Comments on: Free Digital Textbook Initiative: One Very Probable Model http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/2009/07/10/free-digital-textbook-initiative-one-very-probable-model/ Educational resources in the flat world Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:36:08 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Free Digital Textbook Initiative: One Very Probable Model « India LPO http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/2009/07/10/free-digital-textbook-initiative-one-very-probable-model/#comment-36 Free Digital Textbook Initiative: One Very Probable Model « India LPO Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:01:36 +0000 http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/?p=138#comment-36 [...] Link: Free Digital Textbook Initiative: One Very Probable Model [...] [...] Link: Free Digital Textbook Initiative: One Very Probable Model [...]

]]> By: Steven Glyer http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/2009/07/10/free-digital-textbook-initiative-one-very-probable-model/#comment-35 Steven Glyer Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:47:49 +0000 http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/?p=138#comment-35 In thinking about access to these electronic 'books', I recently heard that Sprint will be offering a brand name (HP, Dell, etc.) netbook for 99 cents with a 2 year subscription. This info came from Bruce Wilcox out of San Diego, one who follows such trends. The monthly subscription being considered is $60 per month. If this was covered under E-Rate, it may go as low as $6 per month or $75 per year. Now fast forward a few years, might a school district have their teachers, staff and administration all running as they do today on a LAN running Exchange and the students are all on the telco netbook system, operating 24/7 using cloud computing???? For a business model, it is not the razor but the blade that counts. Give the device away and make your money on the subscription. Just a thought...... In thinking about access to these electronic ‘books’, I recently heard that Sprint will be offering a brand name (HP, Dell, etc.) netbook for 99 cents with a 2 year subscription. This info came from Bruce Wilcox out of San Diego, one who follows such trends. The monthly subscription being considered is $60 per month. If this was covered under E-Rate, it may go as low as $6 per month or $75 per year. Now fast forward a few years, might a school district have their teachers, staff and administration all running as they do today on a LAN running Exchange and the students are all on the telco netbook system, operating 24/7 using cloud computing???? For a business model, it is not the razor but the blade that counts. Give the device away and make your money on the subscription. Just a thought……

]]> By: Joe Wood http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/2009/07/10/free-digital-textbook-initiative-one-very-probable-model/#comment-34 Joe Wood Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:52:44 +0000 http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/?p=138#comment-34 Brian- Great post. I recently heard a textbook publisher say, "We're not taking this (digital online textbooks) seriously. After all, how are schools going to provide access to these books in this economy? Its not like they can afford computers with these budgets." Apparently, they haven't thought about all those iPhones, iPods, and PSPs hiding in the student backpacks...or the laptops they could bring from home. Your model makes a lot of sense and I think will likely be the path for the successful textbook companies of the future. Joe Brian-

Great post. I recently heard a textbook publisher say, “We’re not taking this (digital online textbooks) seriously. After all, how are schools going to provide access to these books in this economy? Its not like they can afford computers with these budgets.” Apparently, they haven’t thought about all those iPhones, iPods, and PSPs hiding in the student backpacks…or the laptops they could bring from home. Your model makes a lot of sense and I think will likely be the path for the successful textbook companies of the future.

Joe

]]> By: N. Tardiff http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/2009/07/10/free-digital-textbook-initiative-one-very-probable-model/#comment-33 N. Tardiff Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:32:04 +0000 http://bbridges51.edublogs.org/?p=138#comment-33 While what the new economic structure of textbook publishing (and publishing in general) still seems a world of frightening unknowns, your vision of the future of the textbook is far more appealing to think about for anyone concerned about the future of the industry! I share a lot of these same thoughts. It seems to me that rather than being a kind of monolith that tries to achieve the impossible goal of being completely comprehensive and all things to all people, the textbook should become an interactive portal to learning, much like you describe. It should have well-written standards-aligned modular core content, but it should also make it easy for teachers and students to find helpful supplementary content and provide built-in mechanisms for differentiating instruction and assessment beyond the little sidebars, etc. found in print textbooks. And I suspect that if publishers are smart, they will not restrict that content to their own product lines. Just as Tor Books (http://store.tor.com/) now carries books in their store from competing publishers, in the future textbook publishers may very well be judged based on how well they can help educators find quality content, even if it is not necessarily their own. It also seems to me that as long as the digital transition is still occurring and things are still in flux, the winning publisher or publishers will have to be able to provide content in any number of formats, from online to audio to print to hybrid models. Flat World Knowledge is a great example of this idea, and it seems to me that will be important for reaching as many districts as possible and helping to bring them along into the digital age. While what the new economic structure of textbook publishing (and publishing in general) still seems a world of frightening unknowns, your vision of the future of the textbook is far more appealing to think about for anyone concerned about the future of the industry! I share a lot of these same thoughts. It seems to me that rather than being a kind of monolith that tries to achieve the impossible goal of being completely comprehensive and all things to all people, the textbook should become an interactive portal to learning, much like you describe. It should have well-written standards-aligned modular core content, but it should also make it easy for teachers and students to find helpful supplementary content and provide built-in mechanisms for differentiating instruction and assessment beyond the little sidebars, etc. found in print textbooks.

And I suspect that if publishers are smart, they will not restrict that content to their own product lines. Just as Tor Books (http://store.tor.com/) now carries books in their store from competing publishers, in the future textbook publishers may very well be judged based on how well they can help educators find quality content, even if it is not necessarily their own.

It also seems to me that as long as the digital transition is still occurring and things are still in flux, the winning publisher or publishers will have to be able to provide content in any number of formats, from online to audio to print to hybrid models. Flat World Knowledge is a great example of this idea, and it seems to me that will be important for reaching as many districts as possible and helping to bring them along into the digital age.

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