SASUF Goes Digital 2022

Growing inequity continues to manifest within and between higher education institutions, highlighting the global plight of the disadvantaged versus the advantaged. In addition to the challenge of high university fees impeding access to education, there are challenges related to the cost and appropriateness of textbooks, particularly as relates to curriculum change, multilingualism and author profile.

In response to this, academics worldwide are exploring the affordances of open textbooks to address social injustices related to the accessibility and relevance of traditional textbooks.

Open textbook development processes allow authors to take control of the what and how of the publishing process through more open, representative authorship, quality assurance and publishing processes.

This interactive session provides an overview of open textbook development approaches, focusing on sustainability and collaboration. The session also draws attention to the capacity building and support required at an institutional level to support this work as part of institutional transformation efforts to address social injustice in higher education.

This workshop is organized by the SASUF-funded Open Education for Social Justice initiative and will be presented by members of the Digital Open Textbooks for Development initiative at the University of Cape Town and collaborators from University West and University of Gothenburg.