Second Quarter Update - July 2024
April - June
The second quarter of the WisTech Open projects wrapped up last month with excellent progress. Below you will find general WisTech Open updates, as well as updates from each of their respective editors. Note that the Open RN brand, textbooks, and related resources will all be maintained and sustained through WisTech Open. Remember, if you would like to get involved with one of these projects, or have an idea for a new project, visit www.cvtc.edu/WisTech!
General WisTech Open Updates
We added a new textbook into the WisTech fold - Innovative Business Mindset! The publication should be available this fall. This project will have the potential impact of 669 students with a cost-savings of $107,502 annually.
Nursing Dosage calculations has been added to WisTech Open as a supplemental resource for Wisconsin health and nursing students. A formal release of this text will be available this fall and can be found here.
A survey was sent out to all Wisconsin technical colleges to determine interest in developing custom Anatomy & Physiology resources. Survey results indicated that faculty are interested in both a textbook and a supplemental workbook, pending funding. This project has a potential impact of saving over 10,000 Wisconsin students $2.3 million annually.
Conversations are in the works to secure a printing partner. We are optimistic that they will be identified soon!
We are actively working on a sustainability plan for WisTech Open, to maintain existing work indefinitely while also being agile for the development of new content.
Project team attended the Effordability Summit at UW-Stout, to share about WisTech Open, Open RN, and to learn from others.
The Next Gen RN project director and instructional designer presented at the Effordability Summit on how multiple generative AI platforms are being used to create engaging case studies for the Open RN nursing OER textbooks.
The Open RN project director presented updates on nursing OER textbooks at the WTCS Nursing Faculty Summit at NTC on April 19th.
The Next Gen RN grant has funded access for all faculty from the 16 Wisconsin technical colleges to LibreText’s ADAPT platform and the Casegen RN app through June 30, 2025. ADAPT is a open homework system with question banks shared with verified instructors. Read more about ADAPT here. Faculty can request a personal ADAPT account by going to the ADAPT home page, clicking on “Register,” then requesting an instructor account. Casegen RN is a web-based app that uses pre-programmed prompts and generative AI to help nursing faculty quickly create NCLEX Next Generation-style case studies on any topic that can be edited according to their preferences. Read more about CasegenRN in this User Guide. WTCS Nursing Deans have been provided access to the login credentials for Casegen RN.
The Next Gen RN grant project created over 60 “RN Recap” videos and 9 interactive case studies using multiple generative AI platforms based on the Open RN Nursing Health Alterations OER textbook. The RN Recap videos are 3-5 minutes overviews of health conditions discussed in the textbook. They were designed for students with auditory learning styles and have been uploaded to an Open RN YouTube playlist for easy access. The H5P case studies encourage students to immediately apply content to a brief patient scenario about a specific condition as they learn the content. Here is an example of a COPD H5P case study. The RN Recap videos and H5P case studies were vigorously reviewed and edited by the Open RN project director to ensure accuracy and alignment with the peer-reviewed Open RN Health Alterations textbook that is based on WTCS statewide nursing curriculum.
The Next Gen RN grant ended on June 30, 2024. Over 60 NCLEX Next Generation-style case studies, bowties, and other Next Generation-style questions were created and shared by WTCS nursing faculty with CC BY 4.0 licensing. Additionally, hundreds of other Next-Generation style questions were created by the Open RN team and linked in the Open RN nursing OER textbooks for free student access. To date, there have been over 14,000 student submissions of formative assessments linked from the books that provide immediate feedback as students apply content to patient scenarios.
As part of the EduStat grant project, the Open RN team created 15 telehealth virtual simulations that have been incorporated into the Health Alterations book. These telehealth simulations encourage nursing students to consider the barriers that patients living in rural communities may face regarding health care. More information about these Telehealth simulations can be accessed here.
Project team members are participating in the planning of the Wisconsin Open Education Symposium series. Visit the web page for developments!
Project team members are participating in the planning of the Wisconsin OER Action Planning event, sponsored by MHEC. More information can be found here.
