1 Guiding principles

Like any project, creating a work for publication such as an open textbook or other educational resource requires planning. Before you can decide what approach is best for your resource and how you intend it to be used, there are some key considerations to keep in mind. Starting with the guiding principles of open educational resource development, this section outlines what to consider before developing your resource or pursuing its open publication.

Always keep the audience front of mind.  Authors should have a clear understanding of the book’s eventual readers, why it is being created, what need it fills, and how to keep the content culturally relevant.

Get support from others. The RMIT Open Publishing Team has created pathways for authors to work with and get input from librarians, instructional designers, potential adopters, and students, so the finished book is effective and valuable.

Model good practices. Use this author guide to learn how to incorporate accessibility, structure content in modules, track glossary terms, properly tag key concepts, and enter citations and references.

Remember that creation can be iterative. Content can be expanded on, revised, and improved over time: the first release doesn’t need to include everything. Start with the core concepts, and then add case studies, media, quizzes, assignments, question banks, and slide decks.