Get Involved With OpenIntro

Leave your mark on world education

OpenIntro resources are used by tens of thousands of students every year, we have over 5000 Verified Teachers on our platform, and schools use OpenIntro materials all over the world. When we build resources, we're building for a large, diverse community of teachers, students, and practitioners.

While our staff is all-volunteer, there are professional benefits to working on OpenIntro. Our staff have received recognition within their departments and schools for their OpenIntro achievements, make trips to conferences to share the resources they've built, and have advanced their own expertise through the development and review process we practice when creating new resources.

We welcome teachers of all experience levels who are interested in getting involved. Most projects are run in collaboration with a senior member of the OpenIntro Team who will serve as an advisor to ensure the project successfully plugs in with the broader ecosystem of OpenIntro resources.

Some contributions require as little as 2 hours of your time, while others can require dozens of hours per month on an ongoing basis. No matter the amount of time you have to contribute, there's a project for you. With this flexibility, we are looking to scale the teachers developing OpenIntro's tightly-integrated set of resources.

Data Set of the Week

Interesting new data sets are perhaps the biggest "in demand" item in Statistics education. This project pools the effort of teachers and other data-interested individuals as we prepare to launch a Data Set of the Week project. In the long run, this effort will lead to a large, fresh data repository for Statistics educators and learners. Generally, we anticipate data sets will be found in news, journal articles, and government websites, but other sources are also possible.

This project's Senior Advisor is Nick Paterno.

Express interest in working on this project
 

Data Hunters

Individuals who would be willing to spend a bit of time every other month to find and prepare an interesting data set to share with the OpenIntro community and beyond.

  • Tips and guidance will be provided on strategies for finding interesting data sets, so if you aren't sure on the best way to do this, that's 100% okay.
  • Comfort in a scripting software (e.g. R) to help with data set preparation would be helpful but is not strictly required.
  • Expected time commitment: about 3 hours per month for at least 6 months. We anticipate your time on this project will be focused on finding and preparing a new data set every 2 months to share with the OpenIntro community.
  • This role can be nicely paired with the Exercise Developer role. If you found some interesting data, it will of course be easier to write some new exercises! (Data Hunters also get flexibility in time requirements in other roles.)

Resources related to Introduction to Modern Statistics

Introduction to Modern Statistics was released in 2021 and is quickly gaining traction in classrooms. We are looking for one or more teachers who would develop resources around IMS that can be used by others teaching with this textbook, such as lecture slides, working on a MyOpenMath course template, or videos.

This project's Senior Advisors are the authors of IMS: Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel and Jo Hardin.

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Slides Developer

Develop new lecture slides for use with this textbook.

  • The expected time commitment is 40-120 hours over a 4-month period to develop slides for a minimum of 8 chapters. This development time should coincide with lecturing in a class that uses IMS.
  • Proficiency in R Markdown is preferred, which is the recommended underlying format for the slides.
  • Instructors are encouraged to utilize existing slides they have from past courses in their development, provided those slides are original content to avoid copyright or licensing problems. This may aid in reducing the required time commitment.
  • Developers for slides will be attributed on the cover slide, which is a helpful way to get recognition for this work. See this set of slides if you would like to see an example of how attribution is shown.

MyOpenMath Developer

Work on a course template for MyOpenMath.

  • The expected time commitment is 20-50 hours over a 4-month period. This development time should coincide with lecturing in a class that uses IMS.
  • The expectation is that you will use MyOpenMath for running your course while using IMS, allowing you to build out your course.
  • Following the completion of your course, you'll then make any tweaks that seem necessary to make the course template generally useful. (This step is expected to be minor.)
  • If you would like to help maintain the course template, this would be appreciated.

Video Creator

Create videos to post on the OpenIntroOrg YouTube channel.

  • The expected time commitment is 20-50 hours over a 4-month period to create 4-10 videos.
  • The anticipated video style is screencast with voiceover, such as slides that you speak over. We do not expect anything perfect, but getting a "successful take" will likely require multiple attempts to record a sufficient quality video.
  • We have experience coaching people on creating videos. You do not need past experience, but you do need to have a computer that you can use to create the videos.
  • Optional: If you would like to add simple effects, we can purchase video editing software for you to use. We also can provide you with a microphone if you do not have a sufficient quality microphone (some earbuds have surprisingly good microphones and will be okay as is).

Sample Exams

A regular request from Verified Teachers is access to more sample exams and exercises, which helps them understand what types of questions other teachers are using as well as offers a sort-of question bank that they can use to create their own exams.

This project is being led by Christine Spinka.

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Exam Contributors

Teachers who would be willing to share exams with Verified Teachers on openintro.org. The expected work load is about 2 hours and is as follows.

