Monday, March 2, 2009

Free Digital Texts and Free Online Course Materials

Free Digital Texts and Free Online Course Materials
It's important when the free digital textbooks and free online course materials are covered by the LA Times. The issues surrounding pricey textbooks and digital alternatives are compactly discussed in this news article. ___ JH (Thanks to the blog Free Culture News for this reference.)
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"Caltech economics professor R. Preston McAfee finds it annoying that students and faculty haven't looked harder for alternatives to the exorbitant prices. McAfee wrote a well-regarded open-source economics textbook and gave it away -- online. But although the text, released in 2007, has been adopted at several prestigious colleges, including Harvard and Claremont-McKenna, it has yet to make a dent in the wider textbook market."
"McAfee is one of a band of would-be reformers who are trying to beat the high cost -- and, they say, the dumbing down -- of college textbooks by writing or promoting open-source, no-cost digital texts. Thus far, their quest has been largely quixotic, but that could be changing. Public colleges and universities in California this past year backed several initiatives to promote online course materials, and publishers and entrepreneurs are stepping up release of electronic textbooks, which typically sell at reduced prices."
"Open educational resources is an amorphous category for publishers, but basically it includes e-textbooks, courses, videos, taped lectures, tests, software and other materials released online free to the public without restriction on use."


Liberal Arts degree

Liberal Arts degree
At the Denver Campus of Argosy University, the Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Liberal Arts program offers an integrative approach to learning which aims to develop competencies in the essential academic areas and disciplines in higher education.

IndiaPost.com - Kal Penn to help raise funds for rural India

IndiaPost.com - Kal Penn to help raise funds for rural India
NEW YORK: The Nanubhai Education Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on advancing the education of rural students in India, has teamed up with renowned actor and producer Kal Penn for a festive night of entertainment