Textbook Authorship

Online Courses, Continued

No, I haven't abandoned my blog--just a very busy spell when I could not make time for it.

I was talking about online course development and have expanded my studies on this topic in preparation for participating in the 2008 convention of the Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) in Las Vegas, June 19-21. On Saturday I will be in a publisher's Q&A roundtable and also will be giving a presentation on the future of textbooks (e.g., how textbook authors can continue to make money in the digital world of free online content). I also signed up for some 15-minute mentoring sessions with textbook authors on Friday. On Thursday I look forward to attending Michael Spiegler's workshop on writing a textbook. Michael has used my book as a text (Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, 2nd Edition, Atlantic Path Publishing 2008). TAA is a great resource for textbook authors and editors (www.taaonline.net).

Topics for my mentoring sessions cover standard areas in textbook publishing, such as writing a prospectus, finding the right publisher, the publishing cycle and process, textbook organization and headings, apparatus and pedagogy, working with co-authors and editors, and doing revisions. My presentation/discussion focuses on the online environment for instructional materials, however, and is called "Textbook 2.0" (at a TAA member's apt suggestion). The deeper I go into this subject, the more I find out, and the more questions arise--an exciting prospect as I love both the research and the puzzle. I look forward to writing and speaking on this and learning even more.

As it happens I have also been developing online courses for clients, learning by doing and thus discovering both limitations and ways to get outside the box. I've also discovered how expensive it can be to have software written for online course platforms and applications. I don't know much at all about that, as my involvement has been on the soft side, with content, using templates. I have not even had to learn a markup language (html or xml). I think I would like to do that anyway, though, as soon as I get a chance. There seem to be many good tutorials online, e.g., at www.killersites.com.

One platform you can check out without commitment and at no cost is the beta at www.utilium.com. [Disclosure: I am listed as a partner in that venture (though I'm only a consultant and not a legal partner or an investor).] In any case, I think Utilium and sites like it hold a lot of promise for instructor-led development of high-quality custom course content that can be sold or shared, as desired, without permissions problems, but with the full potential of the World Wide Web and, hopefully, the interactive user interfaces of social networking.

I look forward to sharing on this blog more of what I learn about the future of textbooks in a digital world.

Labels: e-learning, e-textbooks, Mary Ellen Lepionka, online courses, online textbooks, text and academic authors, Textbook 2.0, Utilium, writing and developing your college textbook

posted by Mary Ellen Lepionka @ 9:19 AM 0 Comments

Workshops on Writing a Textbook

Well, I've been thinking about this for a long time. On my web site I even describe in some detail workshops I might give on textbook writing and development. Having no takers to date, however--not even queries from academic institutions, departments, or development centers--I have let the idea languish. I am aware of only one other organized effort on the subject, and that is Michael Spiegler's workshops on textbook writing, which he conducts through travel to college campuses and association meetings. Michael is a psychology professor at Providence College, a 4-year Roman Catholic institution in Rhode Island. He has cited my works and recommends my books to his workshop attendees (see www.atlanticpathpubishing.com), which I appreciate, but I have not yet met him or attended one of his presentations. He will be presenting at this year's annual meeting of the Text and Academic Authors Association (www.taa-online.net) at Harrah's in Las Vegas, June 19-21. I will not be able to attend but would appreciate hearing about it from anyone who does.

I am not at present an academic. In the past I had appointments at Boston University, Northeastern University, Salem State College, North Shore Community College, Vancouver City College, and other institutions, but the bulk of my career has been in educational and professional publishing. I've been particularly interested in the application of learning theory and cognitive science to the improvement of academic writing and instructional content. In addition, I've become fascinated with the culture of publishing, a much needed perspective for text and academic authors. A publisher/editor perspective may both complement and balance a professor/author perspective, and this is what I hope to offer in the online seminars I am presently developing. Anyone's input or advice on populating and conducting an online seminar on textbook writing is most welcome.

Labels: Mary Ellen Lepionka, text and academic authors, textbook writing seminar, textbook writing workshop, webinar on textbook writing, writing seminar, writing workshop

posted by Mary Ellen Lepionka @ 10:24 AM 0 Comments