Like it or not, we may be heading in this direction - what do you think of digital textbooks? Will this promote reading - or not? Other thoughts?
What do you think about this?
California Law Encourages Digital Textbooks by 2020
By Mary Helen Miller
While it seems increasingly likely that e-books will one day become the standard in education, California has passed a law to virtually guarantee it -- and to set a deadline.
A new state law, effective January 1, 2020, will require that all textbooks used in public and private postsecondary institutions be made available in electronic form "to the extent practicable" either "in whole or in part." Senate Bill 48 states that "the electronic version of any textbook shall contain the same content as the printed version and may be copy-protected."
Senator Elaine Alquist, who wrote the bill, was unavailable for comment. Her legislative aid, James Schwab, who was involved with writing the bill, said that helping students save money was the primary motive. For instance, even today, one textbook with a list price of $173.33 is available electronically for $95.33.
Mr. Schwab also said that the law would encourage professors to integrate technology into the classroom; spark more student interest in science, engineering, and math; and give students marketable skills in using technology.
"Students these days, and kids growing up, will be used to -- and even prefer -- reading stuff in an electronic format," Mr. Schwab said.
Albert N. Greco, a professor at Fordham University's Graduate School of Business who studies academic publishing, said the 2020 deadline seemed more than reasonable.
"They could have made it 2015!" Mr. Greco said.
The six leading textbook companies now publish 13,000 unique titles. In the past two and a half years, 8,600 of those titles have been made available electronically. Mr. Greco predicts that all 13,000 will be digitized by some point in 2012.
"The spirit of the law is, I think, laudable," Mr. Greco said. As a practical matter, though, "it doesn't matter whether a state passes a law or not."
He explained that textbook companies already have several incentives to make books available in electronic format. First, 24 percent of all printed textbooks are returned from the college bookstore to the publishing company because they go unsold. And sales of used books and textbook rentals are hurting publishers. By making a textbook available in electronic form, the publisher can still make a considerable profit from the six-month rental fee.
"The business is moving toward digital," Mr. Greco said. "And it has to."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
The new Horizon Report on technology and teaching: Key trends, emerging technologies
Check out the new Horizon Report (click here).
Each year, the report identifies emerging technologies or practices that are on the academic horizon (within one year, reported upon here, but also on the horizon)...but it also addresses key, technology-related trends that impact our work.
I have excerpted commentary on both here, but do check out the full report if you need to procrastinate while doing "class prep" for the new semester.........
KEY TRENDS:
1) The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing. Institutions must consider the unique value that each adds to a world in which information is everywhere. In such a world, sensemaking and the ability to assess the credibility of information are paramount. Mentoring and preparing students for the world in which they will live, the central role of the university when it achieved its modern form in the 14th century, is again at the forefront. Universities have always been seen as the gold standard for educational credentialing, but emerging certification programs from other sources are eroding the value of that mission daily.
2) People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to. Life in an increasingly busy world where learners must balance demands from home, work, school, and family poses a host of logistical challenges with which today’s ever more mobile students must cope. A faster approach is often perceived as a better approach, and as such people want easy and timely access not only to the information on the network, but to their social networks that can help them to interpret it and maximize its value. The implications for informal learning are profound, as are the notions of “just-in-time” learning and “found” learning, both ways of maximizing the impact of learning by ensuring it is timely and efficient.
3) The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and our notions of IT support are decentralized. The continuing acceptance and adoption of cloud-based applications and services is changing not only the ways we configure and use software and file storage, but even how we conceptualize those functions. It does not matter where our work is stored; what matters is that our information is accessible no matter where we are or what device we choose to use. Globally, in huge numbers, we are growing used to a model of browser-based software that is device-independent. While some challenges still remain, specifically with notions of privacy and control, the promise of significant cost savings is an important driver in the search for solutions.
4) The work of students is increasingly seen as collaborative by nature, and there is more crosscampus collaboration between departments. While this trend is not as widespread as the others listed here, where schools have createda climate in which students, their peers, and their teachers are all working towards the same goals, where research is something open even to first year students, the results have shown tantalizing promise. Increasingly, both students and their professors see the challenges facing
the world as multidisciplinary, and the need for collaboration great. Over the past few years, the emergence of a raft of new (and often free) tools has made collaboration easier than at any other point in history.
