Jun
29
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: The New Model
June 29, 2009 | 1 Comment
Today’s post is about how I believe the textbook industry’s upcoming changes will parallel those that emerged from the music industry, which is just completing their morphing. I’d like to thank several of you who commented, particularly “Zingy Learning” who tweeted, “I’m wondering, even if the publishing companies moved to digital media would they be [...]
Jun
23
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: It’s not about Money.
June 23, 2009 | 3 Comments
That’s right. California’s free digital textbook initiative is not about the money districts can save.
Yes, i know what the Governor said. Yes, i know the criticism the initiative has taken regarding doubts of cost savings. However, those doubts, as I’ve already written about, are unfounded. A free, high-quality textbook trumps a $100 high-quality textbook any [...]
Jun
19
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: CLRN’s Review Process
June 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
With textbook submissions complete, CLRN is now turning our attention to reviewing the 20 free textbooks that have been submitted for review. In the first phase, CLRN searched for and contacted a variety of open source content developers to encourage them to participate in the Governor’s initiative. We weren’t expecting that there would be scores [...]
Jun
16
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: Complete Submission List
June 16, 2009 | 2 Comments
A total of 20 free digital textbooks have been submitted to CLRN for California’s Free Digital Textbook Initiative. All eight eligible subjects are represented. Eight entries come from the CK-12 Foundation, which creates open source Flexbooks for K-12 education; six entries are from college professors, five of whom have doctorates in their subject areas; and [...]
Jun
4
The San Francisco Chronicle’s June 3rd article, “Free digital book plan costly, educators say“, is a well intentioned but misguided attempt to think deeply about the Governor’s Free Digital Textbook Initiative. Unfortunately, the article’s author fails to consider a variety of factors: What is the current state of textbook publishing?; What are the factors that [...]
Jun
1
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: June 1 Update
June 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment
California’s free digital textbook reviews have started quickly out of the gate. Within 24 hours of the press release which called for submissions, four content developers created publisher accounts and a fifth has expressed interest. In addition, the first submission of free digital textbook for review has been completed.
We should note, though, that of the [...]
