Writing a Book in Five Days to Advance Access, Resilience, and Equity: Inside VIVA’s Rapid Publishing Program

Abstract

Open educational resources (OER) allow educators to leverage academic freedom, create original materials in their own voice, and adapt and remix existing openly-licensed or public domain content. In an attempt to more easily enable this authorship process, VIVA hosted two rapid textbook writing sprints: One in 2022 on community nursing, and a second writing sprint in 2025 to create an introductory, interdisciplinary leadership studies text. This presentation will provide an overview of writing sprints through the lens of the VIVA Rapid Publishing Program and share experiences of participants in both programs. The nursing sprint team, which resulted in Community and Public Health Nursing published in January 2025, will also explore the need and challenges for OER in their discipline. While educational landscapes are changing, it does not negate the necessity for healthcare providers to be equipped with the fundamental knowledge and skills to collaborate with community members and other stakeholders in order to promote health, advance well-being, and prevent disease.