Textbook Updates
Blueprint Reading: The majority of the first five chapters have been written, including explanations and visual examples of the beginning fundamental principles of the print reading. Related student exercises for these topics are also in place. The project’s faculty workgroup has been established as well to aid in and oversee the project. Submitted by Mark Lorier, Editor
Business: The Innovative Business Mindset was a text that was developed previously by faculty at CVTC. This past quarter, content was migrated from a Google doc to Pressbooks and underwent a statewide peer-review. Revisions are currently being made and the book is expected to be finalized by August 2024. The peer-review and editorial process are being funded through WisTech Open. Submitted by Vince Mussehl, Project Director
Digital Literacy for Healthcare: For Digital Literacy, the Using Computers in Healthcare OER has undergone the initial review. Revisions are being made and a second review will be conducted soon. After the review, we will revise and prepare the OER to be available for students this fall. Submitted by Brigitte Niedzwiecki, Editor
Early Childhood Education: Outlines for both the Foundations of ECE and Family and Community Relationships textbooks were completed. Workgroups have been formed for both textbooks. WTCS faculty have split into chapter workgroups and the authors are beginning the writing process. As the CVTC curriculum is being developed, faculty have started creating H5P activities, collecting images and videos to go along with the textbooks. Submitted by Amanda Dohms, Editor
EMT: Outline for the text is complete and interest forms were sent out to WTCS faculty. Writing has begun and currently more authors are being sought. Submitted by Dr. Suzanne Martens, Editor
Medical Terminology (2e): Feedback was received from seventeen peer reviewers this quarter and revisions were made based on their feedback. Here is an overview of updates made to the second edition. The online version of the second edition was published June 1, 2024 and is available at this link: https://wtcs.pressbooks.pub/medterm/. It has also been uploaded in the LibreTexts library (https://med.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Medicine/Medical_Terminology_2e) where it can easily be remixed with their remixing tool. Submitted by Kim Ernstmeyer, Editor
Nursing Health Alterations: Peer review by WTCS nursing faculty ended June 15, 2024 and revisions are currently being made based on their feedback. Based on WTCS Workgroup request, brief video overviews were created for each health alteration, referred to as “RN Recap” videos that have also been uploaded to Open RN YouTube Playlist for easy student access. RN Recap work was funded by the Next Gen RN grant. The online book will be published in Pressbooks August, 2024 and can be viewed at https://wtcs.pressbooks.pub/healthalts/. Submitted by Kim Ernstmeyer, Editor
Nursing Health Promotion: The first seven chapters will be published in Pressbooks for use in Fall 2024 courses and can be viewed at https://wtcs.pressbooks.pub/healthpromo/. These chapters include course competencies related to Teaching/Learning, Healthy Lifestyles, Healthy Diets, Family Dynamics, Mental Health Concepts, Maladaptive Coping, and Mental Health Conditions. The new state curriculum and NANDA diagnoses from the 2024-2026 Nursing Diagnosis book have been incorporated into these chapters. The remaining chapters for Health Promotion course competencies will be developed and undergo peer review in Fall 2024. Chapters used from a Maternal-Child book for CHA1 and CHA2 will also be developed and added to the online book through Spring 2025. Submitted by Kim Ernstmeyer, Editor
Nursing Fundamentals (2e): Over 700 revisions have been made to the live online book as the second edition. The same URL is used to access this book. Updates are based on the 2023 NCLEX-RN Test Plan, updated statewide nursing curriculum, and WTCS Course Lead feedback. NCLEX Next Generation-style questions have also been added to all of the chapters using Next Gen RN grant funding. Here is a working document that summarizes updates made to the live book (with those in progress highlighted in yellow). The “second edition” will be finalized by mid-August 2024. Submitted by Kim Ernstmeyer, Editor
Nursing Management (2e): The second edition Nursing Management and Professional Concepts is in the process of active revision and updates based on the 2023 NCLEX-RN test plan, the recently updated WTCS state nursing curriculum, and feedback received from WTCS Course Leads. New NCLEX Next Generation-style case studies were developed for each chapter by an industry nurse leader who was a member of the Open RN Advisory Committee. The second edition will be ready for student use by mid-August 2024 using the same URL as the first edition. Submitted by Liz Christman, Editor
Nursing Mental Health (2e): No work on this book this quarter. Plan for Upcoming Quarters: A survey will be sent to WTCS Course leads in Fall 2024. The lead author will review and update the live book in Fall 2024 with updated references and hyperlinks, and updates will be made based on the 2023 NCLEX-RN Test Plan, updated state nursing curriculum, and WTCS Course Lead feedback. The “second edition” of the online book is scheduled for June 2025. Submitted by Kim Ernstmeyer, Editor
Respiratory Therapy: This is the first edition of the Respiratory Therapy Laboratory Book. Email was sent to WTCS respiratory therapy faculty regarding participation in the workgroup review process and faculty have been selected and agreed to participate. Oxygen Administration and Life support content has been written. Research for chapters on hyperinflation, bronchial hygiene and arterial punctures are in development. H5P activities continue to be developed and added. Met with Instructional designer regarding Pressbooks outline and competency worksheets. Submitted by Kirsten Holbrook, Editor
2nd Quarter WisTech Open Users
- 600,000 users
- 1.2 million page views
Since 2021
- 7.6 million users
- 14.7 million page views