Software Support for Writing Wiki Textbooks

Emerging information technologies are enabling new forms of content delivery. Recent research shows that students are capable of writing a peer-reviewed textbook for their own course. The pedagogical advantages are numerous. Peer review is essential for managing the process in a timely matter. There are many administrative tasks, e. g., assigning topics, assigning reviewers, getting feedback to authors, calculating grades. Performing them without a specialized software system is a big burden on the course staff. The Expertiza project is building a software system to manage creation and peer review of a wiki textbook, automating features such as double-blind feedback between author and reviewer, and support for flow management to allow different chapters of the text to be written and reviewed at different times during the course. It promises to bring wiki textbook-writing to a much wider audience.