If you’ve ever thought about a well-designed textbook and considered what made it a good textbook, you’re asking the kind of questions that helped prompt Dr. Scott Douglas’s career. As a graduate student, he found himself drawn to big questions about learning.
“I really started thinking about what curriculum is and how that relates to what I’m doing in the classroom,” says Douglas. “That’s where I began asking some big questions, like how do we sequence lessons, what are the learning outcomes, and what is the goal of all of this?”
Those early questions now shape his work as a professor in the Okanagan School of Education, where some of his work and research focuses on designing learning materials for students and teachers. His research has also helped to shape the Q: Skills for Success Reading & Writing series, co-authored with Dr. Nigel Caplan, now in its fourth edition.
Douglas’s involvement in developing the textbook began through volunteer work with Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language (ATESL), where helping set up conference exhibition halls led to conversations with educational publishers — and ultimately to an invitation from Oxford University Press to develop and submit some sample materials for a new academic English series. After reviewing the sample materials, Oxford’s editorial team looked at who might work well together. Douglas was then introduced to Caplan, beginning a collaboration that has now spanned nearly two decades.
When Douglas developed his first chapters, he had to shift his thinking from planning lessons to designing materials that could be used by teachers in many different contexts.
“When I first started doing the sample chapters, the managing editor said it looked like I was writing a lesson plan,” he says. “But the materials aren’t the lessons. The materials are a launching pad for teachers to make their own lessons.”
Over time, Douglas’s approach to materials development has evolved into a deeply collaborative process. He and Caplan start by mapping out the big picture like deciding which skills and vocabulary students will encounter, how those skills will unfold across units, and what the book is ultimately preparing learners to do. They then divide the chapters and write in parallel, regularly sharing drafts to keep the text balanced and coherent.
“For every one hour of classroom materials I create, it’s about 100 hours of work,” Douglas explains. “And that doesn’t include all of the time for the full team involved in developing the series, like the developmental editors who provide feedback on every instruction line, copy editors checking punctuation, art editors sourcing or commissioning images, layout specialists shaping pages, and peer reviewers offering scholarly feedback.”
Another part of Douglas’s work with Q: Skills involves connecting with educators around the world. From time to time, Oxford University Press invites him to deliver author talks and workshops online and in places like Japan, Korea, and Thailand. His presentations draw on everything from inquiry-based curriculum design and critical thinking to digital literacies, vocabulary instruction, and global competencies. However, every educational context typically calls for something slightly different.
“In Japan, they wanted a deep dive into global skills. In Korea, the request was for explorations of reading strategies. In Thailand, they asked for and examination of curriculum development and the role of Bloom’s taxonomy,” he explains. “Flexibility is key. You have to listen to what teachers on the ground actually need.”
For individuals interested in the field of learning materials design, Douglas recommends getting involved in professional communities early, particularly through teaching organizations such as the Association of British Columbia Teachers of English as an Additional Language (BC TEAL).
“Join your local professional organization,” he says. “Go to conferences. Go to any professional development you can. That’s where you meet publishers, see the newest materials, understand what people in the field need, and start to imagine how you can contribute.” He also added, “the other thing that really supported my foray into educational materials writing as completing my master’s degree in Education where I gained a better understanding of the how learning works.”
That same sense of connection and engagement continues to shape how Douglas approaches his work today.
“Here we are in the Okanagan, but our work connects us with educators around the world,” he says. “I love bringing those ideas back to our graduate students. If they’re curious about curriculum, about vocabulary, about writing, or about how materials are designed—I want them to see how far those interests can take them.”