Jul
10
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: One Very Probable Model
July 10, 2009 | 4 Comments
First, i must respond to a tweet from NECC about the textbook revolution that said, “The textbook publishers represented at #NECC09 just don’t get digital textbooks. Paper textbooks are the walking dead; adapt.” Well, yes and no. While the CD model for purchasing music is on life support, disruptive innovations don’t always kill off the [...]
Jul
8
Free Digital Textbook Initiative: July 8th Update
July 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment
With one month remaining before the official release of CLRN’s textbook reviews for the Free Digital Textbook Initiative, we are nearing the completion of our work.
Math and science textbook reviews were completed on June 22nd and 23rd at CLRN’s science review site at the Humboldt County Office of Education and our mathematics review site at [...]
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
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 [...]
May
28
Free Digital Textbook Initiative
May 28, 2009 | 3 Comments
While I’ve written at length about Clayton Christensen’s Disrupting Class book, another disruptive innovation on the horizon is digital textbooks and a related disruption, open source digital textbooks. On May 6th, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched an initiative to make California the first state in the nation to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high [...]
