[IAEP] Some Comments on Digital Textbooks In California

[Sameer Verma]

On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 12:45 PM, James Simmons<jim.simmons at walgreens.com> wrote:
> Caryl,
>
> I can certainly understand expecting the worst here.  I do think the
> idea has potential, even if it takes awhile to achieve it.
>
> My niece went to the Illinois Math and Science Academy, a public
> boarding school for gifted kids.  One of the things that impressed me
> about this school was that they don't use textbooks at all.  The
> teachers create all the class materials.  Her father's complaint about
> the school was that, "The teachers don't teach!"  I don't think anyone
> missed having textbooks, though.
>
> Creating textbooks has a lot of politics involved in it.  School boards
> cannot be offended by anything in History or Biology textbooks, and the
> dumbest, most easily offended school boards in the country end up
> choosing what textbooks get used by most of the country.  A couple of
> years ago I took a vacation in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, etc.  I
> learned a lot of things about U.S. History that I wish I had learned as
> a kid.  For instance, the first ships in the U.S. Navy were captured
> from the British by pirates.  In colonial Williamsburg, church
> attendance was required by law, and you could be punished for arriving
> late.  If you wanted to attend a church other than the official one you
> could only do that with permission from the government, and you still
> had to tithe to the official church.  What is the likelihood of any of
> that information making it into a high school textbook?
>
> I read a story that a Biology teacher got in trouble for pointing out
> that men and women have the same number of ribs!  Mike Huckabee claimed
> during the last election that most of the signers of the Declaration of
> Independence were clergymen, and *nobody* corrected him.
>
> Having digital textbooks might be a way to get around that, because
> different states could publish their own books at a low cost.  States
> could use each other's books, etc.  I'm not saying it would be easy but
> it would be possible.  The school boards in Texas and elsewhere would
> not be able to hijack the whole process.  Eventually this should lead to
> better textbooks.
>
> If the books were in the public domain (and they should be) then cheap
> printed copies of the textbooks should also be available.
>
> James Simmons
>

Hi James,

As I read your post, it reminds me of my own education in India, where
I grew up and went from kindergarten all the way to college. Our
history books were very selective as well. For instance, there is no
mention of any of the details of WWII and its role in Indian
independence. Entire sections of historic movements are missing. I've
learned so much more about history from independent sources than from
my history classes, that I sometimes feel cheated :-)

So, an entire nation grows up to believe that Indian independence was
obtained due to Gandhi's non-cooperation. While I do not for a minute
underestimate Gandhi's role and contribution in the independence
process, it took much more than Gandhi and his refusal to cooperate.
Unfortunately, most Indian children don't know that, and will grow up
not to care...unless, they have access to a wealth of independent
sources, and some (not all) will be curious enough to read it.

Some people argue that books can only cover so much. Well, paper books
are limited. Electronic books are not. Syllabi are designed to address
specific teaching goals in limited time. I use syllabi every semester,
and I'm not against that approach. However, if books were delivered
electronically, and children had free access to content, then learning
would take on a different shape...at least for some.

This talk about writing books to replace existing ones is interesting.
It is very much in line with what happened in the FOSS world. Someone
decided to write free replacements for expensive proprietary software,
thereby reducing the cost barrier (although poorly written FOSS titles
steepen the learning curve). I deal with publishers every semester, so
I know that game all too well.

We can create modules or chapters based on topics and be able to mix
and match chapters and create what we need. Easier said then done, but
it needs to be said first. Just like following APIs and standards for
making code talk across systems, we will need standards for making
chapters collate into a book, but those are tactical issues. We need
to address strategic matters first.

cheers,
Sameer
-- 
Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Information Systems
San Francisco State University
San Francisco CA 94132 USA
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
http://opensource.sfsu.edu/

>> Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2009 09:53:04 -0700
>> From: Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
>> Subject: [IAEP] Some Comments on Digital Textbooks In California
>> To: Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t
>>       <support-gang at lists.laptop.org>, IAEP SugarLabs
>>       <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>
>> Message-ID: <BLU108-W2187E0143DA92F82975A95CC440 at phx.gbl>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>>
>> Hi...
>> Adam Holt alerted me to Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposal to go digital with textbooks statewide in California high schools, starting with math and science this year.  Here is my retired teacher's view of the situation...
>>
>>
>> (See: http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/fact-sheet/12455/)
>>
>>
>> The Good:
>>
>>
>> Textbooks can be up to date and, hopefully, will be.
>>
>>
>> The Bad
>>
>> Gov. Schwarzenegger suggests teachers can "print out pages for students who do not have computers."  Who pays?  Probably the teachers!  This really shows no commitment to supplying the schools with computers
>>
>> The Ugly
>>
>>
>> Textbook publishing is a big, competitive business.  Lots of profits are to be made in publishing textbooks.  What incentive will there be to publish free online books? You can bet they will not be free for long.
>> Hummmmm...Maybe we do need Jerry Brown to run for governor.  He had a huge commitment to educational technology when he was in office.
>> Any comments?
>> Caryl
>
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