Boundless Freedon with Open Source Textbooks

This from http://edudemic.com/2012/08/boundless-textbooks-free/
Although it looks like the priority is at the university level for now, you can sign up for the public beta of Boundless at http://www.boundless.com/
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The world of digital textbooks is more than heating up. It’s on fire. Amazon just launched a digital rental option for textbooks. Companies like Chegg are becoming academic hubs that can improve your education experience through more than just textbook rentals.

But all of the options to use digital textbooks have cost money. And teachers as well as students simply don’t have much.

Until now.

Boundless just launched the public beta version of its brand new site. What is Boundless? It’s a way to easily turn all of the open source information that exists in the world into a simple easy-to-use digital textbook. And it’s free.

This is one of the most exciting announcements that came across my inbox over the past few weeks. Boundless is shaping up to truly disrupt the digital textbook industry and the newly launched tools are robust enough to do just that. But enough hyperbole and hot air, here’s what you should know:

How It Works

• Boundless taps into the world of free & open access information and turns it into a beautiful yet functional digital textbook.
• It’s iPad-friendly, works on laptops, and issimple enough for teachers of any aptitude to use.
• The system generates digital resources for you based on the textbook you would normally have used in the course.
• You can still use the printed textbook and use Boundless as a free digital supplement.
• There’s an instant search feature built into the new Boundless UI.
• You can digitally highlight and add notes to all of the content. I could see this being a big help to anyone nervous about deploying technology that could replace printed textbooks.
• Boundless has a fun new feature called SmartNotes Premium which boils down all the content into easily digested factoids, summaries, and roundups. It’s like having a customized ‘Top 10′ list for each topic you’re reading about. This feature is $20/course just FYI.
• The digital textbooks have no expiration date. They’re not rentals or anything that would cost you money since it’s all open source.

StoryNory: Free Audio Stories for Kids

Randy Damewood presented an online PD session for "The State of Tech PD in your PJs" conference via "Google+ Hangout" technology, titled the "Future of Textbooks Here and Now" (look for the recorded session on YouTube soon). Randy shared a variety of strategies and resources for student learning beyond the "ink-on-paper" world. One resource of note is the StoryNory website, providing free audio stories for kids since 2005.

Storynory is available on iTunes in the Kids and Family Podcast section. If you subscribe (for free) to the iTunes feed, you can easily download and transfer the latest stories onto your iPod. Many classic  fairy tale stories are available, including the complete Alice In Wonderland. Have a listen!

The conversation continues... Beyond the Textbook

Several ed-tech bloggers have been sharing news of an upcoming "Beyond the Textbook Forum" that is being hosted by Discovery Education this week. A search of the #beyondthetextbook hashtag in twitter will reveal the conversations that are occurring, such as those prompted from Angela Maier's blog post:

I want to invite you to participate virtually and share your ideas with the team  as it relates to the future of textbooks or the future of reference materials.
Here are some questions to consider posting or tweeting about at using the #BeyondtheTextbook Hashtag

• What materials are you currently using?
• Are they adequate and representative of the knowledge and expereince you want to enagage your students in?
• What are your thoughts about open source courseware and materials?
• Where is your number one place to turn, when you seek information that is beyond the scope of your textbook and curriculum materials? 

Join the conversation!

Textbooks of Tomorrow: Infographic

Infographics are great for summarizing information ... they're just a bit long on the page.


Via: OnlineEducation.net

Future of the Book ... Chapter 2

So many developments in a year's time! Are we moving in the right direction? What are some important components to consider for future textbooks?

Please add your voice to this conversation: 

http://todaysmeet.com/futuretextbooks

Hall Davidson (from Discovery Education) presented a session at the Feb. 2012 TCEA conference titled "Take a Page from the Perfect Digital Textbook." You can view/download his presentation slides at http://linkyy.com/HallDavidsonHandouts

If you have more specific ideas, enter your thoughts on Hall Davidson's open Google spreadsheet:
http://linkyy.com/other

From NPR: Discussion on the Digital Future of Textbooks

On Tuesday 1/24/12, the NPR program OnPoint (hosted by Tom Ashbrook) hosted a discussion about the Digital Future of Textbooks (http://onpoint.wbur.org/2012/01/24/future-of-textbooks) with guests John Bailey, Katie Ash and yours truly. Here is the show description:

The revolution brewing in your child’s backpack. One little computer tablet may soon replace all those big old textbooks.

Apple employees demonstrate interactive features of iBooks 2 for iPad, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 in New York. IBooks 2 will be able to display books with videos and other interactive features. (AP)

It hits in middle school.  The twenty-pound school backpack.  Loaded with notepads and pencils and gear and – above all – textbooks.  Big old heavy paper-and-ink textbooks loaded with math lessons and history and diagrams of frog intestines.  It sounds so 20th Century.

Now, there’s a push on to throw out the textbooks and load everything a young student needs onto one little nifty tablet computer.  Weighs just a pound.  Carries the world.  As many digital textbooks as you like.  Ready to dazzle.  Will they work?
This hour, On Point:  when textbooks go digital, go tablet.

The OnPoint podcast will be available for the next 2 weeks, however the stream will always be available via the OnPoint website. If you happen to listen, please consider leaving a comment with your thoughts.

Future of the book is closer

Apple's new iBooks2 app, the availability of low-cost textbooks from some of the major textbook publishers, and iBooksAuthor for content creating content, might cause school districts implementing a 1:1 environment with iPads to rethink their plans for providing content on mobile devices for students. 

Take a look at the textbook titles in the iBookstore (http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/publishers.html). iPad owners with iOS5 can download the free book called "Life on Earth" from E.O. Wilson, to get a sense of the features available in this new format.

See more at: http://www.apple.com/education/#video-textbooks