EMERGING TRENDS (within the next year)
1) Mobile computing, by which we mean use of the network-capable devices students are already carrying, is already established on many campuses, although before we see widespread use, concerns about privacy, classroom management, and access will need to be addressed. At the same time, the opportunity is great; virtually all higher education students carry some form of mobile device, and the cellular network that supports their connectivity continues to grow. An increasing number of faculty and instructional technology staff are experimenting with the possibilities for collaboration and communication offered by mobile computing. Devices from smart phones to netbooks are portable tools for productivity, learning, and communication, offering an increasing range of activities fully supported by applications designed especially for mobiles.
2) Open content, also expected to reach mainstream use in the next twelve months, is the current form of a movement that began nearly a decade ago, when schools like MIT began to make their course content freely available. Today, there is a tremendous variety of open content, and in many parts of the world, open content represents a profound shift in the way students study and learn. Far more than a collection of
free online course materials, the open content movement is a response to the rising costs of education, the desire for access to learning in areas where such access is difficult, and an expression of student choice about when and how to learn.
Each year, the report identifies emerging technologies or practices that are on the academic horizon (within one year, reported upon here, but also on the horizon)...but it also addresses key, technology-related trends that impact our work.
I have excerpted commentary on both here, but do check out the full report if you need to procrastinate while doing "class prep" for the new semester.........
KEY TRENDS:
1) The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing. Institutions must consider the unique value that each adds to a world in which information is everywhere. In such a world, sensemaking and the ability to assess the credibility of information are paramount. Mentoring and preparing students for the world in which they will live, the central role of the university when it achieved its modern form in the 14th century, is again at the forefront. Universities have always been seen as the gold standard for educational credentialing, but emerging certification programs from other sources are eroding the value of that mission daily.
2) People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to. Life in an increasingly busy world where learners must balance demands from home, work, school, and family poses a host of logistical challenges with which today’s ever more mobile students must cope. A faster approach is often perceived as a better approach, and as such people want easy and timely access not only to the information on the network, but to their social networks that can help them to interpret it and maximize its value. The implications for informal learning are profound, as are the notions of “just-in-time” learning and “found” learning, both ways of maximizing the impact of learning by ensuring it is timely and efficient.
3) The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and our notions of IT support are decentralized. The continuing acceptance and adoption of cloud-based applications and services is changing not only the ways we configure and use software and file storage, but even how we conceptualize those functions. It does not matter where our work is stored; what matters is that our information is accessible no matter where we are or what device we choose to use. Globally, in huge numbers, we are growing used to a model of browser-based software that is device-independent. While some challenges still remain, specifically with notions of privacy and control, the promise of significant cost savings is an important driver in the search for solutions.
4) The work of students is increasingly seen as collaborative by nature, and there is more crosscampus collaboration between departments. While this trend is not as widespread as the others listed here, where schools have createda climate in which students, their peers, and their teachers are all working towards the same goals, where research is something open even to first year students, the results have shown tantalizing promise. Increasingly, both students and their professors see the challenges facing
the world as multidisciplinary, and the need for collaboration great. Over the past few years, the emergence of a raft of new (and often free) tools has made collaboration easier than at any other point in history.
EMERGING TRENDS (within the next year)
1) Mobile computing, by which we mean use of the network-capable devices students are already carrying, is already established on many campuses, although before we see widespread use, concerns about privacy, classroom management, and access will need to be addressed. At the same time, the opportunity is great; virtually all higher education students carry some form of mobile device, and the cellular network that supports their connectivity continues to grow. An increasing number of faculty and instructional technology staff are experimenting with the possibilities for collaboration and communication offered by mobile computing. Devices from smart phones to netbooks are portable tools for productivity, learning, and communication, offering an increasing range of activities fully supported by applications designed especially for mobiles.
2) Open content, also expected to reach mainstream use in the next twelve months, is the current form of a movement that began nearly a decade ago, when schools like MIT began to make their course content freely available. Today, there is a tremendous variety of open content, and in many parts of the world, open content represents a profound shift in the way students study and learn. Far more than a collection of
free online course materials, the open content movement is a response to the rising costs of education, the desire for access to learning in areas where such access is difficult, and an expression of student choice about when and how to learn.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Moving to Outlook from Groupwise...
Happy new year all! As you all have likely heard already, Salem State is moving to the MS Outlook email/calendar/contact/to-do list program...so, say goodbye to Groupwise!
