Pressbooks - Getting Started

General Considerations

• For basic uses, Pressbooks is a stable tool, but for graded assignments and other advanced functionality it can be unreliable. 

Best Practices

• Plan ahead: If you’re authoring course materials, expect authoring and revising materials to take at least as long as the materials are intended to be used. For example, if you’re planning to use Pressbooks for all course materials during an upcoming semester, plan to spend a prior semester authoring, revising, and organizing those materials.

Information to Share with Students

• Instructors should make it clear in the syllabus if Pressbooks will be used in the course, especially if the instructor will be using Pressbooks for graded assignments in their Canvas course. 
• We recommend that Instructors who do not note the use of Pressbooks for their course in their syllabus refrain from switching to assignments that use Pressbooks without first notifying their class and preparing an alternative in case of technical issues. 
• Pressbooks can sometimes be unreliable and depending on how it is configured and used with Canvas, sometimes material may not be available. Generally Pressbooks content embedded in Canvas module items and assignments should work.
• There can be issues accessing content in Pressbooks depending on your browser settings and privacy extensions used within a particular browser.
• Student Data Privacy and Transparency statement
  • UW-Madison operates a number of central IT systems and services that support teaching and learning. All of these systems collect, record and generate data related to student learning activities. For more information, please refer to the UW-Madison Teaching and Learning Data Transparency Statement

Accessibility

• For more information on Pressbooks and Accessibility please see Pressbooks - Accessibility & Usability Information
  
• Pressbooks has a statement on their commitment to accessibility for users and readers.
  
  
• The Pressbooks User Guide also has a page authoring accessible and inclusive materials in Pressbooks.

1. To use Pressbooks, you must request an account from the DoIT Help Desk. In your request, please include:
   1. Your NetID 
   2. A brief description of what your goals are with Pressbooks 
2. You will receive an email when your account is created, which will include your username and a link to reset your password. 
3. Once you have an account and have reset your password, log in to Pressbooks at wisc.pb.unizin.org. 
4. Once you have a Pressbooks account, you can begin creating your book.

Note: We recommend that new Pressbooks users request a consultation with Learn@UW-Madison. A consultant can introduce you to the platform, ensure that your use case fits with Pressbooks’ featureset, and address any initial questions you may have.

• The DoIT Help Desk provides instructors, staff and students with free tech support and troubleshooting help by phone, email or chat. Instructors and instructional staff can also request a consultation with an AT Consultant through the DoIT Help Desk.
• Some browser extensions/plug-ins may interfere with Learn@UW tools. If a Learn@UW tool is not operating as expected, please try these steps: General Troubleshooting for Learn@UW Tools
• Pressbooks is a teaching and learning tool centrally supported by the Learn@UW-Madison team. For technical support questions, instructors should contact the DoIT Help Desk.