to this eTextbook please note that this is possible since the book is under a Creative Commons License, which allows you to remix, reuse, revise, and redistribute the eTextbook. Please refer to the Faculty Support Page, specifically looking at Remixing. You can download Web Writing Pages File in order to use the original document to revise and remix the eTextbook for your purposes.

Citations

MLA: Pfannenstiel, A. Nicole. Web Writing. First, The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT), 2023.

APA: Pfannenstiel, A. N. (2023). Web Writing. (First). The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT).

Chicago: Pfannenstiel, A. Nicole. Web Writing. First. The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT), 2023. 

Peer Review

This eTextbook went through an Open Peer Review process. The peer review process used the Open SUNY Textbook Peer Review Guidelines, allowing peer reviewers to read the text carefully and evaluate the following:

  • Educational Significance of Content including accuracy, appropriate and  useful materials, valid and significant concepts, models, and skills, and key  elements; 
  • Effectiveness as a Teaching Resource including a clear explanation of the  concepts, alignment of materials to the learning process of the target audience,  and alignment of the learning objectives with course goals; and 
  • Readability and Ease of Use including clarity and comprehensiveness,  consistent writing style, readability and ease of use (logic, sequence, and flow),  appropriateness for target readership level, and quality of Interactivity and  multimedia learning objects.

As a part of the open peer review process, the public review conducted by Dr. Emily M. Baldys is made available: Peer Review Document (PDF).