Here are some out-takes from recent communications from Salem State's IT folks to staff and full-time faculty about this matter:
1) The online training and other useful information such as a schedule of upcoming Outlook workshops can be found at: http://www.salemstate.edu/outlook - click on the Training & Tutorials link. Then, please review the seven minute demo also found at this website. (Note: I just did it, it is good, basic, but good - looks like a good system to me)
2) You will need to have the Outlook 2007 client or Entourage (for Mac users) installed on your computer. If you are not sure if you have it, contact Kristin Gronberg at kgronberg@salemstate.edu and she will make arrangements to load it for you.
3) For adjunct faculty members: For those who do not use Salem State owned computers, such as adjunct faculty, the Outlook Web Access tool will be available so you don't need to load a client to your personally owned computer. The Web Access tool looks great, I am sure you will be pleased with it.
4) Tomorrow is the day - What do you need to do? And how will you get help?
If you work on campus - please be sure to turn your computer completely off when you leave tonight. If someone near you is on vacation, please power their computer down. (This will enable us to create the new email on your PC overnight.)
Here is what you can expect tomorrow. Turn your computer on and log in. Instead of seeing your desktop, the new email system will automagically open. (If it doesn't then go to "Programs", then "MS Office", and then "MS Office Outlook 2007".) You are in! Send a test email to someone close to you. New incoming email will be delivered to this email box, not GroupWise. However, if you click on GroupWise it will still open and you will see all your old email, but you will not be able to send from GroupWise anymore.
Now, you will have the choice of whether to move email and calendar from GroupWise to MS Outlook/Entourage, or to simply archive GroupWise so you can view those email as you need to in future. If you choose to migrate your email this needs to be done at your desk (Sarah Evans has kindly volunteered to be our "migration" assistant). Please remember that these folks are not MS Outlook/Entourage trainers or experts. For on line training and a schedule of classroom training go to http://www.salemstate.edu/7796.php
If you are not on campus, tomorrow please go to msmail.salemstate.edu. Bookmark this location. Log in with your SSCAD network username and password. (Do not use your old GroupWise login.)
5) Need more help? If you are having difficulty send an email to it-heldesk@salemstate.edu (assuming you can get in email). Our most efficient (quickest) response time is for email help tickets. If you can't send email at all, please call the Help Desk at x 2036 (978-542-2036).
Have questions? Send them along to Kristin as well and she'll get back to you.
Here are some out-takes from recent communications from Salem State's IT folks to staff and full-time faculty about this matter:
1) The online training and other useful information such as a schedule of upcoming Outlook workshops can be found at: http://www.salemstate.edu/outlook - click on the Training & Tutorials link. Then, please review the seven minute demo also found at this website. (Note: I just did it, it is good, basic, but good - looks like a good system to me)
2) You will need to have the Outlook 2007 client or Entourage (for Mac users) installed on your computer. If you are not sure if you have it, contact Kristin Gronberg at kgronberg@salemstate.edu and she will make arrangements to load it for you.
3) For adjunct faculty members: For those who do not use Salem State owned computers, such as adjunct faculty, the Outlook Web Access tool will be available so you don't need to load a client to your personally owned computer. The Web Access tool looks great, I am sure you will be pleased with it.
4) Tomorrow is the day - What do you need to do? And how will you get help?
If you work on campus - please be sure to turn your computer completely off when you leave tonight. If someone near you is on vacation, please power their computer down. (This will enable us to create the new email on your PC overnight.)
Here is what you can expect tomorrow. Turn your computer on and log in. Instead of seeing your desktop, the new email system will automagically open. (If it doesn't then go to "Programs", then "MS Office", and then "MS Office Outlook 2007".) You are in! Send a test email to someone close to you. New incoming email will be delivered to this email box, not GroupWise. However, if you click on GroupWise it will still open and you will see all your old email, but you will not be able to send from GroupWise anymore.
Now, you will have the choice of whether to move email and calendar from GroupWise to MS Outlook/Entourage, or to simply archive GroupWise so you can view those email as you need to in future. If you choose to migrate your email this needs to be done at your desk (Sarah Evans has kindly volunteered to be our "migration" assistant). Please remember that these folks are not MS Outlook/Entourage trainers or experts. For on line training and a schedule of classroom training go to http://www.salemstate.edu/7796.php
If you are not on campus, tomorrow please go to msmail.salemstate.edu
5) Need more help? If you are having difficulty send an email to it-heldesk@salemstate.edu
Have questions? Send them along to Kristin as well and she'll get back to you.
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