247: Shared Leadership in Co-Creating Equitable Multidisciplinary Textbooks: Strategies for Fostering Inclusive Innovation and Transformative Education

Shared leadership fosters community engagement, enabling contributors with varied disciplinary backgrounds to collaboratively develop inclusive and equitable educational resources (Liang & Sandmann, 2015). Eight collaborators developing a topological acoustics textbook were interviewed, and their experiences were thematically analyzed, consolidating 227 initial codes into broader themes explaining collaboration dynamics. Findings reveal that integrating perspectives from students, technical experts, and education scholars enhances accessibility and engagement. The textbook was intentionally designed for usability, flexibility, and accessibility, incorporating smaller self‐contained chapters and undergraduate students’ feedback to ensure accessibility, balancing technical content with societal impact. Findings show well‐defined roles, contributor autonomy, regular check‐in meetings, and ethical collaboration facilitated open communication and collective problem‐solving despite challenges in aligning diverse disciplinary approaches. The study illustrates best practices for how shared leadership and diverse community engagement challenge traditional academic practices and limited inclusivity to drive innovation, ensuring more inclusive and equitable educational resources.

Adriana D Cimetta; Rebecca Friesen; Maham Khalid