Open Educational Resources Center for California In this modern day & age technology has changed the way we do things in our regular day to day lives. Why go to the library to find answers, or look through a phone book, when you can easily use ‘Google’ and get the answers in a few seconds? This is where Open Educational Resources (OER) comes in. Upon visiting the website http://grou.ps/oercenter to further my knowledge, on what in my opinion is the next best thing to happen to education, I found that OER is full of resources for teachers to better their lessons, a full on digital library consisting of various tools from textbooks to course readings, even simulations all in one site. As it says in the link for 7 things you should know about OER, it “endorses the notion that teaching, learning, and research are improved when educational resources are more open and more accessible.” While it does have its pros it also has its cons as anything can, OER is made up of outside sources, however, to me this can also be deemed as a good thing. Seeing as it’s not just one source its many sources put together to make the epitome of higher education, not only for students, but for future and established teachers as well.
OER sounds like my kind of learning! The website I visited made some very appealing points that would benefit not only me, but every college student. In today's economy, students are lucky if they are able to find the funds to go to college. Books are one of the most expensive aspects of school. On average, books can cost between $150 and $250 per book! This is an outrage! With OER, students would easily be able to afford college, or at least the texts books. "The University of Massachusetts Amherst is expected to save its students more than $72,000 annually." They did this by investing "$10,000 to develop courses that use easily accessible online resources instead of commercial textbooks." WHY ISN'T EVERY COLLEGE DOING THIS?! Students would most likely graduate at a higher AND faster rate if the course material was made more easily accessible. This would also improve online learning! Students and teachers could receive immediate feedback. This would enable the student to have better future outcomes, and it would provide the teacher with better understanding of how to modify and create a better lesson/coursework. College students need to get mad. They need to become angry! We are being robbed when there is no need, when there are OTHER resources at our fingertips! Colleges should be on the students side. If students stand up, make a scene, and demand OER, the college will listen. The future of learning will change, and it will be saving us money, time, and effort. Allowing us to graduate at a greater and faster rate. :]
I found a website called "80 Open Resource Tools for Publishing and Development Initiatives." The website URL is: http://oedb.org/library/features/80-oer-tools.This site contains a variety of tools to choose from as an open education resource, all freely available to students, teachers, or a self learner. The topic I chose to look into depth was number twenty-eight called Free Curricula Center. Here at: http://www.freecurricula.org/index.php, I learned that you, as a student, are able to share textbooks and instructor guides at a university-level to promote higher education. The term "free curricula" is used because of the "open source" style license. All of the educational materials are open to public use. The site states "focus cooperative efforts to bring about low cost, high quality alternatives to commercial products." I think this is a great opportunity to share with educators that working together as a community and share the idea of open education resources can help higher education. As an educator, you can become a member in FCC (Free Curricula Center) committee and collaborate to write a textbook on a certain subject. Here on the website explains the steps to be taken in the process. They use the terms such as “unencumbered" and "costless" which means to give academic freedom and sharing knowledge. In the FCC committee, you freely volunteer to create textbook material. Imagine all the students paying one price for one book in one class. While in the mean time, we could be using "free curricula” and other open educational resources with many options for FREE. We should not be limited to one resource, and I believe sites, like "Free Curricula Center" is a perfect example to expanding and improving quality of education. -Vanessa Villalobos March 1, 2012
What is Open Education? Open education, according to David Wiley, is the idea of sharing. As teachers we colloborate and share information with on another to get new ideas on topics, how to approach different learning styles, and how to teach subjects in an exciting way. Open education extends this idea and allows for teaching materials, such as text books, lesson plans, course outlines, and much more, to be shared amongst teachers and students. Wiley made an interesting and humorous point in his presentation, regarding a professor who sued for the content he presented in lecture, we wouldn't have as many teachers if they couldn't use examples from others. "If there is no sharing, there is no education." Open education will allow for education to move into an era, when education is made available to more students. -Destinie Zepeda
I think it’s a really good idea for all teachers to acquire a digital textbook playbook. In this day and age, technology is needed practically every day to accomplish our basic needs. Because the world is constantly evolving, it only seems logical that technology becomes a dominant and necessary resource for every teacher and classroom. Needless to say, I also agree with Bob Wise when he said that: “One of the messages for Digital Learning Day is this is about the teacher as much as it is about the technology...It's bringing teachers in and making people understand that.”
