Lee Tilley, Director of Technology at Chaminade College Prep

First year was 2004.
Last year all MS curriculum is electronic – web-based and are adding Japanese this year
11 courses have e-textbooks

Chaminade Approach:

• No Internet Only
• Teacher Decision
• Fully loaded on Laptop images (may have issues with publishers because they want limited access as only students who should use it, do)
• No CDs or DVDs
• 3 year lock in for the textbooks

Teachers like them because it adds to the resources available and provides great reinforcements to the lesson

Concerns:

• Image gives access to all of the books
• Why would students buy the book if it is on the image
• Costs just as much as regular textbook
• Different then old version
• Interactive links will change – negotiated up dated CD
• Books are written in Flash – restricts the use of Flash for students unless teachers add it to the list of app is listed in the application server
• Distractions – no different then without it on a computer

Solving Concerns:

• Limited Access via Active Directory Groups and Policies
• Took overall cost of the book plus a handling fee and divided by 3 (#years)
• Same as regular textbook
• Each e-book has a web site that is updated so students can gain access to changes
• They re-wrote several of the e-book programs to a different format instead of the native .swf native format. They reformat it as an .exe file which allows them to set policies on what opens it.
• Notes are done in Word or PDF format
• Parents and Students tend to like the e-books. Parents miss not having the physical textbook.
• Because the entire book is on the image, the interactive aspects no Internet connection is need as it is accessed from their own laptop.

McDougal Littell Publishing is one vendor they have worked with for their books.

Google Project
WikiTextbooks in UK

Within 3 years Lee believes that all publishers will have e-books. Google will be sued he is relatively sure.

Lenevo Educational Model computers come with free VitalSource – all is Open Domain Books (free version). They do of course have pay versions for textbooks. Great to see them doing this but the landscape is changing rapidly. Students have to have a code entered into so he has the teachers do this aspect. Proprietary software so you are locked in to it.

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