Epoch Times - E-Textbooks Transforming Publishing Industry

Epoch Times - E-Textbooks Transforming Publishing Industry

E-Textbooks Transforming Publishing Industry

Related articles: Business > Companies

Textbook of the future? The enTourage eDGe e-book is displayed at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 7, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Given plummeting school budgets and the slashing of programs, many students and educators are going digital and dumping traditional school and university textbooks.

With the economy in flux, going digital would save school systems millions of dollars, which could be used for programs that would be or already have been cut.

Promoting e-textbooks, Open Education said on its Web site that, “As the digital age continues to work its way into the stuffy world of academics, there are clear indications that textbooks are gradually being phased out in many areas of the country.”

A recent survey of educators by the California Learning Resource Network (CLN) found that more than half of school administrators believe that going digital will save the school system money that could be used otherwise. About 84 percent agree that e-textbooks would result in more up-to-date educational material and the majority asked CLN to undertake a study of e-textbook costs versus benefits.

A CompassLearning survey of educators, published this month, discovered that 65 percent expect e-textbooks to replace print textbooks in the very near future. But less than 20 percent thought that their school district could handle going digital at this time.

California an Early Player

The e-textbook initiative started in earnest with Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s governor, buying into the program in 2009. The initiative calls for California’s schools to go digital with textbooks.

“This first-in-the-nation initiative will reduce education costs. ... This initiative has the potential to save California’s schools millions of dollars,” Governor Schwarzenegger said in a 2009 press release.

California’s school system spent $350 million for schoolbooks and associated teaching materials, with one book costing between $75 and $100. The savings for just science and math class books are estimated to be

Dear Texas: Please shut up. Sincerely, History

Mark Morford - Notes & Errata Archive | E-mail | Twitter | Facebook |  Dear Texas: Please shut up. Sincerely, History

Hey, kids! Here's something I bet you didn't know: Black people? Back in 1800 or whenever? They liked being slaves. True! Many savvy, industrious Negroes actually volunteered for that fine, desirable position. It was a completely balanced, fair, hugely successful system, until those damn liberals came along and ruined everything. I know, right? What a shame

Do you know what else? America was wholly victorious in Vietnam. It's a fact! Kicked some serious enemy butt! Mission accomplished! Sure it was a little bumpy for awhile, but President Nixon, that great and wronged American hero, put us on the righteous path in the end, wrapped that sucker up beautifully and made America the noble Superman to the world. Hey, it's the truth! You can look it up in your history textbook!
Even more good, newly historic news: Despite what you may have heard from the liberal media, America has very much won its recent, God-sanctioned wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Angry Allah loses again! Just look at this handy diagram on page 281, Figure 4-9. See those little dark-skinned bodies stacked up neatly beside that minaret? Right next to that completely unstaged photo of the toppled Saddam statue? Look how many there are! Graphs never lie.
Did you know, back in the frontier days, that Native Americans welcomed the white man with open arms? Absolutely true. Those poor, sunburned people were so beaten down and exploited by their oppressive dictator "chiefs," they were forced to believe in all sorts of disgusting pagan sun gods and had to eat, like, rocks and snakes and stuff.
It's no wonder they greeted proud, fair-minded American colonials as great liberators -- yes! Just like in Baghdad! -- and happily gave us free access to their fields and their women and their wonderful bead-making technology, in exchange for, you know, gin and fireworks. And casinos.
Never doubt America's irrefutable greatness, kids. Our prison system, for example, is the finest in the world. Also, dirty Mexican people had no role whatsoever in the Civil War or U.S. history (except as troublesome immigrants, yuck), hip-hop music is in no way, shape or form to be considered a significant cultural movement -- unlike totally awesome Country & Western, and the War on Drugs is going spectacularly well, thanks to our fine military, numerous Afterschool Specials and the deep love of Jesus -- who, if you look really closely at those old photographs from the Bible, is clearly wearing a U.S. flag pin on his robes to go along with his friendly, competely legal sidearm. God bless America.
These irrefutable facts -- and many more just like them -- are brought to you by the Texas State Board of Education, packed like a jug of rancid tartar sauce with intellectually numb simpletons who smell like ignorance and taste like fear. The TSBE: We make revisionist brainwashing fun!™
Maybe you didn't hear? The little item about how a small pod of pale ultra-conservatives in Texas has just demanded a whole slew of specific changes be made to history textbooks down in the Lone Star State? About how, in fact, nearly every change is a rather ridiculous rewriting of history and the language surrounding it, all tending to favor -- can you guess? -- white privileged capitalist males, a bitter Christian God, and a
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/03/17/notes031710.DTL#ixzz0iR8kbNCQ
.

