Cheers.
PFB
"What we learn to do, we learn by doing." (Thomas Jefferson)
Patrick F. Bassett, President
NAIS - National Association of Independent Schools
1620 L St., NW, Washington, DC 20036
202.973.9710 (office) 202.746.5444 (cell) 202.973.9709 (fax)
bassett@nais.org www.nais.org www.twitter.com/patbassett www.fac=
ebook.com/NAISnetwork
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Frost [mailto:Joe.Frost@phoenixchristian.org]
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 8:29 PM
Subject: Re: Digital 'Textbooks' - What's Working, What Didn't Work, What D=
o You See on the Horizon?
How would we contact Will to discuss infrastructure, programming, etc?
Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: Bassett, Patrick [mailto:bassett@nais.org]
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 8:15 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: FW: Digital 'Textbooks' - What's Working, What Didn't Work, What D=
o You See on the Horizon?
See note from Will DeLamater, below. He is willing to be a resource to any=
group that forms to pursue the digital texts opportunity. NAIS is willing=
to join the conversation, but can't lead it: too many other irons in the f=
ire: PFBassett, NAIS President
Pat,
Thanks again. I would absolutely love to be involved with the project.
eReadia has had a close relationship with the Connexions project at Rice Un=
iversity, which offers the same kind of open source development environment=
that CK12 does. I also think very highly of the CK12 project and their par=
ticular approach to the mash-up of materials. Was recently in touch with th=
eir director Neeru Khosla; they are a quality organization as well.
Of course my interest is in course materials that are designed for ereaders=
first, rich media players second, so the idea of a video repository is a d=
ifferent kind of project, somewhat outside the scope of what I am trying to=
do. But as far as working with the group, offering support, maybe some pro=
gramming help, some infrastructure--this would be exciting!
Please go ahead and introduce me if you want. The group is clearly looking =
for encouragement from NAIS and, as you know, I am very comfortable with th=
at connection, whether the association's role is a formal one or not. I do =
think that some very good texts could come out of this--living, breathing d=
ocuments that can change as times change, and serve a group well beyond the=
community of independent schools.
Hope all is well with you as things turn chilly. Hope to come visit again t=
his winter sometime!
All the best,
Will
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Taffee
[mailto:staffee@castilleja.org<mailto:staffee@castilleja.org>]
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: Digital 'Textbooks' - What's Working, What Didn't Work, What D=
o 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 leg=
itimacy amongst the member schools. Further, NAIS could help facilitate dis=
cussions 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 Ap=
ple 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 we=
ll as professional development resources for teachers.
Sounds like a great workshop topic for NAIS national conference if not befo=
re.
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Steve Taffee
staffee@castilleja.org<mailto:staffee@castilleja.org>>wrote:
I had a conversation with Courseload this morning, and have a follow-up sch=
eduled for next week From what i understand, Courseload does take existing =
textbooks and creates a PDF-like document, which they then access through t=
heir own reader to allow for some social collaboration features within a cl=
ass. Books are purchased, not leased, by students. I see this model as tran=
sitional; a bridge that enables teachers who are familiar with textbooks to=
see that model in play with e-readers and computers. Many teachers will qu=
ickly come to see that e-texts could be so much more with embedded links, r=
ich media contents, and built-in hooks to their LMS.
I agree with Fred and Bill about the potential of a consortium of schools t=
o contribute content. If you are not familiar with CK12.org, they are a non=
-profite creating open-content textbooks (they call them
Flexbooks) that I think might make an interesting partner. Having several t=
eachers work cooperatively also reduces the burden of a single person creat=
ing a text, not to mention the richer ideas that emerge from such collabora=
tion. Having schools collaborate on creating textbooks also has the benefit=
of helping to capture the knowledge and pedagogy of master teachers, some =
of whom are nearing retirement age, and whose loss to a school represents m=
uch more than replacing one headcount with another. Knowledge retention is=
as important in schools as it is in business.
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