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Creating and Hosting OER using LibGuides: Development & Design

 

Screenshot of Openstax Chemistry 2e textbookThe teaching faculty wanted to revise an existing OER chemistry text for their engineering students. At the time, Openstax allowed visitors to download the XML source files for their Chemistry 1e textbook, which the faculty felt they could adapt without reinventing the wheel.

While the XML would need to be cleaned up and the CSS recreated, migrating the core HTML and MathML looked manageable. Before committing, we migrated a test page with equations and verified that we could display them correctly using the MathJax JavaScript library. 

The textbook and files are no longer available on the Openstax website, which is a strong argument for archiving your source files before starting any OER transformation project!

Step 1: Test & Import Content

Our first step was to secure the Openstax content and conduct the initial import. We:
 

  1. Downloaded and archived Openstax's XML source files.
     
  2. Conducted "proof of concept" testing to ensure the content could be migrated, updated, and restyled. 
     
  3. Decided which content to include and created the textbook's "shell."
     
  4. Developed and conducted the migration workflow, including steps to pre-process Openstax's XML before importing the resulting HTML into LibGuides' Rich Text/HTML fields.
     

We used Notepad++ and Adobe Dreamweaver for batch revisions prior to importing.

Not surprisingly, we had to troubleshoot and tweak the migration workflow throughout the migration process. Fortunately, the teaching faculty knew enough HTML and MathML to catch issues and report them to the group!

Step 2: Revise Content

Next, the teaching faculty took over for several weeks to revise the source content. They:
 

  1. Revised or replaced text and images.
     
  2. Revised page names, section headers, and example problems.
     
  3. Updated or prepared new equations in MathML using Microsoft Office's Equation Editor tools.
     
  4. Prepared and added revised problem sets and assessments.


While the teaching faculty focused exclusively on content updates, needless to say these revisions wreaked havoc on the underlying HTML, especially on imported section divs and classes that would be employed later to apply styling.

Fortunately, enough artifacts of the original structure remained to perform batch corrections.

Step 3: Cleanup & Launch

Once the content was complete, we were able to clean up the HTML and apply CSS. We:
 

  1. Verified numbering and anchors for all sections, figures, tables, and examples.
     
  2. Restored and verified all CSS-related divs, ids, and classes.
     
  3. Developed and applied guide-level CSS.
     
  4. Repaired any outlying content and display issues.
     

After cleaning up the HTML and applying CSS, we advised the teaching faculty on strategies for making any additional revisions, as well as when to let us revise the content for them.

In short, revise in HTML view when you can, and only touch exactly what you need to update!