Cuts at UC Davis: Sharing services, consolidating jobs - USATODAY.com

Cuts at UC Davis: Sharing services, consolidating jobs - USATODAY.com

DAVIS, CALIF. — The receptionist who once sat outside Stan Nosek's office has been replaced ... by a bell.

"Please ring for service," a small sign reads.

Nosek, special assistant to the chancellor at the University of California's Davis campus, walks past the bell and points toward several cubicles that once housed employees.

"Empty," he says.

"Empty," pointing toward another.

ON THE WEB: Fault lines

MORE AT INSIDE HIGHER ED: March on everywhere

A few strides.

"Empty."

When staff members leave Davis these days, they are seldom replaced. By merging administrative units, Davis has cut about 150 positions, largely through attrition. There are more reductions and layoffs to come, and Nosek will spend the next few months trying to figure out where those cuts can be made with the least disruption to the university.

When he retires in June, Nosek won't be replaced either.

In the final act of a long administrative career at Davis, Nosek is engaged in a task that is simultaneously tedious, rewarding and painful. He and his ever-diminishing staff are interviewing people across the campus, hoping to consolidate their decentralized duties. Davis is trying to bring an end to the days of a single employee who may spend a quarter of his time handling payroll and another three quarters juggling other duties. Far more efficient, Nosek says, is one employee with one job. Every department doesn't need its own part-time technology support employee, when one full-time tech support worker could serve multiple departments from a single "shared services center," the theory goes.

As would be expected, some of the savings from a project like this will be realized through laying off people. As Nosek and his team interview employees about their current duties, he says the interviewees are increasingly asking, "What do I have to do to be a survivor here?"

One of the beauties of higher education — its decentralized respect for the mores of varied disciplines — has also been its undoing, Nosek says. Over the last several decades, disparate departments have given ad hoc duties to multiple employees without centralized functions — creating a metastasization of obligations that the private sector long ago determined was both inefficient and expensive.

The "shared services centers" project at Davis may sound good on paper, but individual departments often like the way they do things — and there is pushback any time central administration comes down from on high and appears to be threatening the autonomy of university units. While not familiar with the specifics of the shared services project, a union leader says "what this will do is it will allow for fewer people to run around putting out fires, and it will leave more money for administrative bonuses or whatever."

Frank Pinto, an executive board member with University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE)-

The 2009 Brown Center Report on American Education - Brookings Institution

The 2009 Brown Center Report on American Education - Brookings Institution

The 2009 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning?

• Save
• Download Full Report (PDF)
• Print
• E-mail
• Share

MARCH 17, 2010 —

This year’s Brown Center Report contains studies taking a long view. Part I examines national test data going back to 1971 from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study in Part II compares the 1989 test scores of more than 1,000 schools to the same schools’ scores in 2009. Part III compares the test scores of conversion charter schools from 1986, when they operated as traditional public schools, to those from 2008, when they operated as charter schools. The studies tackle perennial questions that, as often happens in education, manifest themselves as controversial topics on the contemporary scene: how to interpret trends in test scores, the distribution of achievement, school turnarounds, and charter schools.

