Hey Jon, we (Otago Polytechnic, deep south New Zealand) has started authoring its own text books in Wikibooks. When at a finished stage, we load a copy up to Lulu.com to sell printed and bound. An immensly satisfying process and finished product. Example: Anatomy and Physiology of Animals

We have also been running Wiley style courses ever since Wiley called that set, example running now: Facilitating Online Communities.

But its only a matter of time before some pretty boy yuppy punk wanna be paddles out here with he’s shiney new plank and starts taking all the waves… and will probably catch the motherfucker too

“I think the problem will just get worse.”

Why is it a “problem,” and what’s meant by it getting “worse”?

As far as I’m concerned, the problem is the price-gouging on the part of textbook publishers. I’m teaching a course right now for which the textbook is over $150, and the accompanying workbook over $50. If I knew a site where the students could download these texts for free, I’d direct them to it like a shot.

Mike, reading your blog, I can’t help but be impressed with how energetically and thoughtfully you are engaging the material and the approach. I can’t see how you won’t benefit from the experience if you can manage to keep anything like that up. Of course, with a couple little ones in the house, it can be tricky, eh?

I’ve signed up for the CCK08 course and am really fascinated by what’s emerged so far – not just from a subject standpoint, but also in terms of the learner relationships and social dynamic that’s started to develop, and the approaches people are starting to take to interpret and cope with the information flow. It’s hard not to be excited about the possibilities really.

That said a great deal of what’s been discussed is brand new territory for me, so I’m doing a ridiculous amount of studying at the moment It’s nice to be back in this mindset, but sleep is sometimes hard to come by!

If there’s any chance of you posting your thoughts on all this I’d be really interested in hearing them.

Hope this finds you well,

Cheers,

Mike

Things are changing, and the wave is gonna be a motherfucker as someone once said