Aug
28
Digital Textbook Model of Failure: Standard? I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Standard!
August 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I came late to the digital camera game, getting my first 5MB Nikon in 2001, but I rejoiced when I discovered a newfound freedom with the pictures I’d taken. I owned these pictures, I could organize and edit them in Picasa, I could share them, and I could move them between devices. Imagine a world, [...]
Aug
26
Digital Textbook Model of Failure: Digital Rights Management
August 26, 2009 | 2 Comments
Few industries are as dumb as music publishers and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Of course, they don’t see themselves this way, but their love affair with Digital Rights Management (DRM) created more damage to their industry than they admit and provided competitors both time and incentive to create better models. This is [...]
Aug
24
Digital Textbook Model of Failure: Textbook Rentals
August 24, 2009 | 1 Comment
After spending months managing CLRN’s Free Digital Textbook Initiative reviews and writing about digital textbook issues on my blog, I came face-to-face with the current battle when I purchased college textbooks for my son last weekend. Finding about ½ of his required books online at slightly discounted prices, I still spent more than $600 for [...]
Aug
19
Digital Textbook Survey
August 19, 2009 | 2 Comments
As CLRN prepares for phase 2 of the Digital Textbook Initiative, we’d appreciate your input regarding information you need in order to make an informed decision about these resources. Thanks in advance.
If you, or someone you know, plans to use one of the CLRN-reviewed open-source textbooks, please add a comment or email us.
For CLRN’s Digital [...]
Aug
17
Digital Textbooks: Paradigms, Change, & Fear
August 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Everything I know about the change process, I learned from Bea Lingenfelter, the smartest principal I’ve known. She, in turn, learned from Michael Fullan’s 1993 book, Change Forces, which I highly recommend.
This post is about what we should and should and should not do to further development of digital textbooks and their successor, digital, interactive [...]
Aug
13
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: Release Event Reflections
August 13, 2009 | 1 Comment
Results of CLRN’s reviews of 16 free or open-source textbooks were released Tuesday at the CETPA Digital Textbook Symposium held at the Orange County Department of Education. CLRN is proud to have provided leadership and funding for this important initiative and we’re looking forward to announcing phase 2. My reflections are below.
Winners
CETPA
The California Education Technology [...]
Aug
11
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: Review Results
August 11, 2009 | 2 Comments
Free Digital Textbook Initiative Report”From government to non-profit organizations, teachers to textbook publishers, we all have a role to play in leveraging 21st century technology to expand learning and better serve California’s students, parents, teachers and schools. This initiative will ensure our schools know which digital textbooks stand up to California’s academic content standards – [...]
