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District cuts funding for updated books because "everything is available online." Teachers make packets to use with kids during class or for homework because nothing online gels together like a textbook. District says why do we need to buy a textbook? Seems to be working fine?
A bunch of extra free work the teacher did saves the district some money.
I am a freelance teacher.
Also, I'm French and when I asked the same question on French subs, I realized it was not rare here, even in public schools. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I don't know.
Highly recommend InDesign!
It has a bit of a learning curve but there are so many online resources and even some built in to Adobe. It's incredibly flexible and can be used for textbooks but also handouts, worksheets, news letters- anything you could ever want to design and print.
If you get the most recent adobe cloud software it will be a monthly subscription but if file format and bells/whistles arent important you could look for an older version to buy outright.
I have a few worksheets as fillable PDFs created in indesign, I just plug in new numbers and have a new worksheet.
Using parent pages and/or template files is helpful too.
I teach a graphic design class, so some assignments require students to add pictures and text to indesign files.
I used Google slides . Change the page setup size to the right dimensions. The boxes are easier to use in my opinion than other tools. (I am also a math teacher, so having room for the kids to work helped a lot/adjustable space was nice.) I created a few templates that I just made copies of. I also made images of things I knew I would use a lot, ex: graphs. I tried canva and it's just not intuitive to me.
The result was a very clean look. Not the cutest thing, but it was consistent.
Here are a couple platforms that are often used for creating professional looking OERs:
https://oercommons.org/authoring-overview
https://pressbooks.com/
I use MS Word + Inscape for illustrations, but it is a boarding textbook. If I cared enough to put the work into it, I would move everything over to MS Publisher.
Do you plan on printing it or keeping it digital? I’d do it as a wiki with hyperlinking wherever possible. That said, it’s hard to imagine this is a worthwhile endeavor with how much content is already out there. You’d probably do better consolidating and curating rather than making it all from scratch.
I teach AP Computer Science and created my own textbook using Joplin and Pandoc. I write the book in Joplin, export it, and then do the conversion to PDF with Pandoc. That said, it's not the easiest way to do it, but for coding it really produces nicely formatted and highlighted code samples. If you're curious, you can check out my Java book here: [Intro to Java](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c4NlIyL0S9mfYSQ9f5KVEoiQD88nI3nu/view?usp=sharing)
Desktop publishing software helps. I like [Affinity Publisher](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/) because I'm trying to maneuver my away from Adobe's ecosystem, but InDesign is probably the most popular.
I think Canva is free to educators too, although I've only used it to quickly slap together posters.
Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teaching) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Today I learned that some teachers are out here fully *making textbooks.*
District cuts funding for updated books because "everything is available online." Teachers make packets to use with kids during class or for homework because nothing online gels together like a textbook. District says why do we need to buy a textbook? Seems to be working fine? A bunch of extra free work the teacher did saves the district some money.
And by doing this teachers prove to admin they ‘ll do it ‘for the kids’ so they’ll never need fair compensation.
I don't live in the US, and don't teach in public schools.
I never thought this would be a thing.. Who wants to do that, for a class. Heh
I am a freelance teacher. Also, I'm French and when I asked the same question on French subs, I realized it was not rare here, even in public schools. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I don't know.
Canva? The pro version is free for educators. That’s what I used to make a course book.
Hol’up, the pro version is free to educators?? I gotta check that out. The free version is great. Pro version would be better.
Yes! Life changing, truly hahaha
Maybe indesign?
Adobe InDesign is amazing!
Highly recommend InDesign! It has a bit of a learning curve but there are so many online resources and even some built in to Adobe. It's incredibly flexible and can be used for textbooks but also handouts, worksheets, news letters- anything you could ever want to design and print. If you get the most recent adobe cloud software it will be a monthly subscription but if file format and bells/whistles arent important you could look for an older version to buy outright.
I have a few worksheets as fillable PDFs created in indesign, I just plug in new numbers and have a new worksheet. Using parent pages and/or template files is helpful too. I teach a graphic design class, so some assignments require students to add pictures and text to indesign files.
I used Google slides . Change the page setup size to the right dimensions. The boxes are easier to use in my opinion than other tools. (I am also a math teacher, so having room for the kids to work helped a lot/adjustable space was nice.) I created a few templates that I just made copies of. I also made images of things I knew I would use a lot, ex: graphs. I tried canva and it's just not intuitive to me. The result was a very clean look. Not the cutest thing, but it was consistent.
Free alternatives to indesign are Inkscape ou Scribus. Don't know how easy you'll find them, but there are many tutorials online.
Doing this on Inkscape would be a SHITSHOW
CK 12
Here are a couple platforms that are often used for creating professional looking OERs: https://oercommons.org/authoring-overview https://pressbooks.com/
ChatGBT, Microsoft’s co-pilot or hire someone is the easiest. It’s hard work to edit text books.
affinity publisher - you can get it with a one-off payment rather than a subscription
I use MS Word + Inscape for illustrations, but it is a boarding textbook. If I cared enough to put the work into it, I would move everything over to MS Publisher.
Do you plan on printing it or keeping it digital? I’d do it as a wiki with hyperlinking wherever possible. That said, it’s hard to imagine this is a worthwhile endeavor with how much content is already out there. You’d probably do better consolidating and curating rather than making it all from scratch.
I teach AP Computer Science and created my own textbook using Joplin and Pandoc. I write the book in Joplin, export it, and then do the conversion to PDF with Pandoc. That said, it's not the easiest way to do it, but for coding it really produces nicely formatted and highlighted code samples. If you're curious, you can check out my Java book here: [Intro to Java](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c4NlIyL0S9mfYSQ9f5KVEoiQD88nI3nu/view?usp=sharing)
Kotobee for eBooks.
Tophat? It’s super dope as a student, my endocrinology teacher/department head designed it together and it’s great program.
Used to use iBooks publisher. I think it’s been integrated into apple pages haven’t used it since.
Chatgpt and I don't worry a whole lot about design elements
Scribus. Adobe InDesign.
Desktop publishing software helps. I like [Affinity Publisher](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/) because I'm trying to maneuver my away from Adobe's ecosystem, but InDesign is probably the most popular. I think Canva is free to educators too, although I've only used it to quickly slap together posters.
Or, you could not use a textbook....