We present an experience paper on a student guided class project to create an online textbook; a flipped approach from the conventional norm of aligning a textbook with a course and conforming to its structure. We developed a semester plan and organized students into small groups to energize them about the writing process, achieving full and active participation. We used an open source tool, MediaWiki, which assisted in developing our online textbook, allowing students to easily add to and modify both content and format of the material. The end result was a rough draft of an online textbook which, with some further refinement, will be used in subsequent iterations of the course. We share observations and insights and discuss possible changes that would both improve the process and expand on it within our program’s curriculum.