Brown Center Report on American Education

• Save
• Subscribe

• Report Index

st

Part I rejects the conventional reaction to the 2009 NAEP scores. Scores in fourth-grade math were unchanged from 2007 to 2009. Eighth-grade scores were up a little. Press articles featured expressions of disappointment and concern, primarily from protagonists who used the flat scores to support policy arguments. Part I places the 2009 scores in the context of the 19-year history of the main NAEP, and after comparing the latest scores with results from other equally trustworthy tests of U.S. math achievement, concludes that the hand-wringing is unwarranted.

So when is a purported NAEP trend really a trend? Part I continues by examining achievement gaps, not between two racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, but between the nation’s highest- and lowest-achieving students. It focuses on the distribution of academic achievement instead of the direction of average achievement. The

FCC National Broadband Plan: What It Means For You - Reviews by PC Magazine

FCC National Broadband Plan: What It Means For You - Reviews by PC Magazine

FCC National Broadband Plan: What It Means For You

The national broadband plan has arrived. After 36 public workshops, nine field hearings, 31 public notices that produced 75,000 pages of public comments, 131 blog posts, and 335,000 Twitter followers, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday finally released its 376-page plan for providing the country with broadband service.

The document – which was mandated by last year's stimulus bill – includes recommendations for broadband implementation over the next 10 years, touching on things like public safety, education, health information technology, spectrum, the economy, and more. But what does this mean for the average consumer? Will this plan actually affect you or is it just hundreds of page of bureaucratic nonsense?

We perused the document in its entirety this morning, and found a few things that could affect the average consumer.

Faster Internet for the Connected
The FCC's plans are not going to be implemented overnight. Most look down the road to 2015 and 2020. In addition to providing underserved areas with broadband access, the FCC also wants to increase the speed of existing service. Within five years, the FCC aims to have 100 million people hooked up to broadband service boasting speeds of 50 Mbits/s, and by 2020, the FCC wants 100 million people using 100 Mbps broadband service.

The plan also applies to mobile, and a good portion deals with spectrum. Many of the details are very technical, but in an effort to accommodate all the people who are expected to start using the mobile Web in the next 10 years, the plan calls for an additional 500 MHz of spectrum to be used

California Adult Schools Unite to Survive Economic Crisis

California Adult Schools Unite to Survive Economic Crisis

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - (Business Wire) Facing extreme budget cuts that could dismantle the state’s school district adult education system, 340 California Adult Schools have joined to make their case for survival. The schools provide critical educational services to millions of California adults who do not have the required literacy, language, and workplace skills to succeed in the current economic environment. Key to the California Adult Schools’ initiative is a new brand identity and a new public website at http://californiaadultschools.org/.

Funded through the state's K-12 districts, California Adult Schools fill a widening educational gap. With a commitment to community-based lifelong learning, they provide programming and services in the areas of job training, basic reading and math skills, high school diploma, GED, parenting, and English as a second language (ESL).

“California Adult Schools help adult students find jobs, earn degrees, and become better parents,” said Roger Brossmer, Downey Adult School principal. “There are 5.3 million California adults without high school diplomas and 3 million English language learners who need access to adult education resources in order to work in the state economy."

A 2009 report commissioned by the California Department of Education (Source: WestEd Strategic Planning Needs Assessment, http://californiaadultschools.org/cas/attachments/119_ae0090_ref6049.pdf), says California Adult Schools are well positioned to address three driving forces in the state:

• The California economy is transitioning to one dominated by knowledge-based industries that require a workforce with specialized skills and advanced knowledge.
• The educational attainment of Californians is declining. (California performance numbers are generally below national averages, with more high school dropouts and lower rates of transition to college.)
• California’s population is aging and becoming more diverse. (As the baby boomers retire much of the existing workforce's expertise will be replaced by a population increasingly characterized by low levels of education.)

Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/california-adult-schools-unite-to-survive-economic-crisis,1207868.shtml#ixzz0iR6w9pG9

School may hold lessons for UTSA

School may hold lessons for UTSA

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Nestled among tall eucalyptus and pine trees, the University of California at San Diego has a camplike feel, reminiscent of the days when scientists bunked in seaside cottages pursuing the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean.

