Pressbooks is an ebook publishing platform often used to create textbooks and other instructional materials. Text, media, graphics, video, microscopic images, and interactive exercises can be combined in a Pressbook. A completed Pressbook can be read online, exported as an ebook, or PDF, allowing students to interact with course materials in ways that best support thier learning.

See the guide below and contact somaltsupport@uw.edu to get started.

Introduction to Pressbooks

1. Pressbooks in SOM – Learn how Pressbooks are used in UW SOM. Currently MBB, HFF, Histopathology, and FCM use Pressbooks in some form.
2. Getting Started – Sign up for Pressbooks account through UW Libraries.

Design

3. Design – Page design, interactive exercises and content organization.
4. Images – Add photos, graphics, banners and illustrations to your text, and include ALT text or captions.
5. Videos – Place videos directly in a page along side your text and other media.
6. Links – How you link matters.  Links are most useful when they are descriptive and brief.
7. Linking to Library resources– Use stable links to provide students access to UW Libraries resources.
8. Adding content from other sources – Find and cite images, videos and more from public domain sources and from UW Libraries.

Publishing

9. Publishing and access – Ensure that students,  faculty co-authors and curriculum support staff can access your Pressbook.
10. Open Educational Resources – Make some or all of your Pressbook openly available using a Creative Commons license to promote affordability and equity.

Find help

11. Help and consultation is available from the Academic Technology team and University Libraries.