February 2012 Blog Posts (10)

It's getting easier to make e-books now, thanks to easy-to-use tools. To make simple Word or PDF documents more attractive (e.g., add page-turning effects and zoom options), consider free services like  Issuu or Yudu. …

Jonathas Mello has designed a new OER logo on behalf of UNESCO. 

You can see it at right, and you can download it in several formats and languages…

http://technorati.com/business/article/changes-ebooks-are-bringing-to-the/#ixzz1n1RLM3wv

"One of the most relevant speeches of the TOC conference was given by Barbara Genco of Library Journal. Her keynote, titled Public Library Power Patrons Are Your Best Customers: Lessons from Patron Profiles, argued that publishers need libraries more than libraries need…

Building a textbook in 48 hours http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKnJe9VzXXY



UC Irvine provides outstanding open courseware http://bit.ly/AriZXr



Tony Kuphaldt's 7 videos on Active Learning: http://bit.ly/TonysVideos



Debut of 5 outstanding open textbooks…

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/temple-project-ditches-textbooks-for-homemade-digital-alternatives/35247

Temple used a pilot project to encourage faculty to design alternative textbooks and digital materials. “We provided a $1,000 grant to 11 faculty…

2//7/12 from INSIDE HIGHER ED

If ramen noodle sales spike at the start of every semester, here’s one possible reason: textbooks can cost as much as a class itself; materials for an introductory physics course can easily top $300.

Cost-conscious students can of course save money with used or online books and recoup some of their cash come buyback time. Still, it’s a steep price for most 18-year-olds.

But soon, introductory physics texts will have a new competitor,…

There's a nice article about this called "Open Textbook Authoring Tools Part 2 – WordPress and Pressbooks" posted Feb. 7. It…

In a new post by  David Wiley, Cable Green, and Louis Soares, you'll find a downloadable issues brief and a browser-accessible version. My eye was captured…

Why Pay for Intro Textbooks? Rice offers a free physics intro textbook through  OpenStax College. They'll offer free course materials for five introductory classes via Rice’s Connexions platform. 

Saylor Foundation has selected three college textbooks to be added to its lineup of free online courses through the Open Textbook Challenge. Each author will receive $20,000, and the textbooks are available through a creative commons license.

The texts are now available for use by students and instructors at…