Independent School Educators' List (ISED-L): Re: Digital 'Textbooks' - What's Working, What Didn't Work, What Do You See on the Horizon?

I would be interested in discussing the details about a delivery system
for this digital repository of standardized curriculum.

Thanks,=20
*******=20

Joe Frost, MS CIS
Director of Technology & Operations
Department Chair Technology=20
http://www.phoenixchristian.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Taffee [mailto:staffee@castilleja.org]=20
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 3:33 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Digital 'Textbooks' - What's Working, What Didn't Work,
What Do You See on the Horizon?

Fred et al.

It seems to me that this would be a wonderful opportunity for NAIS to
step in. (Pat, are you monitoring this thread?)

NAIS could add its imprimatur to the effort which immediately grants it
legitimacy amongst the member schools. Further, NAIS could help
facilitate discussions of platforms, standards, etc. (hopefully all
open-source, but that's a personal bias), and laissez with foundations
that might be willing to help underwrite the work, and bring other
partners to the table (perhaps Apple with its iTunesU, for example) that
may provide strategic and tactical assistance.

Adding rich media sources such as the videos you refer to are wonderful!
They could serve as both direct instructional resources for students, as
well as professional development resources for teachers.

Sounds like a great workshop topic for NAIS national conference if not
before.

-----
Steve Taffee | Director of Strategic Projects
Castilleja School | staffee@castilleja.org
1310 Bryant Street | www.castilleja.org
Palo Alto, CA 94301 | taffee.edublogs.org 650.924.1040 (Google Voice)
Women Learning, Women Leading
<http://twitter.com/sjtaffee>
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetaffee>
You don't *really* need to print this do you?

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 2:05 PM, Fred Bartels <fredbartels@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Steve,
>
> I like the way you are looking at this as a process that is likely to=20
> go through various stages. Most of the faculty at my school are very=20
> tied to their textbooks and are unlikely to be comfortable moving=20
> quickly to an open-content collaborative model.
>
> That being said, I really like the idea of a consortium of schools=20
> putting some real resources (money and time) behind supporting=20
> teachers who want to share their knowledge in this way. We too have a=20
> number of master teachers who are nearing retirement age and would=20
> welcome the opportunity to give back to the larger community;=20
> especially if it was clear that they were part of an well-supported=20
> and organized effort with a good chance of a successful outcome.
>
> As part of our public purpose effort we have been exploring the idea=20
> of filming some of our master teachers presenting lessons and then=20
> making these videos freely available online. Imagine what could be=20
> produced with a combination of text, art, animation, photography and=20
> video. This is all doable. The expertise is there, the resources are=20
> available, the understanding of how to put it together exists: how=20
> could we make it happen?
>
> Fred
>
> On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Steve Taffee <staffee@castilleja.org>
> wrote:
> > I had a conversation with Courseload this morning, and have a=20
> > follow-up scheduled for next week.
> >
> > From what i understand, Courseload does take existing textbooks and
> creates
> > a PDF-like document, which they then access through their own reader

> > to allow for some social collaboration features within a class.=20
> > Books are purchased, not leased, by students.
> >
> > I see this model as transitional; a bridge that enables teachers who

> > are familiar with textbooks to see that model in play with e-readers

> > and computers. Many teachers will quickly come to see that e-texts=20
> > could be
> so
> > much more with embedded links, rich media contents, and built-in=20
> > hooks to their LMS.
> >
> > I agree with Fred and Bill about the potential of a consortium of=20
> > schools to contribute content. If you are not familiar with=20
> > CK12.org, they are a non-profite creating open-content textbooks=20
> > (they call them Flexbooks)
> that
> > I think might make an interesting partner. Having several teachers=20
> > work cooperatively also reduces the burden of a single person=20
> > creating a text, not to mention the richer ideas that emerge from
such collaboration.
> >
> > Having schools collaborate on creating textbooks also has the=20
> > benefit of helping to capture the knowledge and pedagogy of master=20
> > teachers, some of whom are nearing retirement age, and whose loss to

> > a school represents
> much
> > more than replacing one headcount with another. Knowledge retention=20
> > is as important in schools as it is in business.
> >
> > s
> > -----
> > Steve Taffee | Director of Strategic Projects
> > Castilleja School | staffee@castilleja.org
>
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