Creating instructional materials

Choosing a textbook to adapt

You may consider the following viewpoints when you choose a textbook or other teaching material (e.g., see the book collections in our list) to adapt it for CogStat use:

• Has an appropriate copyright that allows making adaptations
• Between all or nothing to adapt
  • Some materials do not include any software-specific details, so there is nothing to adapt
  • For a collection of tasks with software-specific solutions, everything should be modified (or added)
• Topics that are covered
  • It should match the feature set of CogStat
    • Or some topics that are not covered by CogStat can be removed while the text still makes sense and considerable contribution
    • It is OK if the text discusses only a specific topic
• Which software does it rely on
  • On the one hand, this does not seem to be fundamental since we change that part
  • Spreadsheet use can be important since CogStat largely relies on external data storage and management - and part of the spreadsheet use can be retained
  • We can consider adding new software instead of removing the original software solutions - if the book was made with several software packages in mind
• Is the source format available and easy to modify?
  • e.g., markdown format can be easy to modify, in general
• Available data
  • We prefer real data over generated data
  • We may consider adding a new dataset to the text
• Separated software-specific details
  • It is easier to make the adaptation when the general explanations and software-specific details are separated
• Precision and understandability
  • Amount of questionable details
  • To the point
  • Understandable for non-mathematicians
  • Focusing on the conceptual background, and formulas are important only when conceptual background or justifications are given
• Expected amount of work
  • Length of the parts that should be changed/added

Considerations and suggestions for making the adaptation

• CogStat version
  • Specify in the text the CogStat version the text relies on.
  • When writing the text, consider whether the text can be updated easily when a new CogStat version is released.
• Demo data
  • Make the data available in a .csv format that includes the measurement level.
    • However, some .csv files cannot be read with automatic format detection (see #277). Alternatively, we may use .xlsx file (which is not a truly open file format), or .ods file (which is not a widely used and appropriately supported format). Currently, all possible solutions have their drawback.
  • The data will be added to the demo data set.
• Consider changing the sections' order to fit the CogStat design principles better.
• Refer to our documentation site when additional information could be relevant.
• Use the default chart theme versions because that is what users (or new users) usually see.
• Use the user interface language with the language of the text if that language is available in CogStat.