If a school is in fact willing to provide a digital textbook playbook for all of its teachers, then the teachers and their unions also need to fully support the idea of the playbooks and do everything in their power to make it as successful as possible. Since we live in California, it was very reassuring to see that “California students showed off some of their digital writing at an event held by the California Writing Project that was described as fusion of a science fair, poster session, and gallery walk.” California students definitely need more resources such as these playbooks so that they are as prepared as the rest of the students in other states. However, it’s always up to state officials and school boards to make that crucial choice for its students. More often than not though, they fail to make the best of decisions.
Getting an education is not always easy. As adults we all face challenges to go to school or even to stay in school. Whether you are a single parent, recently decided to pursue a career, or even changed your major, getting an education is not an easy thing. Thanks to programs like “Bridge to Success,” it makes it possible and easier to jump start in the career of your dreams. This program gives you the essential knowledge in English and Math, and gives you the power to succeed in college. As a college student, I understand the importance of having a basic understanding of English and Math, because when one wants to enroll into most courses, either a Math or English course is required first. If you don’t have an English clearance, you will not be able to enroll into the course. The “Bridge Program” allow you to learn the basic skills of Math and English for free. It is easy to follow, easy to learn, and gives you the skills to succeed. For example, the math portion gives you the skills needed to not only succeed in a college level math course, but in your work environment. These math skills can also be applied to the day-to-day math problems we face in our lives. A program like this one allows people to have a great jump-start on obtaining a career, gives people hope, and allows them to succeed. For those who once stopped going to school, those who are single parents, and even those who would like to refresh their skills, this program would definitely save them time and money; money that would otherwise have been spent on remedial courses. These online courses are free and open to the public, what a better way to jump-start your career?
The site http://oerconsortium.org/ insists on the "Use of free and open textbooks, which can lower educational costs for students. Become involved with the open educational resources (OER) movement so that doors to higher education stay open to all." It also has links to 700 available college course textbooks like Art, Biology, Computer Science, English, History, Math, and Psychology to name a few. This website is very beneficial and can save you lots of money. We are encouraged to support this movement for the betterment of education! The cost of textbooks have been a long time contraint for students who strive to acquire knowledge. This site encourages enlightenment! Get familiar and get envolved!
In today’s society technology is collaborating with education because the result is improvement in learning. Educators who are interested in new and innovative ideas are embracing a different approach to learning. I love the idea of implementing software as a useful tool to assess learning skills. In my opinion, I believe that the traditional approach to teaching should be challenged because education needs new, fresh ideas in order to appeal to each generation of new peers. This is why I am excited to share how Open Education Resources are available online with unlimited access. I researched a great website by the name of Canyons. If you follow the link provided below you will find all types of open educational resources available to the public at no cost. http://www.canyons.edu/Offices/Distance_Learning/OER/Finding.html# I find this website amazing because it is well-organized and easy to understand. For example, the introduction page describes what OER is all about and how to upload, download, and contribute learning materials. I followed the instructions and in a few seconds came across the repository which provided me with four different browsing options. I decided to browse by subject area and in a few seconds I had a fraction handout all setup ready for use. I think this website among others is an amazing way for teachers to communicate and contribute together. This website is not only useful for educators but it can be accessed by learners who do not have the necessary materials at school, home, or simply cannot afford it. I can say that I found a disadvantage while researching the website. I found that some areas are not completely finished. In other words, I found in some cases I would try and click a link which would then lead to the words, “Coming Soon.” Nevertheless, this project is a great tool and I hope it becomes successful because it helped me learn all about Mixture Problems. I am currently a student in college who struggles with math so I loved the PowerPoint I found on this website. All in all, OER is something that all educators should research. I believe that any tool that benefits an educator can only lead to the success of many students everywhere.