  • Sending us a note to express interest, which we think will take about 5 minutes.
  • Once you hear back from us, sharing your exam files, which we anticipate will require 30 minutes of your time to prepare.
  • An initial discussion with an OpenIntro Staff member that will take about 30 minutes. The topics will be around any questions the Staff member has on the shared files as well as understanding your preferences for how the exams be shared: anonymously, how you want your work cited, etc.
  • Once the files have been reviewed by OpenIntro Staff and prepared by us for posting for the Verified Teacher community, we'll have a second 45-minute phone call to do a final review of the set of files.

Sample Syllabus

Teachers often like to see how others structure their courses. If you are up for your syllabus being posted on openintro.org, please send us an email at admin@openintro.org and include the syllabus as an email attachment. If you later change your mind and would like your syllabus removed from the website, we will also do so in a timely manner (usually within a week).

Note that syllabi are typically not considered sensitive and so are shared publicly. If you would prefer your syllabus be shared only with Verified Teachers, please note this in your email.

Thanks for your consideration in sharing your syllabus with others!

Exercise Bank and Exercise Book

We hope to build a platform where teachers can comfortably share exercises, and we are recruiting teachers to fulfill this mission in the following projects:

  1. MyOpenMath Conversion. Bring all of OpenIntro's textbook exercises into the MyOpenMath software.
  2. Question Bank for Verified Teachers. Provide a broader and more organized set of exercises. Access would be limited to Verified Teachers.
  3. Longform Exercises. Most introductory statistics exercises take a proficient student less than 10 minutes to complete. We are exploring new types of exercises that require multiple stages in a controlled environment.
  4. Exercise Book. Big Publishers frequently undermine the ability for students to use older editions, because they move around exercises. What if we helped these older editions remain useful by letting teachers assign reading from any edition and then assigned homework from an open-source Exercise Book? The book will be curated by a set of editors, with teachers contributing exercises used in the book will also be featured in the book.
  5. Exercises Go Epic. In the long run, perhaps 2-3 years from now, we want OpenIntro to have such a large Question Bank that the large majority of the questions can be made fully public with solutions (with a question being made public only if the author agreed for that to be so). A smaller set of exercises would remain private to Verified Teachers.

We are in the early stage of this project and are looking for exercise authors/contributors. As this area evolves into the 2nd stage of the Exercise Book, we anticipate one or more contributors will become Project Leads and Book Editors. Below are detailed descriptions of the open roles, and infrastructure to facilitate this project will be built as we approach critical mass for the project to kickoff.

This project's Senior Advisor is Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel.

Express interest in working on this project
 

One-Off Exercise Contributors

Teachers who would be willing to share existing, original exercises. We offer a variety of controls over the level of sharing, with the minimum level being to all Verified Teachers.

  • We are looking for contributions of at least 25 single-part exercises, 10 multi-part exercises, or some equivalent mix of single and multi-part exercises. Longform questions also fall into this space and would be equivalent to approximately 5 multi-part exercises.
  • Exercises will be entered through an online interface.
  • You will have the option of specifying how you want your exercises to be used and shared.
  • We expect that the total time contribution, assuming the exercises have already been written, will be about 2-4 hours to enter the questions into our Question Bank.

Contributor to MyOpenMath Exercise Bank Conversion

Many teachers are using OpenIntro's books with MyOpenMath, and this project is about getting all exercises from the textbooks into MyOpenMath.

  • Each exercise conversion typically takes 3-7 minutes, and we are looking for people who can contribute 2+ hours of time (1 hour ramp-up and 1+ hour of exercise conversion).
  • Exercises are entered through the MyOpenMath interface, and which exercises are converted is done through coordination in a spreadsheet (to avoid duplication of work).
  • If you join this effort, you'll work with Adam Gilbert on this project.

Active Exercise Developers

Developers of original exercises who will become eligible to serve as Editors of the Exercise Book when we move into the second project phase.

  • Roles and responsibilities will include developing original exercises to fill gaps in our Question Bank, providing consultations to other Exercise Contributors, and advising the 2nd and 3rd phases of the project and possibly taking a Leadership role.
  • Some programming knowledge is ideal, but it is not required. This could be used to help in the development of the Question Bank and underlying infrastructure.
  • The expected time commitment is about 2-4 hours per week over roughly 3+ months.
  • This work can be nicely combined with the Data Hunter role above! (Exercise Developers also get flexibility in time requirements in other roles.)

Statistical Software Labs

OpenIntro's statistical software labs are well known and respected, and there's always a need for fresh development. Projects in this space can include converting existing labs to new softwares or in developing new labs.

This project's Senior Advisor is Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel.

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Lab Solutions Developer

Most labs do not have answer keys available. We are looking for individuals to create answers keys that can be shared with Verified Teachers.

