Textbooks, iPads and e-books oh my!

by Stephanie Cockerl on February 6, 2010

iStock_000002214693XSmall

I am an Amazon Affiliate.

Unless, you have been under a rock, it has been a crazy couple of weeks in the industry of old school media (meaning books.)

The iPad came out, further questioning the delivery of books. When I first saw it, I has flashbacks of the Minority Report scene with Tom Cruise when her was weaving in and out of the DC Metro and someone had a tablet like device reading the “New York Times” and the headlines and front page story kept changing. Are we part of the way there with this device?

However, in terms of academia, this all remains to be seen. Do I see student’s flocking to buy the device? No.
Students multitask and the peanut gallery has deemed that this is not a multitasking device.

In “the stuff I wish I had when I was a student category,” Barnes and Noble is rolling out textbook rentals. This is a good move because at the end of the semester, students would be lucky to get a quarter of the price that they paid for the books at the beginning of the semester.

Finally long standing academic publisher Macmillan, is in negotiations with Amazon to offer ebook content.

Folks aren’t exactly on the fence to see if this will be the “game changer” like what people are touting the iPad to publishing ad iPod to music.

As the group Swing Out Sister says in it recent album, Beautiful Mess says, “Where we’re going is anybody’s guess…”.

{ 0 comments }

Ivy League College steps up the game for video in admissions

January 21, 2010

Unless you haven’t seen the news lately, Yale’s admissions video, That’s Why I Chose Yale had hit the mainstream.
Most of us in Higher Ed have been growing aware of the use of video and how it aids in the admissions process.
We all have been diligently adding videos to our websites, blogs, twitter and Facebook pages.
If [...]

Read the full article →

Winter Break

January 21, 2010

Winter Break for most colleges typically means taking a week, two, or a month away from campus.
While I was in college, I hardly took a winter break. Instead, when I thought of breaks, they meant time  to catch up , work on campus to earn for books and supplies.
Even though I loved my family dearly, [...]

Read the full article →

Should Social Media be a separate college course?

December 14, 2009

Over the weekend, I stumbled upon this post: 5 Things I Would Tell a Social Media Professor.
Being that I did teach two marketing courses as an adjunct professor, the logical choice would be to include it as part of an internet marketing course or a general marketing course.
One could also argue that its also a [...]

Read the full article →

Educational Roundtable at WordCampNYC

November 14, 2009

I’m live blogging from the Educational Roundtable session at WordCampNYC.
Some thoughts that have emerge already is that WordPress is the bridge that enable end users to readily contribute.
Moving beyond the blog using a stream. (I wished I’d arrived on time for @erinblaskie presentation.
@photomatt – Multiple mediums pushed into one.
Letting the students  make there own decisions
@photomatt [...]

Read the full article →

Reflections on Hybird Teaching

October 28, 2009

I saw edustir’s recent post about teaching and it had me thinking. Granted, I haven’t taught in nearly 4 years. However, I wonder just how easy it would be for me to get  back into it.
Would it be like riding a bike? They say you never forget how to ride a bike.
The students today however [...]

Read the full article →

College students and Credit Cards

September 21, 2009

When I first arrived on the college campus  as a student back in the last century, I got my first credit card before I was able to vote. I was with a fellow student (oh, the peer pressure)  questioned the representative  asking how I could of possibility qualified when I didn’t reach my 18th birthday [...]

Read the full article →

Is your college and/or university ready for a pandemic?

September 7, 2009

There has been an occurrence of a certain illness (which shall remain nameless)  on a college campus recently. Upon hearing this, I checked the college’s website to see what information they had on their website regarding the illness.
To their credit, they had information on their  the homepage, which then links to information which keeps the [...]

Read the full article →

Spitzer goes from the legislature to the lecture hall

September 3, 2009

Former NY state Governor Eliot Spitzer is now an adjunct professor at The City University of New York (better known as CUNY) at City College. Read more about it here.

Read the full article →

Fashion hits the college campus

August 26, 2009

I know its that time of year. Along with the usual school supplies shopping  hubbub come the (silent scream!) clothes shopping.
People either entering college or (have been in there for a while, ahem)  are grappling with that one question, what to wear.
Three PhD candidates  serve up inspiration and ideas at academichic as to not only [...]

Read the full article →