There is no better way to talk about OER than during the week of March 5-10, 2012; because it is know as Open Education Week. I learned that open educational resources can be free, not only for us who live in the United States but also for those who live in other parts of the globe like Africa for example. We as Americans typically do not have to worry about scrabbling for a higher education, especially since there are so many community colleges and Universities available to us in our own back yards. What if there were no actual colleges to attend? For some people around the world like in Africa, colleges are a rare site, therefore these people rely on open education. If it were not for this class assignment and for Open Education Week I would have never learned about the AVU (African Virtual University) where free quality higher education is the focus. I did some research through a website called OCW Consortium http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ and this is where I learned about the AVU. It astonishes me that only about 6% of Sub-Saharan Africans receive a higher education like a college degree; luckily Open Education Week's website has posted a video where you can learn more about AVU and what they have to offer. OER can be for everyone, just check out this video. http://www.openeducationweek.org/african-virtual-university-at-the-open-education-week-unlocking-the-potential-of-oers/
This website starts with an introduction area where they explain how everyone has the right to an education. They explain how access to educational materials is becoming more and more accessible. They list the universities from which the materials came: MIT, the Open University, Johns Hopkins, Kyoto University, Notre Dame, and Korea University. There are over 2,500 open courses that are free worldwide. These courses allow free educational information and learning for students.
The website then goes on to explain how open education was born. It explains that in April of 2001, the President of MIT launched free materials. The agenda of this program was to provide free access to MIT materials and to spread the impact of open education.
This website also lists Creative Commons. Creative Commons provides educational information under a copyright which allows others to use work from the creator under certain circumstances. This allows teachers to use many free materials that ultimately save money. The website closes with information on how to spread the word about open education.
They close with a reminder about how everyone deserves an education. With free materials, this is becoming more possible every day.
Apple, iBooks Author, and Open Textbooks: RIP K-12 Publishers as We Know Them by David Wiley Jan. 26, 2012, Iterating toward Openness The website I choose to visit was debating the topic of online text book's and where and for how much to price them at. Apple is trying to start up this program which wouldn't cost a dime. We would top quality work from the smartest professors hired by apple. The only downside to this is it would only be visible from the Ipad, and those don't run cheap. Especially in this economy for schools it simply would be out of the question. Not every school can afford 500 dollar ipads for all there student's. Thats why i believe the smart choice would be for schools to adopt the program from the publishers who are only selling there book's for 14.99$. It would make perfect sense because its affordable for the professor's and especially the student's. Text books can begin from twenty dollars to a hundred dollars and above.So this would be a clear win for the publishers and everyone that has to deal with them. Because the students save there money and in the end that's what its all about the students.
The website I choose to visit was debating the topic of online text book's and where and for how much to price them at. Apple is trying to start up this program which wouldn't cost a dime. We would top quality work from the smartest professors hired by apple. The only downside to this is it would only be visible from the Ipad, and those don't run cheap. Especially in this economy for schools it simply would be out of the question. Not every school can afford 500 dollar ipads for all there student's. Thats why i believe the smart choice would be for schools to adopt the program from the publishers who are only selling there book's for 14.99$. It would make perfect sense because its affordable for the professor's and especially the student's. Text books can begin from twenty dollars to a hundred dollars and above.So this would be a clear win for the publishers and everyone that has to deal with them. Because the students save there money and in the end that's what its all about the students.
The Saylor Foundation Released Three Openly Licensed, College-Level Textbooks. The Saylor foundation created a (OTC) open textbook challenge to help students financially. This article states that professors that have doctorates can easily publish a textbook for their students. The most interesting and positive thing is that professor’s will get paid to do it. A dr. who agrees to openly license his or her work under a CC BY 3.0 license will get paid. For each textbook the author will get paid 20,000 dollars from the Saylor foundation. Submitted texts that pass the Foundation’s peer review process and align With one of the eligible courses on Saylor.org will be entitled to the $20,000 prize. The other positive statement is that us, college student will not pay for the textbooks. This will save us hundreds of dollars. These books can be downloaded into a laptop, without having to carry a laptop and books. All books can be carried in the laptop, how amazing is that? Another advantage to the textbook motion is that the textbook can be improved. Textbooks are always improved by a small section or chapter and cost millions to reprint them. Therefore, when the openly licensed textbooks are improved it won’t cost millions. Students won’t have to buy the next edition because it will be in the internet. For full information on more textbooks and courses, www.saylor.org/otc is available to view.
