21 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2021
  2. Nov 2019
    1. Because you didn’t change the instructional design of the book in any way

      But by changing the license you now enable the book to be remixed and adapted to the needs of the students: an open license enables open pedagogy.

  3. Oct 2019
    1. a range of business models

      I think Hypothes.is plays a very important role in democratising these discussions. The real places where these decisions are made are often closed off to faculty and students. We need to have serious discussions about which sustainability models are appropriate for education not just the businesses. What is sustainable for education may not always be sustainable for business!

  4. Jul 2018
  5. Apr 2018
    1. Psychology in Modules (Myers & Dewall, 2015). This textbook was at the campus bookstore in print, loose-leaf format, but could be ordered in electronic or bound formats. In the preface of the Worth Publishers’ textbook, 77 reviewers and consultants from a variety of institutions were listed. The open-source textbook was the 1st edition of OpenStax College’s Psychology (OpenStax College, 2014)
  6. Apr 2016
    1. federation of easily remixable content

      Granularity of the content itself can matter quite a bit… Part of the reason the focus on textbooks may mislead us (apart from the difficulty of teaching from a textbook) is that the “monolithic” assumption behind the textbook model makes reuse more difficult. Sure, we can take textbooks apart and reuse individual items. But the high degree of integration between parts of a textbook makes it less likely that people will split the book apart.

  7. Mar 2016
  8. Jan 2016
  9. Dec 2015
    1. The EDUPUB Initiative VitalSource regularly collaborates with independent consultants and industry experts including the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Tech For All, JISC, Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC), and others. With the help of these experts, VitalSource strives to ensure its platform conforms to applicable accessibility standards including Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Accessibility Guidelines established by the Worldwide Web Consortium known as WCAG 2.0. The state of the platform's conformance with Section 508 at any point in time is made available through publication of Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs).  VitalSource continues to support industry standards for accessibility by conducting conformance testing on all Bookshelf platforms – offline on Windows and Macs; online on Windows and Macs using standard browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari); and on mobile devices for iOS and Android. All Bookshelf platforms are evaluated using industry-leading screen reading programs available for the platform including JAWS and NVDA for Windows, VoiceOver for Mac and iOS, and TalkBack for Android. To ensure a comprehensive reading experience, all Bookshelf platforms have been evaluated using EPUB® and enhanced PDF books.

      Could see a lot of potential for Open Standards, including annotations. What’s not so clear is how they can manage to produce such ePub while maintaining their DRM-focused practice. Heard about LCP (Lightweight Content Protection). But have yet to get a fully-accessible ePub which is also DRMed in such a way.

  10. Nov 2015
    1. digital literacy to see that these open textbooks have more credibility than, say, Wikipedia

      Well… Credibility is a tough thing and Wikipedia’s NPOV model does offer something early critical thinkers might find more appropriate to develop their skills than a biased textbook. Those of us who have used textbooks may feel that pain.

    2. if free textbooks or OER offer learners free access to good quality knowledge

      Big “if”. And it’s one of those cases where defining those terms (“access”, “knowledge”, “free”, “good quality”, even “learners”…) is important but risky. We don’t want sterile debates, but we need to acknowledge that we may not be talking about the same things.

    1. One key barrier to this shift is the time and energy it takes to find new course materials and ensure they are high-quality.

      Either an obstacle to Open Textbook adoption or an opportunity for OER.

  11. Oct 2015
    1. long time curating these tomes

      Part of the argument for OER might come from more efficient ways to curate this type of material. Creating textbooks is some people’s main goal, but there’s a whole lot to be said about Open Coursepacks in Linked Open Data.

    2. that format had to be HTML or PDF

      No ePub?

    1. Technology is the only way to dramatically expand access to knowledge. Why should students be limited to a textbook that was printed two years ago, and maybe designed 10 years ago, when they could have access to the world's best and most up-to-date textbook?

      Can serve well as an OER quote.

    1. He gave the example of digital textbooks which can be updated as an example of how online technology could be better than traditional methods.

      Great argument for OERs, no? And Open Annotations, for that matter.

  12. Sep 2015