Call for Authors: UNIV 301 Gen Ed ePortfolio Course Reader

Call for Authors - UNIV 301 Gen Ed ePortfolio Course Reader

We are excited to share that we are seeking authors for an edited Open Educational Resource (OER) tentatively titled Wildcat Connections. This OER will include many voices and perspectives of the Wildcat community, including students, alumni, faculty, administrators, and staff. The purpose of this community text is to engage current students in the process of reflection and meaning-making during their General Education experience at the University of Arizona. 

 

Overview of Wildcat Connections

This reader will engage students in the process of reflecting on and making meaning of their General Education courses as they refine their General Education ePortfolio, a curated digital portfolio that highlights their accomplishment of the General Education Learning Outcomes. This OER will be the textbook that every student completing the new General Education program at the UA will read in UNIV 301: General Education ePortfolio, and is the companion piece to Wildcat Perspectives, the reader used in UNIV 101: Introduction to General Education Experience.  Wildcat Connections will have three parts that will align with the pedagogical scaffolding of the ePortfolio design process: Part 1: Collect and Reflect, Part 2: Curate and Critique, and Part 3: Connect and Communicate. We invite submissions that touch on one of these three topics. 

 

The Ask

If you are interested in authoring a chapter in this reader, please complete the Call for Authors form by Tuesday, February 15. In addition to welcoming people who identify as “writers”, we welcome authors with no previous professional writing experience, from various backgrounds and interests. We are most interested in authors who have enthusiasm for sharing their personal connection to General Education and the meaning-making they have derived from their own learning experiences. Current undergraduate students who have completed their General Education and/or are graduating from the University in the near future, graduate students, and alumni are encouraged to author a chapter. The proposal form is simple and outlines the commitments you are making should you be selected as an author for this reader.

 

The Commitment

Authors will be asked to write 500-1,000 words on their chapter topic in a narrative style essay. Your initial draft will be given feedback by our editing team and returned to you. You will then address and integrate the feedback in your essay. Your revised essay, your second draft, will undergo another review by our editors and be shared back with you for your final revisions. For both rounds of revisions, you will have two weeks to return your revised essays. Authors should anticipate writing, editing, and responding to emails from the editing team from mid-spring through mid-summer. See the Timeline provided for details.

The final proof of your essay will be shared with you for a final look before it is added to Pressbooks, our publication platform. Final formatting and editorial decisions will be made at the discretion of the editing team. 

 

The Timeline

Call for Authors form submission deadline	February 15
Authors notified that they have been selected and chapter topic	February 21
Reader kickoff meeting for authors	March 1, 3:30PM via Zoom
First draft due	April 1
First draft revisions sent to authors	May 1
Second drafts due to editors	May 16
Second draft revisions sent to authors	May 30
Final drafts due to editors	June 13

We hope you consider applying to author a chapter in this reader that UA students will read as a part of their General Education program! 

 

Questions?

Devon Thomas devonthomas@arizona.edu 

Tom Murray tam@arizona.edu