http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2151 Jan. 26. 2012 "Apple, iBooks Author, and Open Textbooks: RIP K-12 Publishers as We Know Them"
Apple is a very strong and thriving company in the world right now and has everyone in the palm of their hands, literally. The Apple Company is always inventing new products that users have to have, and how to make more money entirely. Apple has so much power and abilities to completely dominate many other “rivalry” companies such as book publishers. The debate is whether or not Apple’s new announcement will be a pro or con for advocates of open textbooks and affordability. This blogger claims that it is a win for these advocates based off Apple’s plans and the way publishers responded. Apple’s plan was to hire their own legitimate writers of textbooks, therefore owning the books as a company. Then, Apple would release these books for free electronically which would lead to an increase in iPad sales. With this plan in mind, Apple would truly dominate the textbook field and would truly be the demise of K-12 publishers. It would be so likely that Apple would indeed snatch publishers business away that it caused the publishers to go into panic. Consequently, publishers decided to make an offer to sell their textbooks to the Apple Company for a low price of $14.99 when the same material is sold to students and schools for triple the prices. These big publishers are contradicting their own prices from the past. With these publishers selling their books to Apple, selling actual textbooks wouldn’t be a great importance to them. Even if these publishers do sell to Apple for their low price or fifteen dollars, it still will not threaten open textbooks and overall affordability. In order to purchase these low price digital textbooks, the users need an iPad, which happens to cost $500. These books also may seem cheaper in the short term, but are actually more expensive in the long run when the the replacement textbooks in the 7 year cycle of a forced re-purchase every year is factored in. The iBooks Author works in a way that is beneficially for open textbooks as well. If an iBooks author does sell their book to the channel, it can only be distributed through the iBookstore and nowhere else. This may be unfortunate for publishers due to the waiting of the purchase of iPad’s to increase, apple leaving the price at $14.99, and also taking a chunk of the revenue made. This leaves publishers thinking twice about even distributing their books, unless they distribute for free and can sell elsewhere as well. The system is very strange and contradictory; it is hostile while at the same time very friendly. Even though Apple’s statement does seem very scary and intimidating to those who are seeking affordability and are for open-textbooks, it really is not. These publishers have indeed made a mistake by their reactions to the announcement.
Anissa Rivera-Asturi
ReplyDeleteWhy pay for intro textbooks?
Http://www.insiderhighered.com/new/2012/02/07rice-university-announces-open-source-textbooks#izz1me2rwpkf
I am claiming this website!
ReplyDeleteCreative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/
Open Educational Resources Center for California
ReplyDeleteIn this modern day & age technology has changed the way we do things in our regular day to day lives. Why go to the library to find answers, or look through a phone book, when you can easily use ‘Google’ and get the answers in a few seconds? This is where Open Educational Resources (OER) comes in. Upon visiting the website http://grou.ps/oercenter to further my knowledge, on what in my opinion is the next best thing to happen to education, I found that OER is full of resources for teachers to better their lessons, a full on digital library consisting of various tools from textbooks to course readings, even simulations all in one site. As it says in the link for 7 things you should know about OER, it “endorses the notion that teaching, learning, and research are improved when educational resources are more open and more accessible.” While it does have its pros it also has its cons as anything can, OER is made up of outside sources, however, to me this can also be deemed as a good thing. Seeing as it’s not just one source its many sources put together to make the epitome of higher education, not only for students, but for future and established teachers as well.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/02/oer.html
ReplyDeleteOER sounds like my kind of learning! The website I visited made some very appealing points that would benefit not only me, but every college student. In today's economy, students are lucky if they are able to find the funds to go to college. Books are one of the most expensive aspects of school. On average, books can cost between $150 and $250 per book! This is an outrage! With OER, students would easily be able to afford college, or at least the texts books. "The University of Massachusetts Amherst is expected to save its students more than $72,000 annually." They did this by investing "$10,000 to develop courses that use easily accessible online resources instead of commercial textbooks." WHY ISN'T EVERY COLLEGE DOING THIS?! Students would most likely graduate at a higher AND faster rate if the course material was made more easily accessible. This would also improve online learning! Students and teachers could receive immediate feedback. This would enable the student to have better future outcomes, and it would provide the teacher with better understanding of how to modify and create a better lesson/coursework.
