Hi Randy, Your earlier post on "free tuition at a community college in the US" has got me thinking again about building a sustainable OER Textbook initiative. WikiEducator is uniquely positioned to pioneer a peer-collaboration approach for OER textbook development and distribution. Apology for the long post -- but this is important stuff and WE would appreciate thoughts and advice from the community.
One positive aspect of the global economic crisis is that this will force institutions to focus on the benefits of the OER model -- both economically and pedagogically. Clearly the OER textbook initiative has the potential to improve efficiencies in the sector. Notwithstanding tomorrow's promise for OER textbooks -- the uptake thus far has been disappointing :-(. We don't have any mainstream examples of sustainable success with OER Textbooks -- However, there are a few promising projects and pieces of the puzzle coming together, for instance: 1) Otago Polytechnic's Anatomy and Physiology for Animals text on Wikibooks. (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Anatomy_and_Physiology_of_Animals ) There is an option for learners to purchase a bound printed version from lulu.com. 2) You've already mentioned the OER Handbook for Educators on WE --- which is also available for purchase on lulu.com 3) Flat world knowledge (http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/minisite/ ) 4) Athabasca University Press -- which is now an open access publisher (http://www.aupress.ca/) 5) The Free High School Science Text project (http://www.fhsst.org/) 6) Pedia Press, a German print-on-demand publisher who developed the open source engine we use to produce pdfs on WE 7) The Connexions project have implemented technology to download pdfs and the option to order print versions of texts. It seems to me that we need to work on building a sustainable eco-system for OER textbooks to become a main stream feature of the educational landscape. WikiEducator. Questions we'll need to answer: 1) What are the elements or components of a sustainable OER textbook model? 2) Using a peer collaboration approach for content development -- are their unique processes we need to implement to ensure success (when compared to classical publishing models)? 3) How do we promote and foster relationships with the publishing industry (particularly with regards to benefiting from existing distribution channels and overcoming the challenge that restrictive all rights reserved licensing does not necessarily restrict market share). 4) Will WE need to adapt and refine its current ideas regarding the development of our Quality Assurance and review framework? 5) What are the technical implications for a successful WE OER Textbook initiative -- for example, should we provide customised exports for a range of print-on-demand companies? 6) What are the incentives for academics and teachers to participate -- What can WE do to ensure participation? These are generic questions that are being addressed in various forums --- However, I'm wondering if there are any unique answers to these questions from a WE perspective. I'm planning to establish a national OER Textbook initiative in New Zealand as a prototype -- well commence with more detailed planning and implementation on July 2009. Are there other countries that would join us in a project like this? Would appreciate thoughts and feedback -- this will help us with our strategic planning. Cheers Wayne --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
