In this phase, you’ll work with your editorial team to create carefully thought-out and well-written interactive exercises to move students from being passive consumers of content to active participants in their own learning. Keep in mind that gradable content, such as activities, quizzes, or assignments, will be required. You can also select approved videos, audio, and external web resources to promote further learning and engagement.
Before choosing and developing your interactive content, think about the following questions.
- What are the specific things students are supposed to learn in/from this chapter?
- What is the best way for them to demonstrate that they have learned these?
Remember that an exercise doesn’t have to be long to be effective. Often, a short, targeted activity is the most effective way to help readers assess how well they have understood something and/or how well they can apply what they have learned. Using different forms of interactivity also encourages different ways of thinking about and applying concepts and information, so consider how to best use various interactive resources throughout your content.
Keep in mind that when third-party readings are licensed to appear in your interactive ebook, that license doesn’t automatically extend to using language or images from those readings in the interactive materials you create. Instead, any third-party content used in interactive pieces that appear throughout each chapter must undergo a separate licensing review process, even if it has already been approved for inclusion in the ebook.
This licensing restriction means that author-editors should create original activities to accompany outside readings or should be careful to properly cite any content taken directly from borrowed readings. Any third-party content in activities should follow traditional academic citation standards, even when those same third-party materials are included (and already cited) in your text. This includes citations for the following interactive content that is sourced from readings:
- Quizzes, including questions and answers taken from a third-party text
- Flashcards
- Discussions
- Text excerpts under 350 words
- Skill-building exercises that repurpose third-party materials
Beyond these best licensing and academic practices, there are also practical reasons for these requirements. It’s important to use original wording and cite sources in case third-party readings change for later terms.
Interactivity, such as pop-up key terms or author-led commentary, may be added to third-party readings as long as it is clearly distinguished as author-editor contributions. Your editorial team will prepare any interactive content within a third-party source as Cognella-branded interactivity to help differentiate author-editor content from the borrowed materials.
Additional resources: For further information about licensing restrictions and fair use guidelines, ask your project editor for the Editor’s Toolkit: Copyright and Fair Use.