College students need to get mad. They need to become angry! We are being robbed when there is no need, when there are OTHER resources at our fingertips! Colleges should be on the students side. If students stand up, make a scene, and demand OER, the college will listen. The future of learning will change, and it will be saving us money, time, and effort. Allowing us to graduate at a greater and faster rate. :]
I found a website called "80 Open Resource Tools for Publishing and Development Initiatives." The website URL is: http://oedb.org/library/features/80-oer-tools.This site contains a variety of tools to choose from as an open education resource, all freely available to students, teachers, or a self learner. The topic I chose to look into depth was number twenty-eight called Free Curricula Center. Here at: http://www.freecurricula.org/index.php, I learned that you, as a student, are able to share textbooks and instructor guides at a university-level to promote higher education. The term "free curricula" is used because of the "open source" style license. All of the educational materials are open to public use. The site states "focus cooperative efforts to bring about low cost, high quality alternatives to commercial products." I think this is a great opportunity to share with educators that working together as a community and share the idea of open education resources can help higher education. As an educator, you can become a member in FCC (Free Curricula Center) committee and collaborate to write a textbook on a certain subject. Here on the website explains the steps to be taken in the process. They use the terms such as “unencumbered" and "costless" which means to give academic freedom and sharing knowledge. In the FCC committee, you freely volunteer to create textbook material. Imagine all the students paying one price for one book in one class. While in the mean time, we could be using "free curricula” and other open educational resources with many options for FREE. We should not be limited to one resource, and I believe sites, like "Free Curricula Center" is a perfect example to expanding and improving quality of education.
ReplyDelete-Vanessa Villalobos
March 1, 2012
http://process.arts.ac.uk/content/david-wiley-what-open-education
ReplyDeleteWhat is Open Education? Open education, according to David Wiley, is the idea of sharing. As teachers we colloborate and share information with on another to get new ideas on topics, how to approach different learning styles, and how to teach subjects in an exciting way. Open education extends this idea and allows for teaching materials, such as text books, lesson plans, course outlines, and much more, to be shared amongst teachers and students. Wiley made an interesting and humorous point in his presentation, regarding a professor who sued for the content he presented in lecture, we wouldn't have as many teachers if they couldn't use examples from others. "If there is no sharing, there is no education." Open education will allow for education to move into an era, when education is made available to more students.
-Destinie Zepeda
Ed. Dept., FCC Unveil 'Digital Textbook Playbook'
ReplyDeleteBy: Ian Quillen
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2012/02/duncan_genachowski_unveil_digi.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2
I think it’s a really good idea for all teachers to acquire a digital textbook playbook. In this day and age, technology is needed practically every day to accomplish our basic needs. Because the world is constantly evolving, it only seems logical that technology becomes a dominant and necessary resource for every teacher and classroom. Needless to say, I also agree with Bob Wise when he said that: “One of the messages for Digital Learning Day is this is about the teacher as much as it is about the technology...It's bringing teachers in and making people understand that.”
If a school is in fact willing to provide a digital textbook playbook for all of its teachers, then the teachers and their unions also need to fully support the idea of the playbooks and do everything in their power to make it as successful as possible. Since we live in California, it was very reassuring to see that “California students showed off some of their digital writing at an event held by the California Writing Project that was described as fusion of a science fair, poster session, and gallery walk.” California students definitely need more resources such as these playbooks so that they are as prepared as the rest of the students in other states. However, it’s always up to state officials and school boards to make that crucial choice for its students. More often than not though, they fail to make the best of decisions.
Getting an education is not always easy. As adults we all face challenges to go to school or even to stay in school. Whether you are a single parent, recently decided to pursue a career, or even changed your major, getting an education is not an easy thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks to programs like “Bridge to Success,” it makes it possible and easier to jump start in the career of your dreams. This program gives you the essential knowledge in English and Math, and gives you the power to succeed in college.
As a college student, I understand the importance of having a basic understanding of English and Math, because when one wants to enroll into most courses, either a Math or English course is required first. If you don’t have an English clearance, you will not be able to enroll into the course.
The “Bridge Program” allow you to learn the basic skills of Math and English for free. It is easy to follow, easy to learn, and gives you the skills to succeed. For example, the math portion gives you the skills needed to not only succeed in a college level math course, but in your work environment. These math skills can also be applied to the day-to-day math problems we face in our lives.
A program like this one allows people to have a great jump-start on obtaining a career, gives people hope, and allows them to succeed. For those who once stopped going to school, those who are single parents, and even those who would like to refresh their skills, this program would definitely save them time and money; money that would otherwise have been spent on remedial courses. These online courses are free and open to the public, what a better way to jump-start your career?
The site http://oerconsortium.org/ insists on the "Use of free and open textbooks, which can lower educational costs for students. Become involved with the open educational resources (OER) movement so that doors to higher education stay open to all." It also has links to 700 available college course textbooks like Art, Biology, Computer Science, English, History, Math, and Psychology to name a few. This website is very beneficial and can save you lots of money. We are encouraged to support this movement for the betterment of education! The cost of textbooks have been a long time contraint for students who strive to acquire knowledge. This site encourages enlightenment! Get familiar and get envolved!
