Global Text at the University of Concepcion

We just published a small note on the newspaper of University of Concepción (Chile), PANORAMA, describing the Global Text Project. This is one of the first steps we are taking to give more publicity of our project in the local community.

Currently there is one book in the Global Text project, it is "Introducción a la Mecánica y el Calor" (Introduction to Mechanics and Heat, a Physics 101 book), written by Prof. Juan Inzunza of the Geophysics Deparment. We recently requested the approval of the University to give a Creative Commons licensing to another book from Prof. Alberto Foppiano, who had developed a very useful book of exercises for Physics (electricity and magnetism, Physics 202 level). Hopefully this will become soon the 2nd book in Spanish contributed to the community

Momentum report - 2008.08.30

• Don hosted Cesar Guerrero, the Sony executive in charge of strategic marketing of Sony’s reader to the education market, at the University of Denver for two days in late May. Cesar held informal get acquainted meetings with faculty from the Daniels College of Business, the Morgridge College of Education, Arts and Humanities, Penrose Library, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the University Bookstore. Arrangements were made for a classroom pilot run of the Sony Reader in the fall using the Global Text IS book.
• Rick gave a presentation on Global Text at the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) conference in Oslo on June 9. As a result, he was invited to repeat his talk at a plenary session at the joint AACSB/EFMD Conference to be held in Barcelona this November. He also met Howard Davies, who has subsequently had students work on a book on Business in China. Howard is an associate dean at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
• Rick, Don, Franz, and Mike Dowling (representing the Quality Assurance Board) met with Simon Sommer of the Jacobs Foundation in Zurich on June 13 to report progress on the project.
• Don gave a presentation on the project at the 21st Bled Electronic Commerce Project in Bled, Slovenia on June 16th. He received commitments for books from long-time academic colleagues from Australia.
• Rick and Don traveled to Palo Alto on June 30 to meet with representatives from the Hewlett Foundation. Aaron Ciszek, from the University of Denver’s Institutional Advancement office, arranged the meeting. Hewlett has been an active supporter of Open Educational Resources initiatives for some time. We were introduced to faculty from the De Anza Foothills Community College, which is playing a prominent role in the open content textbook space. We also met with involved faculty at De Anza on this trip. Finally, as a result of these meetings, Don plans to attend the Open Educational Resources Conference at Utah State University in late September.
• We are in final stages of arranging for our first corporate-sponsored textbook, a Principles of Accounting text. Many thanks to our long-time colleague and Global text Project advisor, Tom Clark, for making this possible. Tom is President of Strategy Associates, LLC in Denver, former Dean of the Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University, and a productive IS academic.
• We have signed Memoranda of Understandings with the Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) at the University of Georgia and the Merlot African Network (MAN). AMAC is charged with "removing barriers and providing access to knowledge for individuals with physical, sensory, and learning print-related disabilities." We will meet with AMAC personnel on a regular basis to find opportunities to cooperate. AMAC has provided us with access to its high speed scanner on several occasions. MAN is "a networked partnerships between African and US educational institutions affiliated with the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) and leading Global eLearning Providers with development programs targeting Sub-Saharan Africa." We will work with MAN to creating awareness of our texts and also identify required educational material.
• We are in the process of upgrading to O3Spaces professional for the distributed management of documents.
• A proposal to establish the Arabic Center for the Global Text Project in partnership with Birzeit University is under consideration by a major foundation.

- Don and Rick

My Internship

Hello, I’m LaKwanzaa Walton. I am 17 years old and currently a senior at Clarke Central High school. I am also a participant of the Young Dawgs program. The Young Dawgs program is part of the school-to-career program. It allows high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to do an internship with UGA in the career field of their choice. My career choice is Marketing/ Business. Since I was younger, I have always had an interest in this field. I am excited and very eager to learn as much as I possibly can during this internship. I look forward to working hard on this project and gaining all of the knowledge I possibly can.