  • The expected time commitment is to create about 10 lab keys. A very rough estimate of the time required for this work is 30-60 hours, or about 1-2 hours per week if over a 6-month period.
  • Proficiency is required in the statistical software of the labs chosen to create the answer keys.

New Software Owners

Is there a software you are interested in that we don't yet support? This is your invitation to create a variant of OpenIntro labs for the software of your choosing. One software in particular where we are looking for an owner to help create lab variants is Jamovi.

  • You will be responsible for converting a full set of labs for a course, e.g. the labs linked on the OpenIntro Statistics page.
  • We expect that the total time contribution of this project will be about 6 months at 15-20 hours per month for the conversion and polishing as you test the labs in the classroom.
  • This role is reserved for instructors who would be able to test the labs in an upcoming course.
  • Proficiency is required in the statistical software chosen.

New Lab Developers

Develop new labs for use in introductory statistics courses in at least one statistical software.

  • The expected time commitment is to create at least one lab per month over a 3-5 month period. A very rough estimate of the time required for this work is 10-25 hours per lab.
  • This role is reserved for instructors who would be able to test the labs in a course during the 3-5 month period to ensure the labs can be refined and polished for broader release.
  • Proficiency is required in the statistical software chosen.

Modules to Cover New Topics

Every book has to pick-and-choose which topics are covered and which are not. This project area is about helping fill in gaps in those topics or providing new depth. In short, we're looking for proposals around self-contained modules that could be mixed into a course.

This project's Senior Advisor is David Diez.

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Module Developer

Develop new modules for use in introductory statistics courses. This module should include a new set of content, probably 1-5 written pages of content or instruction, potentially also including a set of open-ended exercises or discussion questions. It may be helpful to also provide a page of guidance to teachers on strategies for how to effectively use the module.

  • Modules can take on a variety of forms. Some might be the equivalent of a textbook section with a set of exercises at the end, while others might be guides for in-person or online activity. Creative ideas and formats are encouraged.
  • Module topics can range widely, from statistical methods to case studies to worksheets to so-many-other-possibilities!
  • The minimum commitment is the creation of one module, potentially in collaboration with colleagues (up to you). A very rough estimate of the time required for this work is 10-25 hours per module. Anticipate at least one round of feedback and revisions, even for modules that have already been classroom tested.
  • The module, when published, must been used as part of some classroom experience. This means we're looking especially for Teachers or Teaching Assistants who can try out the module within their own course or section.

Module Editor

This role is open, but it will likely be filled by an experienced Module Developer in the future or another experienced developer of similar materials.

  • The main role consists of advising other teachers on module development and reviewing draft modules and giving feedback before the publication of those modules.
  • Two+ years of teaching experience are required.
  • Strong writing skills and solid statistical knowledge are required.
  • Being an active Module Contributor is recommended, but that development could have also happened on a platform different from OpenIntro.

Translation of Materials

To reach more people in the world, translations are critical. This project is focused on taking existing OpenIntro resources and translating them into different languages.

This project's Senior Advisor is David Diez, but this work is more independent than most other projects.

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There are two main types of translations: unofficial and official.

Unofficial. An unofficial translation means creating a derivative product using an OpenIntro resource using the license information available at openintro.org/license. The license and provided details offer open space and options, but it also means the resulting resource will be independent of OpenIntro. We're happy to do some limited collaboration for such endeavors comparable to that we'd provide any other independent project.

Official. An official translation is one done as a member of the OpenIntro team. It comes with benefits but also requirements to align with all other official OpenIntro products. Below is a brief overview of the main considerations.

  • Benefit: The resource would use the "OpenIntro" brand (which is a registered trademark), and for textbooks, use the precisely translated title.
  • Benefit: The resource would be distributed through openintro.org, which would help it reach larger audiences and increase recognition for the translator.
  • Benefit (textbook): The translator would obtain a large share of any sales margin on physical book sales. In some cases, the translator would receive the entire sales margin on sales of the translated book.
  • Benefit / Responsibility (textbook): OpenIntro's graphic designer would provide a professional cover for the physical book that aligns with and reflects OpenIntro's brand.
  • Responsibility: Translated resources will be under the same license as the original resource. (This is also true for unofficial translations due to the ShareAlike clause.)
  • Responsibility (textbook): The book pricing and sales margin cannot exceed those of the US-based textbook (blog post with margin details). Exceptions to the retail price might be made in some circumstances, e.g. if no local printer can be found with reasonable pricing, but such exceptions must be agreed upon by the book's original authors.
  • Benefit / Responsibility: If you would like to change some examples, the textbook authors will advise on these changes (and also have final say whether to move forward with the change). Sometimes examples may have subtle considerations for their selection, so replacing an example might create a cascade of other changes, and the authors are best positioned to identify these challenges.