ReplyDeleteIn today’s society technology is collaborating with education because the result is improvement in learning. Educators who are interested in new and innovative ideas are embracing a different approach to learning. I love the idea of implementing software as a useful tool to assess learning skills. In my opinion, I believe that the traditional approach to teaching should be challenged because education needs new, fresh ideas in order to appeal to each generation of new peers. This is why I am excited to share how Open Education Resources are available online with unlimited access. I researched a great website by the name of Canyons. If you follow the link provided below you will find all types of open educational resources available to the public at no cost. http://www.canyons.edu/Offices/Distance_Learning/OER/Finding.html#
ReplyDeleteI find this website amazing because it is well-organized and easy to understand. For example, the introduction page describes what OER is all about and how to upload, download, and contribute learning materials. I followed the instructions and in a few seconds came across the repository which provided me with four different browsing options. I decided to browse by subject area and in a few seconds I had a fraction handout all setup ready for use. I think this website among others is an amazing way for teachers to communicate and contribute together. This website is not only useful for educators but it can be accessed by learners who do not have the necessary materials at school, home, or simply cannot afford it.
I can say that I found a disadvantage while researching the website. I found that some areas are not completely finished. In other words, I found in some cases I would try and click a link which would then lead to the words, “Coming Soon.” Nevertheless, this project is a great tool and I hope it becomes successful because it helped me learn all about Mixture Problems. I am currently a student in college who struggles with math so I loved the PowerPoint I found on this website. All in all, OER is something that all educators should research. I believe that any tool that benefits an educator can only lead to the success of many students everywhere.
There is no better way to talk about OER than during the week of March 5-10, 2012; because it is know as Open Education Week. I learned that open educational resources can be free, not only for us who live in the United States but also for those who live in other parts of the globe like Africa for example. We as Americans typically do not have to worry about scrabbling for a higher education, especially since there are so many community colleges and Universities available to us in our own back yards. What if there were no actual colleges to attend? For some people around the world like in Africa, colleges are a rare site, therefore these people rely on open education. If it were not for this class assignment and for Open Education Week I would have never learned about the AVU (African Virtual University) where free quality higher education is the focus. I did some research through a website called OCW Consortium http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ and this is where I learned about the AVU. It astonishes me that only about 6% of Sub-Saharan Africans receive a higher education like a college degree; luckily Open Education Week's website has posted a video where you can learn more about AVU and what they have to offer. OER can be for everyone, just check out this video. http://www.openeducationweek.org/african-virtual-university-at-the-open-education-week-unlocking-the-potential-of-oers/
ReplyDeleteLisa Ball
ReplyDeletehttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/469/1001
This website starts with an introduction area where they explain how everyone has the right to an education. They explain how access to educational materials is becoming more and more accessible. They list the universities from which the materials came: MIT, the Open University, Johns Hopkins, Kyoto University, Notre Dame, and Korea University. There are over 2,500 open courses that are free worldwide. These courses allow free educational information and learning for students.
The website then goes on to explain how open education was born. It explains that in April of 2001, the President of MIT launched free materials. The agenda of this program was to provide free access to MIT materials and to spread the impact of open education.
This website also lists Creative Commons. Creative Commons provides educational information under a copyright which allows others to use work from the creator under certain circumstances. This allows teachers to use many free materials that ultimately save money. The website closes with information on how to spread the word about open education.
They close with a reminder about how everyone deserves an education. With free materials, this is becoming more possible every day.
Apple, iBooks Author, and Open Textbooks: RIP K-12 Publishers as We Know Them
ReplyDeleteby David Wiley
Jan. 26, 2012, Iterating toward Openness
The website I choose to visit was debating the topic of online text book's and where and for how much to price them at. Apple is trying to start up this program which wouldn't cost a dime. We would top quality work from the smartest professors hired by apple. The only downside to this is it would only be visible from the Ipad, and those don't run cheap. Especially in this economy for schools it simply would be out of the question. Not every school can afford 500 dollar ipads for all there student's. Thats why i believe the smart choice would be for schools to adopt the program from the publishers who are only selling there book's for 14.99$. It would make perfect sense because its affordable for the professor's and especially the student's. Text books can begin from twenty dollars to a hundred dollars and above.So this would be a clear win for the publishers and everyone that has to deal with them. Because the students save there money and in the end that's what its all about the students.
