A Student-Created, Open Access, Living Textbook

Most courses in engineering use textbooks to supplement lecture-style learning. Unfortunately, while core Chemical Engineering classes have a well-established repertoire of textbooks, the availability of high quality textbooks for topic-specific elective courses can be limited. A significant challenge related to textbook creation and maintenance for such elective courses is the ever-increasing breadth and depth of knowledge. Many instructors circumvent this lack of a formal textbook through the use of peer-reviewed journal articles. This approach builds a connection between course content and cutting-edge scientific research. However, it can be challenging to provide a broader resource of background knowledge on the field. To augment this approach, we suggest a mechanism to allow for the development of student-led, online textbooks that can provide both general background information on a topic and can be editable in real time to keep pace with scientific developments within a field without requiring the printing of new editions.

We used wikis hosted at <openwetware.org> to allow students to create and update their own textbooks for two classes at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Tissue Engineering (CHEM-ENG 575), and Microfluidics and Microscale Analysis in Materials and Biology (CHEM- ENG 590E). Each year, the instructor identifies a range of topics that require either the development of a new wiki page, or improvement from previous years. Students then have the flexibility to choose a topic related to their own interests, integrating the idea of a flipped classroom with student self-directed learning. Wiki page creation can then be coupled with other student-led activities such as lectures, discussions, or hands-on design projects. Student response to this approach has been extremely positive, citing reasons such as “wiki pages are better to understand and cheap (free),” that “information was compressed and easier,” that they found it “better to learn by contributing,” and that the “wiki is well-synthesized, with concise information and good jumping points.” Additionally, the integration of wikis into the classroom represents an excellent opportunity to cover many aspects of the current ABET accreditation criteria (a)-(k), many of which are more difficult to integrate into the core chemical engineering curriculum.

References:

1. Course website for Tissue Engineering: http://openwetware.org/wiki/ChemEng_590B
2. Course website for Microfluidics and Microscale Analysis in Materials and Biology: http://openwetware.org/wiki/CHEM-ENG590E