Textbook Evolution Notes from Tulsa OK March 5, 2010

[Kent Brooks]

I was just thinking. Mostly I have my favorite or most thought provoking quotes from the Textbook Evolution conference. Technology Proceedings are now online by the way. We took 2 faculty, myself, our accountant, Vice president for Business affairs to this conference which was hosted by Tulsa Community College and sponsored by the Oklahoma regents for Higher Education.

It was good to hear Phil Moss, the MERLOT Director of Educational Partnerships and Plan...
Phil was my predecessor at Western Oklahoma State College and served at the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education before retiring taking on his current role with MERLOT.

My favorite quotes and comments from the meeting (not in any particular order) are:

1. Content is available along a spectrum. There is not a "Killer App" for textbook.
2. If I had $100 to spend I would spend $1 on design and $99 on faculty development
3. The future is already here we just don't recognize it.
4. Cost of textbooks is our enemy
5. The textbook industry will fail to reinvent itself
6. Universities are losing their grip on higher learning it is now the domain of the internet.
7. Quality is the preview of the faculty
8. Education is People
9. Education is Faculty (Faculty are the National Common Core of Higher Education)
10. Technology Can reduce the cost of education when properly deployed.
11. I think technology has created the greatest productivity increase in history over teh past 20 years except in education
12. Technologies that connect things together are powerful
13. Standardizing may not be the solutions.
14. Technology makes no significant difference in learning. It is the faculty who make the difference In a time of tsunamic change it is not a good thing to
    be very good at an old skill
15. The value of higher ed is not the lecture per se, but rther the whole package the content tied to the human learning experience on campus
    Colleges and Univ cannot survive on lectures alone
16. Repositories are underutilized
17. Can students write a better text than faculty

The key thing I noticed at this meeting is that there is a HUGE disconnect between student and faculty perceptions of the importance of the textbook. Students want to see value from their instructional resources such as textbooks. If it is not there they don't feel obligated to purchase the book.


My questions at the conference were:

Although I work at a learning institution with a library, textbooks, and courses Why do I do google to learn something instead of taking a class or checking a book out from my institution?

Technology often drives change in many industries and costs often go down why is it that technolgy has the exact opposite effect in education and we have to add technology fees to drive technology use instead of using technology to leverage our resources and drive costs down for students?

How do you hold a Moonbeam in your Hand: Getting a Grip on the Text...

The faculty perspective panel consisted of:
Mike Dineen, Mary Cantrell, Rosemary Carlson

Decisions we make today have an impact on the future

Stay on Task
Health Care Costs
Public
Providers
Employers
Insurance Companies Purely evil
Health Care is Labor Intensive

Text Book costs
Stakeholders
Faculty
Colleges
Publishers Purely Evil
Quality Education is Labor Intensive


Financial Challenges to Obtaining a Degree


Costs are shifted to students and families in what amounts to and excise tax on education

No single option satisfies the concerns of all stakeholders


Dr. Crosselin

Student Perspectives
No two alike

60% of students have to work to afford college
1st generation college students tend to work 2 jobs rather than


Student Perspectives -- Students as Consumers of Textbooks.
94% Faculty require texts
81% consder text important
87% of students will comply with text recommendation from faculty
51% of students look online for books


48% percent prefer to shop in college bookstore
30% neutral

Broken Market
Students = captive consumers
price inelastic

Student Perspective
Effective use of the technology
Must be carefully integrated into the design of the course
Must be meaningful to the learning process
important to student sucess
committed to use

Faculty Perspectives
Shorter texts/fewer ancillaries
Custom Texts Publisher Likes
Common course text
eText
Open Source / Online Source

Newspaper Death Watch Dave Hunke I have used this in a couple of talks on Disruptive Innovation

Selling Books a Sentence at a Time

Enhance the Learning Experience

Student Perspectives
Danial McClure - Textbook Burying Ceremony Univ of OK Rose State UCO
Travis Sterling TCC President SGA Tulsa Metro
Carmel Pennignton Oklahoma City Univ
Jasmine Columba TCC

iPhone Textbook App
Electronic Medium built with teams of faculty members

Communication and Coordination about textbooks.
Book Rental
ebooks


Worth my Time


Textbooks are only one form of content delivery

Content is available along a spectrum. There is not a "Killer App" for textbook.

Stanford gives away content on iTunes

Colleges become more relevant

When investments are made

If I had $100 to spend I would spend $1 on design and $99 on faculty development

Peer production vs learning in a silo

Myk Garn Keynote 2/5/10 Myk Garns blog

Why is a textbook like a deckchair

The future is already here we just don recognize it.
Textbooks are Expensive TX $600millionannual for K12

hb2103 section 3218 OK legislation 2007

Cost of textbooks is our enemy

The textbook industry will fail to reinvent itselt

Universities are losing their grip on higher learning it is now the domain of the internet.

Quality is the preview of the faculty

In Kentucky over 70 different textbooks are specified across multiple institutions for english comp

SCORE metadata
digital content workshops
Polices for sharing content.

Short term -- addressing costs of textbooks is good
Long term --



Faculty Quality and Cost
Education is People
Education is Faculty (Faculty are the National Common Core of Higher Education)




National Common Core

Consistent



Technology Can reduce the cost of education when properly deployed.

I think technology has created teh greatest productivity increase in history over teh past 20 years except in education


Technologies that connect things together are powerful

Learning was online but the library was closed --Student

Individually


Standardizing may not be the soltuions.

Technology makes no significant difference in learning. It is the faculty who make the difference In a time of tsunamic change it is not a good thing to be very good at an old skill

It is about moving from bricks and mortar to a

The value of higher ed is not the lecture per se, but rther the whole package the content tied to the human learning experience on campus Colleges and Univ cannot survive on lectures alone


Have students indivualize teh course their selves on their own.

Repositories are underutilized
Can students write a better text than faculty




Businesses do die even big ones



Houston Davis
What we are looking for is value. If it is useful and will be used they will buy it.