The flame for discovery that started with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the early 1900s was passed on to a medical school and university created on top of the marine institute in the 1960s.

Today, it’s a Tier One research institution with 29,000 students, at least six Nobel laureates and 51 doctoral programs.

In Texas, the University of Texas at San Antonio opened in the early 1970s with similar optimism and dreams of research prowess.

But the two young institutions took very different paths. UTSA also grew to 29,000 students, but spent its early decades as a commuter college catering to the region’s low-income and underserved students, with little emphasis on research and graduate programs until recent years.

Many say UTSA’s focus on access was - and is - appropriate and necessary.

But some professors from the early years say a lack of money and vision stunted UTSA’s development.

Until the 1990s, the flagship UT-Austin was the only belle at the ball in the eyes of state lawmakers and university regents. A lawsuit prodded them to funnel more money to South Texas and border institutions, and overcrowding at UT-Austin forced them to build up more Tier One research universities.

"We were getting some lofty language in the beginning, but we knew we were an impoverished stepsister to Austin in those days," said Judith Sobre, an art history professor at UTSA since 1974.

But now Texas is trying to catch up, and UTSA and six other up-and-coming universities have another shot at Tier One

Budget cuts force colleges to examine priorities - San Jose Mercury News

Budget cuts force colleges to examine priorities - San Jose Mercury News

Budget cuts force colleges to examine priorities

By Matt Krupnick
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 03/16/2010 07:06:09 PM PDT

Updated: 03/16/2010 07:06:09 PM PDT

These are not the choices college leaders signed up for: immigrants or retirees? Poor or rich? Car repair or English classes?

A series of tough years has forced California colleges and universities to slash budgets, in part by cutting back on the number of classes they offer. Nearly every campus has trimmed courses, and more cuts are planned for the summer and fall.

The lack of money puts administrators in a particularly difficult position, forcing them to decide which students get pushed off campus.

With record unemployment and high-school graduates, demand for higher education is at an all-time high. But California's two public university systems have cut enrollment, and community colleges expect a decline this year because students are unable to get the classes they need.

Unemployed workers "are trying to come back to school, and they know this is the place to do it," said McKinley Williams, president of Contra Costa College in San Pablo. "But we're having to turn them away."

The conundrum comes down to priorities. Each school decides which programs are essential — and which ones must now be considered luxuries.

At most campuses, that strategy has eliminated classes with fewer than 20 students and electives that do not help students achieve a degree or certificate, such as courses on sports-related films, one such class proposed for

After Protests, Education Activists Strategize - NAM

After Protests, Education Activists Strategize - NAM

After Protests, Education Activists Strategize

New America Media, News Feature, Nadia Prupis, Posted: Mar 17, 2010

OAKLAND, Calif.--Ten days after statewide actions against tuition hikes and budget cuts to California’s schools and colleges, a group of activists gathered during a day-long session of planning and strategizing the next steps.

Some 30 student leaders, professors, and organizers gathered at the School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) in Oakland, to talk about action beyond the protests, comprehensive education reform, and who to build on the momentum of statewide protests for the future. SOUL was founded in 1996 during protests against UC Berkeley’s plans to cut affirmative action measures. Every Sunday, organizers meet there to discuss campaigns and strategies.

Aaron Buchbinder, a second-year grad student at San Francisco State University, is one of those organizers. He will graduate this spring with a Master's in social work, but his concentration, Social Action and Change, is in danger of being cut. Buchbinder, helped lead a protest in San Francisco as a member of the Students Faculty Staff United coalition on his campus. His agenda included discussion of alternatives to the budget cuts and ways to galvanize the student body.

“At SOUL, we're inspired by the mobilization towards educational justice,” said lead trainer Nefertiti Altan. “We wanted a space for people to reflect. How do we keep this momentum going? How do we continue that movement?”

Educational activism at SOUL includes a short history lesson and a look at current issues and problems. Kim Geron, professor of political science at Cal State East Bay, noted that the effort to create education in this nation was “a huge fight.