Fast-paced fall semester, introducing GTS and new intern

School has started here at University of Georgia and the Global Text Project is quickly taking on new aspects and adding new faces. This summer we discussed the idea of starting a student organization that will develop public relations on campus and in the community by providing volunteer support to the project. Since the semester started, that organization has launched and we call it the Global Text Society.

The idea behind creating a group organization is to give the Global Text Project an identity here at UGA, to support the project through volunteerism and establish an organization that can be re-created with similar objectives at other universities as well as to develop awareness in our target market, the developing economies. The organization will operate as student-run club on campus. We already have 12 enthusiastic members, three of whom have established themselves as officers. Currently, the Society is planning to meet weekly. We will keep everyone updated on the projects and goals that the Society will work towards. Personally, I think the Society will be a powerful support system for the project and smart way to grow through networking.

Not only are we adding the Society to the project, we also added an intern to our team, Lakwanzaa Walton. She will be working with me and helping me prepare books for publication. Carrying on the tradition, I have asked her to write a blog introducing herself.

Cost of Textbooks Covered in US Higher Education Act

The Higher Education Act was passed in both houses of the US Congress and is expected to be signed into law today. It includes several provisions related to help reduce the cost of textbooks. They are covered in an analysis on the maketextbooksaffordable site and are similar in many respects to state laws we have discussed in previous posts. Here's a summary from maketextbooksaffordable:

"The textbooks section has three main provisions:
1. Requires publishers to disclose textbook pricing and revision information to faculty
2. Requires publishers to offer textbooks and supplemental materials “unbundled” (separately)
3. Asks colleges to provide the list of assigned textbooks (incl. ISBNs and prices) for each
course when students are registering for classes".

Each of the three provisions are analyzed in detail in the document. Have a look. It's worth a read. Progress!

- Don

Article on Open Textbooks in USA Today

USA Today published an article on Friday, July 11, entitled "Online "open" textbooks save students cash". Written by Svetlana Shkolnikova, it's a pretty good overview of the problem and some of the ways it's being addressed. For example, the article says: "Textbook prices have outpaced inflation 2-to-1 in the past two decades, says a 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office. They account for 26% of tuition and fees at four-year public universities and nearly three-quarters of costs at community colleges, the GAO says". It goes on to discuss a few initiatives in the open education space, some of whom we've had contacts with, like Foothill Community College and maketextbooksaffordable.com

Two authors who contributed books to the Global Text library are mentioned: Bob Beezer and Rob Stewart. It's a good overview and another indication that the problem of ever-more-costly textbooks is getting more attention and that solutions like Global Text can make a real contribution.

- Don

As Textbook Costs Are Customized, Students Pay

That's the title of an article in the Wall Street Journal on July 10th. Here's the way the article, by John Hechinger, begins:

"College students, already struggling with soaring tuition bills and expenses, are encountering yet another financial hit: Publishers and schools are working together to produce "custom" textbooks that can limit students' use of the money-saving trade in used books. And in a controversial twist, some academic departments are sharing in the profits from these texts.

"The University of Alabama, for instance, requires freshman composition students at its main campus to buy a $59.35 writing textbook titled "A Writer's Reference," by Diana Hacker.

"The spiral-bound book is nearly identical to the same "A Writer's Reference" that goes for $30 in the used-book market and costs about $54 new. The only difference in the Alabama version: a 32-page section describing the school's writing program -- which is available for free on the university's Web site. This version also has the University of Alabama's name printed across the top of the front cover, and a notice on the back that reads: "This book may not be bought or sold used."

"Custom textbooks like this one are proliferating on U.S. college campuses, guaranteeing hefty sales for publishers -- and payments to colleges that are generally undisclosed to students."

The entire article is worth a read. The writer is well-informed on the issues, including legislative actions being taken by some 34 states in the US to reduce the cost of textbooks. He also questions the ethics of this growing cozy accommodation between universities and publishers by noting that "The book-royalty arrangements resemble a practice exposed during last year's student-loan scandal, when some universities steered students to particular lending firms and received a secret cut of the loans.

Gotta shake your head.

- Don