Pressbooks

Pressbooks is a content authoring and hosting platform available to users affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Faculty, staff, and students can create eTexts, which can be viewed through a web browser, downloaded as a print-ready PDF, or exported as another digital-ready format (such as EPUB). Pressbooks can also be used to author and host Open Educational Resources.

Key Features

  • Easy-to-use interface for authoring, exporting, hosting, and distributing texts and other content
  • Ability to embed images, video, and audio from Kaltura, YouTube and other sources
  • H5P and Hypothes.is can be used to add powerful interactive elements to content
  • Content authored in Pressbooks can be made publicly available or kept private
  • Pressbooks can be embedded directly into Canvas courses as pages or assignments

Integrations

At UW–Madison, Pressbooks includes the H5P and Hypothes.is plugins which users to add powerful interactive elements to the content they create. Other Pressbooks plugins let users customize their content in as desired (for example, including content written in Latex). Additionally, Pressbooks content can be embedded within Canvas and can be configured to provide informative analytics about student activity. 

Instructional Uses

Content created in Pressbooks can be incorporated into courses as powerful teaching and learning aids which can add interactive or collaborative components to your course. Doing so can improve the learning outcomes of your course. 

Example instructional uses of Pressbooks include:

  • Creation and delivery of supplementary course materials
  • Knowledge checks and other formative assessments
  • Authoring, hosting, and delivery of required course texts
  • Close-reading, “Critical Reader” materials
  • Group projects where students can create an eText or study guide for a specific topic
  • Development and distribution of Open Educational Resources

Getting Started

If you are affiliated with UW-Madison and would like to use Pressbooks, please email Learn@UW-Madison at learnuwsupport@doit.wisc.edu. Include your netid and a brief description of what your goals are with Pressbooks. Once you have an account, you can login to Pressbooks at wisc.pb.unizin.org.

Your account will be manually created. Your login will be your NetID, and the email associated with it will be the email listed for you in the UW-Madison directory. You will receive an email when your account is created which will include your username and a link to reset your password. 

Helpful Resources

Support

The DoIT Help Desk provides instructors, staff and students with free tech support and troubleshooting help by phone at 608.264.4357, email at help@doit.wisc.edu and chat at helpdesk.wisc.edu. In-person support is also available at the DoIT Help Desk service desk in the Computer Sciences building. Visit helpdesk.wisc.edu for hours and more information.

Instructors and instructional staff can also request a consultation through the DoIT Help Desk. A DoIT AT consultant will help you select and use the right learning technology to improve student success. In addition, the Learn@UW KnowledgeBase offers helpful documents for instructors, course owners and students.