“Harvard opened as an elite university before elementary schools were established,” Geron said. “And the initial push for public higher education was meant for white middle class students.” In the late 1960s, Geron explained, activism focused on expanding admissions to public universities. Today, Geron said, accessibility is still an issue, but affordability comes first.

Liz Hall, executive director of the University of California Student Association (UCSA), said that California has broken the promise of a free

“The Difference Is Education” | Capital Notes -- From KQED's John Myers

“The Difference Is Education” | Capital Notes -- From KQED's John Myers

"The Difference Is Education"

March 16, 2010 · Posted By John Myers · Filed Under CA Budget

And with that comment, the leader of the state Senate seemed to make it pretty clear today what's going to be at the center of budget fighting this year: funding for public schools.

Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told Capitol reporters this afternoon that Democrats won't go along with Governor Schwarzenegger's approaches to funding schools — either in the current fiscal year or the budget year beginning July 1.

Education has been part of, but not central to, the last few days of budget fighting, which seem likely to end with the governor vetoing more than $3 billion in legislative deficit solutions.

But two things the Senate leader said today make it clear we'll soon be talking a lot more about K-12 schools and community colleges should get… both how much they should get, and where that money should come from.

First, there's the gap the vetoes will create between the total dollar amount of 2009-2010 budget fixes wanted by Schwarzenegger versus what the Legislature sent him. It appears that the current year budget deficit will only be lowered by about $200 million, down from the governor's call for $1.2 billion.

So what accounts for the $1 billion in disputed savings? "The difference is education," said Sen. Steinberg.

And on that issue, it doesn't look like Dems are budging. Almost two weeks ago, I reported for The California Report on the fight over Schwarzenegger's request to revisit the part of last July's budget deal that set the formal certification of Proposition 98 — i.e., the part of that budget deal that set the rules for what schools are receiving and how that money is being

Secretary of Education Duncan proposes bans for low grad rates - USATODAY.com

Secretary of Education Duncan proposes bans for low grad rates - USATODAY.com

Secretary of Education Duncan proposes bans for low grad rates

WASHINGTON — If U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had his way, a dozen of the teams in the men's NCAA basketball tournament would not be eligible to play in it, including top-seeded Kentucky.

Duncan proposes teams with graduation rates of less than 40% be banned from postseason play.

ARNE DUNCAN: Basketball provided a life assist for education secretary

DUNCAN ON COLLINS: Education secretary fan of Kansas guard

"That's a low bar," Duncan said Tuesday. "If you can't graduate two out of five of your student-athletes, how serious are you about the academic part of your mission?"

The schools that have men's basketball teams with graduation rates of less than 40% are Arkansas-Pine Bluff (29%), Baylor (36%), California (20%), Clemson (37%), Georgia Tech (38%), Kentucky (31%), Louisville (38%), Maryland (8%), Missouri(36%), New Mexico State (36%), Tennessee (30%) and Washington (29%).

Those figures come from NCAA rates compiled by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. They do not include transfers or players who leave early for the NBA. They do not reflect athletes who will play in the tourney, as they include the most recent four-year classes that have had six years to graduate.

Duncan will participate in a teleconference today with the study's primary author, Richard Lapchick.

The Department of Education cannot impose a 40% solution on NCAA schools, but Duncan said he would use his office to advocate for reform.

"Why do we tolerate the bad apples … when the vast majority are doing things well?" he said. "Everybody sees it. It's out in the open. … And somehow things don't change."

The NCAA uses a formula called the APR that measures school success in retaining athletes, keeping them eligible and graduating them. Penalties include a postseason ban, but that has happened once in Division I

Baylor University || The Lariat Online || News

Baylor University || The Lariat Online || News

National scale of new curriculums

March 17, 2010

Questions arise as the state looks to alter social studies textbooks

By Laura Remson
Staff writer

As news of the vote for possible amendments to the Texas State Board of Education social studies curriculum disseminates, questions are being raised as to the national impact of these decisions.

