Reading Your Anthology Textbook
Reading Your Anthology Textbook
Anthologies are the bridge we build: the most direct bridge between writer and reader, and a bridge to new concepts. In the introduction, you get the condensed version of the topic. In the ensuing essays, you get the unfiltered perspective of people who actually live the experiences they are writing about: something of a rarity in traditional academic writing.1
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts by different authors.2
For this textbook, your compiler is a subject matter expert and Mesa Community College faculty member, who selected chapter readings from various open educational resources (OER) to ensure alignment to your course competencies and prepare you for real-world application. As a result of this search, your textbook does not have the traditional introduction, body, conclusion, or summary which you may have become accustomed. Each chapter was selected to provide you with content knowledge and may have different authors and a different voice. Additionally, your textbook is an ebook which you can access now and after class, and from any device with an internet connection.
To prepare for reading your textbook review your Module Overview and make note of the objectives and checklist tasks so that you can focus your reading and note-taking.
One of the many benefits of open-source materials (not all OER will be anthologies) is that your textbook is FREE!
What is OER?
Wouldn’t it have been nice if a resource you found and wanted to use — like an image you found through a Google search — and the creator of that image somehow said to you, “I’m free to use, no strings attached, you don’t need to ask for my permission because it is already granted”?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are an answer to that need. OER is a subset of FREE and openly licensed works that are educational in nature. OER is all about SHARING.
There are millions of educational resources out there that are available for others to freely use and share. There are all kinds of materials, like textbooks, streaming videos, software, as well as images and multimedia.
OER explained in less than 2 minutes
Here’s a video produced in Washington state that explains the concept of OER in less than 2 minutes:
Video source: “What is OER?” by The Council of Chief State School Officers is licensed under CC BY 4.0
