An Open Pedagogy Project
Interested to learn more about open educational resources, open pedagogy, and/or social annotation?
Want your students to earn recognition for contributions to other students' learning?
We are seeking teachers who would like to assign some part of the free and open OER textbook How Arguments Work: A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College in Fall 2022 and want to invite their students to submit editorial suggestions, original examples, or videos that could become part of the textbook.
The 2022 How Arguments Work Student Contribution Contest offers cash prizes and/or certificates of recognition to all college students who submit contributions or suggestions responding to some part of the textbook How Arguments Work: A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College.
In association with the contest, we will offer several professional development webinars this fall on OER and social annotation of course readings. These will be directed to teachers using How Argument Work but will be open to all.
How can the textbook How Arguments Work: A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College be better? Describe a suggested change or create original content, such as an original example or video, that could be added to the text.
One $100 prize, two $50 prizes, and six $25 prizes (as Amazon gift cards)
A Certificate of Recognition for Editorial Contribution for all participants
Recognition on the textbook's Student Editorial Contributors page
Write 200-400 words
Create an original image (with alt text)
Create an original 3-10 minute video
Give an example of a concept described in the book which helps to make that concept more relatable or understandable (and appealing/interesting/relevant to students).
Give directions for a practice exercise that could be incorporated into the book.
Share an original sample essay they are willing to include in the textbook that illustrates a textbook concept.
Create and link to a video explanation of a concept from the book or an example of a concept.
Give an alternate or critical perspective to a claim the book presents.
Ask a question that will lead toward clarification of an important concept. This includes identifying writing in the book that is ambiguous or confusing and explaining why it was confusing.
Suggest a strategy that will help students use the skills described in the text, perhaps overcoming an emotional, intellectual, or logistical barrier.
Respond thoughtfully and constructively to one of the public annotations already posted.
Note: We appreciate any proofreading notes for grammar, formatting consistency, and accessibility. These will not qualify for monetary awards, but they will certainly merit a certificate of recognition for the editorial contribution.
The How Arguments Work Teacher's Guide provides sample course plans, slides, quizzes, and many other resources to support adoption.
Coming soon: a student-oriented video and a sample homework assignment (available on Google docs and Canvas Commons).
Anna Mills will host webinars for teachers to
introduce the contest,
answer questions about teaching with the textbook,
support teachers to assign and easily or automatically give gradebook credit for student comments on the textbook using collaborative annotation software such as Hypothesis, Perusall, or Google comments.
Register below for an upcoming webinar:
Please send a note to info@howargumentswork.org if you would like to get emails about additional webinars and other resources.
This contest can serve as a test case for open pedagogy projects to enhance the quality of existing OER texts. It will also form the basis for survey research into student attitudes toward open pedagogy, social annotation, and OER. See the Project Collaborators page for more on the OpenEd Group's support for this research.
Our hope is that this contest can
enhance students’ learning experience in writing courses this semester
encourage students to see the value of their own reflections and contributions for other students beyond their class
help the textbook authors and editors improve How Arguments Work
add examples that make it more relevant and engaging for future students.
How Arguments Work has been used at 45 colleges and has received positive reviews from instructors posting on the Open Textbook Library, Merlot, and OER Commons as well as from six anonymous academic peer reviewers. The book has received over 250,000 pageviews, and some 170 instructors have downloaded its Learning Management System resources on Canvas Commons.
“I've been using your text for almost a year now, and I think it's fantastic."--Susan Stafinbil, Arapahoe Community College. See more praise from teachers and students.
For an overview of the textbook’s approach, see the ASCCC OERI webinar “How Arguments Work: Inside an OER Text for Composition and Rhetoric” or the Young Rhetoricians conference presentation "OER for Equity: Critical Pedagogy with an Open Writing Textbook."