Because Texas is the largest consumer of public school textbooks in the nation, it holds a power over national publishers and the content they produce for other states.

Neal Frey is the president and senior textbook analyst for Educational Research Analysts, a conservative Christian organization that reviews public school textbooks. He spends much of his time looking over books that have been submitted into the Textbook Review and Adoption Process.

"Texas is one of 22 states that has a state textbook approval process," Frey said.

"Texas is one of the two biggest states, because of the size of Texas textbook purchases. The textbook market of Texas is very important to publishers," Frey said. "Publishers tells us that, of the two largest states, the other being California, most other states prefer textbooks that are written to Texas standards because the other states say they feel like Texas textbook rules are clearer and more reasonable than California's."

He explained that recently California withdrew from the state textbook approval process until at least 2016, making Texas a default monopoly on new textbook content.

"Publishers are going to take very seriously whatever Texas finally concludes upon," Frey said. "Publishers are going to revise their textbooks quite closely according to Texas standards. Then they will market these books to other states across the nation."

Sherry Smith, director of purchasing for Waco Independent School District, isn't sure the exact reasoning for Texas' influence over publishers.

"It's just the number of kids," Smith said. "Because the size of [Texas] and our population, publishers are going to hear our needs so they can sell books to us. And the rest of the nation just kind of has to deal with it and deal with what Texas wants because they want to sell to Texas because that's where the money is. We're the biggest volume user from what I understand ... You

The State Hornet - Voters prefer cuts-only approach to fix budget

The State Hornet - Voters prefer cuts-only approach to fix budget

Voters prefer cuts-only approach to fix budget

By Cahil Bhanji

|

Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Updated: Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Megan Harris - State Hornet

A solution to funding problems for higher education in California cannot be agreed on among legislatures, experts and professors.

Results from a recent Field Poll conducted in January are being interpreted in different ways that affect the future of the universities in California.

“Education affects everything in our society so it’s a top priority,” said Adam Keigwin, spokesman for California State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco. “It has to be first and foremost because it trickles down. For every dollar invested in education the state is paid back in several fold.”

Supporters of stopping budget cuts to the university made their voice clear on March 4, at the Capitol rally protests, Keigwin said.

“The senator was very impressed with the protests,” Keigwin said. “He participated in several and even spoke at them. He supports that, students and teachers came together on an issue.”

In an effort to help solve the problem of funding for higher education, Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, authored AB 656, a bill to levy an oil severance tax. The bill will change California from being the only oil producing state without the tax to taxing domestically provided oil nearly 10 percent.

If passed, the funds will be distributed, with 60 percent going to the California State University system, 30 percent going to University of California, and 10 percent going to state community colleges. The bill has been amended four times in the Assembly and is now in the Senate.

Critics of the bill don’t think the bill will help end up helping higher education.

“The bill would destroy 10,000 jobs; now is not the time to be destroying jobs in California,” said Rock Zierman, CEO of California Independent Petroleum Association.

If more jobs were created in California and the unemployment rate went down, that would help the state as a whole, which in turn could help higher education, Zierman said.

“When you tax something you get less of it we would get less oil so we would have to rely more on importing, which would be primarily the Middle East,” Zierman said.

Zierman offered two solutions to help the budget crisis with out new taxes.

“We have over 10 billion barrels of oil off the coast of California. It’d be taxes at home, and jobs at home, we could safely start projects to safely get the oil,” Zierman said

Opposition to AB 656 suggested that Torrico add into his bill instead of new taxes, that domestic oil companies would dedicate the royalties and future taxes from new offshore leases to higher education. Torrico rejected the suggestion.

Fixing the CSU system starts with informing the public about all the benefits higher education brings to the state.

Higher education is what provides the state with its police, social workers, nurses and teachers, said Jeff Lustig, professor emeritus of government.

“The Field Poll attests to the failure of political leaders and the CSU leaders to educate the public about the public good beyond their own self interests,” Lustig said.

Not everyone believes that fixing higher education first, is best for fixing higher educations or the state’s budget