The website I choose to visit was debating the topic of online text book's and where and for how much to price them at. Apple is trying to start up this program which wouldn't cost a dime. We would top quality work from the smartest professors hired by apple. The only downside to this is it would only be visible from the Ipad, and those don't run cheap. Especially in this economy for schools it simply would be out of the question. Not every school can afford 500 dollar ipads for all there student's. Thats why i believe the smart choice would be for schools to adopt the program from the publishers who are only selling there book's for 14.99$. It would make perfect sense because its affordable for the professor's and especially the student's. Text books can begin from twenty dollars to a hundred dollars and above.So this would be a clear win for the publishers and everyone that has to deal with them. Because the students save there money and in the end that's what its all about the students.
ReplyDeletejennifer venegas
ReplyDeletehttp://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1107312969811-15/12_0131+OTC+Wave+1+Winners+Press+Release+.pdf
i claimed this website already.
The Saylor Foundation Released Three Openly Licensed, College-Level Textbooks. The Saylor foundation created a (OTC) open textbook challenge to help students financially. This article states that professors that have doctorates can easily publish a textbook for their students. The most interesting and positive thing is that professor’s will get paid to do it. A dr. who agrees to openly license his or her work under a CC BY 3.0 license will get paid. For each textbook the author will get paid 20,000 dollars from the Saylor foundation. Submitted texts that pass the Foundation’s peer review process and align With one of the eligible courses on Saylor.org will be entitled to the $20,000 prize. The other positive statement is that us, college student will not pay for the textbooks. This will save us hundreds of dollars. These books can be downloaded into a laptop, without having to carry a laptop and books. All books can be carried in the laptop, how amazing is that? Another advantage to the textbook motion is that the textbook can be improved. Textbooks are always improved by a small section or chapter and cost millions to reprint them. Therefore, when the openly licensed textbooks are improved it won’t cost millions. Students won’t have to buy the next edition because it will be in the internet. For full information on more textbooks and courses, www.saylor.org/otc is available to view.
http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2151
ReplyDeleteJan. 26. 2012
"Apple, iBooks Author, and Open Textbooks: RIP K-12 Publishers as We Know Them"
Apple is a very strong and thriving company in the world right now and has everyone in the palm of their hands, literally. The Apple Company is always inventing new products that users have to have, and how to make more money entirely. Apple has so much power and abilities to completely dominate many other “rivalry” companies such as book publishers. The debate is whether or not Apple’s new announcement will be a pro or con for advocates of open textbooks and affordability. This blogger claims that it is a win for these advocates based off Apple’s plans and the way publishers responded. Apple’s plan was to hire their own legitimate writers of textbooks, therefore owning the books as a company. Then, Apple would release these books for free electronically which would lead to an increase in iPad sales. With this plan in mind, Apple would truly dominate the textbook field and would truly be the demise of K-12 publishers. It would be so likely that Apple would indeed snatch publishers business away that it caused the publishers to go into panic. Consequently, publishers decided to make an offer to sell their textbooks to the Apple Company for a low price of $14.99 when the same material is sold to students and schools for triple the prices. These big publishers are contradicting their own prices from the past. With these publishers selling their books to Apple, selling actual textbooks wouldn’t be a great importance to them. Even if these publishers do sell to Apple for their low price or fifteen dollars, it still will not threaten open textbooks and overall affordability. In order to purchase these low price digital textbooks, the users need an iPad, which happens to cost $500. These books also may seem cheaper in the short term, but are actually more expensive in the long run when the the replacement textbooks in the 7 year cycle of a forced re-purchase every year is factored in. The iBooks Author works in a way that is beneficially for open textbooks as well. If an iBooks author does sell their book to the channel, it can only be distributed through the iBookstore and nowhere else. This may be unfortunate for publishers due to the waiting of the purchase of iPad’s to increase, apple leaving the price at $14.99, and also taking a chunk of the revenue made. This leaves publishers thinking twice about even distributing their books, unless they distribute for free and can sell elsewhere as well. The system is very strange and contradictory; it is hostile while at the same time very friendly. Even though Apple’s statement does seem very scary and intimidating to those who are seeking affordability and are for open-textbooks, it really is not. These publishers have indeed made a mistake by their reactions to the announcement.
Kristin Nepi EDT 100