BookServer: A Plan to Build an Open Web of Books

Read / Write Article

“The Internet Archive has just unveiled their ambitious project called BookServer, which will allow users to find, buy, or borrow digital books from sources all across the web. The system, built on an open architecture and using open book formats, promises that the books housed there will work on any device whether that's a laptop, PC, smartphone, game console, or one of the myriad of e-Readers like Amazon's Kindle.”

Missed the WCET Conference?

Missed the WCET Conference?        

The keynotes are online (free).        

I’m watching this one now – Brian Lamb from UBC is great:  The Urgency of Open Education: Cheap Thrills, Participatory Culture and Working Social Media    (slides)      

I just learned about this new federated search for OER  -- leverages Google’s custom search. Thanks Brian!

State Initiatives Regarding Electronic or Open Source Textbooks

State Initiatives Regarding Electronic or Open Source Textbooks
By Noe M. Cisneros
September 2009

(not related ... but good interview with Eric Frank of Flatworld Knowledge)

New Publication: Affordable and Open Textbooks: An Exploratory Study of Faculty Attitudes

Affordable and Open Textbooks: An Exploratory Study of Faculty Attitudes.
By: Diane Harley, Shannon Lawrence, Sophia Krzys Acord, Jason Dixson
CSHE.9.2009 (October 2009)

81 Courses to be Redesigned and Opened with CC BY Licencing

You may have already heard the good news… the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the WA State Legislature have funded the WA State Student Completion Initiative (press release).

81 Courses:

ACCT&	201	Principles of Accounting I
ACCT&	202	Principles of Accounting II
ACCT&	203	Principles of Accounting III
ANTH&	100	Survey of Anthropology
ANTH&	205	Physical Anthropology
ANTH&	206	Cultural Anthropology
ART&	100	Art Appreciation
ASL&	121	American Sign Language I
ASL&	122	American Sign Language II
ASTR&	100	Survey of Astronomy
ASTR&	101	Introduction To Astronomy
BIOL&	100	Survey of Biology
BIOL&	160	General Biology w/Lab
BIOL&	211	Majors  Biology - 1st in series
BIOL&	212	Majors  Biology - 2nd in series
BIOL&	213	Majors  Biology - 3rd in series
BIOL&	241	Human Anatomy and Physiology 1
BIOL&	242	Human Anatomy and Physiology 2
BIOL&	260	Microbiology
BUS&	101	Introduction To Business
BUS&	201	Business Law
CHEM&	121	Introduction to Chemistry (inorganic)
CHEM&	161	General Chemistry with Lab I
CHEM&	162	General Chemistry with Lab II
CHEM&	163	General Chemistry with Lab III
CJ&	101	Introduction to Criminal Justice System
CMST&	101	Introduction To Communication
CMST&	102	Introduction To Mass Media
CMST&	210	Interpersonal Communication
CMST&	220	Public Speaking
DRMA&	101	Introduction to Theatre
ECON&	201	Microeconomics
ECON&	202	Macroeconomics
ENGL	9Y	Pre-College English
ENGL&	101	English Composition I
ENGL&	102	English Composition II
ENGL&	111	Introduction To Literature I
ENGL&	235	Technical Writing
ENVS&	100	Survey of Environmental Science (no lab)
FRCH&	121	French I
FRCH&	122	French II
GEOL&	101	Introduction to Physical Geology
HIST&	116	Western Civilization I
HIST&	126	World Civilizations I
HIST&	146	US History I
HIST&	147	US History II
HIST&	148	US History III
HIST&	214	Pacific NW History
HLTH	101	Health and Wellness
LIB	180	Research for the 21st Century
MATH	9X	Elementary Algebra
MATH	9Y	Intermediate Algebra
MATH&	107	Math in Society
MATH&	141	Precalculus I
MATH&	142	Precalculus II
MATH&	146	Introduction to Statistics
MATH&	148	Business Calculus
MATH&	151	CALCULUS I
MATH&	152	CALCULUS II
MATH&	153	CALCULUS III
MUSC&	105	Music Appreciation
NUTR&	101	Nutrition
OCEA&	101	Introduction To Oceanography
PHIL&	101	Introduction To Philosophy
PHIL&	106	Introduction To Logic
PHYS&	122	General Physics II
PHYS&	100	Physics: Non Science Majors
PHYS&	121	General Physics I
PHYS&	221	Engineering Physics I
POLS&	101	Introduction To Political Science
POLS&	202	American Government
POLS&	203	International Relations
PSYC&	100	General Psychology
PSYC&	200	Lifespan Psychology
PSYC&	220	Abnormal Psychology
SOC&	101	Introduction To Sociology
SOC&	201	Social Problems
SPAN&	121	Spanish I
SPAN&	122	Spanish II
SPAN&	123	Spanish III
		Try College / College Success /  E4ME

* The course titles highlighted in pink are courses selected by the Gates Foundation.... because they disproportionately serve low income, young students and the courses have lower than average completion rates.

A few important notes:

·         These 80 courses (#81 will be a new course) constitute 415,000 annual enrollments (2008-2009) across the 34 colleges.

o    Multiply that many enrollments by a [conservative] $100 textbook and estimate our students are spending over $41.5M / year on textbooks for these 80 courses.

·         This project is about redesigning 81 high enrollment, gatekeeper and pre-college courses for face-to-face, hybrid and/or online delivery, to improve course completion rates, lower textbook costs for students, provide new resources for faculty to use in their courses, and for our college system to fully engage the global open educational resources discussion.

·         This project is not about mandated curriculum. This is not about forcing anyone to use the redesigned courses or instructional materials.

·         This project is not about creating "canned courses." The redesigned courses will be digital and modular so faculty can slice and dice them, remix / modify them, take the pieces they want to use - or ignore them.

·         Most of the 81 courses are common course numbered courses, though they were not selected for that reason. The courses were selected because they are the highest enrolled courses... we also tried to keep series of courses together - e.g., Calculus I, II, III.

·         The redesigned courses will be collectively owned by the college system. Part of the grant is to put open creative commons licenses on all 81 courses and share them with the world.

More details and documents will be provided at open system “town hall” meetings and before on system listservs.

Warm regards,

Cable