Archive for the ‘book’ Category

Macmillan Books is blowing it, and Amazon is trying to, too

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Over the weekend, Macmillan Books and Amazon had it out over pricing of ebooks used on the Kindle. The New York Times had an article, and The Motley Fool weighs in as well. Macmillan, thinking an ebook is similar to a physical book, and therefore should be just about as expensive as a physical book, wants to charge more money for its ebooks. Amazon, who I cannot believe has not already put some contingency plans into place for pricing issues, blocked sales of all Macmillan books, e and physical, for several hours!

Hey Macmillan, your costs drop exponentially when you sell ebooks! Sell lots of them and quit crying. I won’t be buying any of your ebooks (on my Kindles or my iPad) if you raise prices above $9.99. Hey Amazon, figure out your business model, and stick to your guns! We buy Kindles because they are convenient to load up, and we can carry lots of books around that don’t cost an arm and a leg to buy. I think some of us think about fuel and material costs that get tacked on to the costs of physical books. None of this is hard to figure out…

[Ed.'s note: Here's another article, this time from WIRED, articulating much better what I tried to say. Oh, I wish there were a few more hours in the day...]

[Ed.'s second note: Here's some more on the topic. This time The New York Times weighs in with how Kindle fans are reacting to the higher prices. I didn't think readers would take it without a fight.]

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Book Review: Creating Significant Learning Experiences

Sunday, May 8th, 2005

You may have noticed that I have been reviewing many books dealing with education and course development. I am always trying to improve my own courses, so I have been using my DCTE 760 doctoral course as an opportunity to work in that area. Fink (2003) is the last of the books I aimed to read during my spring break from classes. Unfortunately, I read this one last and could not finish it before classes started up last week. I would like to use Fink’s model, as well as others, to revamp my own courses as soon as I can get a chance.

First off, Fink (2003) is another excellent book on designing college courses from start to finish. Fink (chap. 2) begins by outlining some of the elements of a ‘good’ course. He observes that good courses:
—challenge students to significant kinds of learning.
—use active forms of learning.
—have teachers who care about the subject, their students, and about teaching and learning.
—have teachers who interact well with students.
—have a good system of feedback, assessment, and grading (p 28).

Fink mentions Bloom’s work (see my post #111 for a chapter review of the updated version) on creating a taxonomy for learning. Fink has created his own taxonomy which he claims can increase opportunities for significant learning to take place in college courses:
—foundational knowledge
—application
—integration
—human dimension
—caring
—learning how to learn (pp. 31-32).

Fink provides examples in several academic disciplines where his taxonomy can be used to create courses of all types. The first two chapters lay out Fink’s philosophy and the foundation for the taxonomy, and the rest of the book is a step-by-step guide on putting his ideas into practice. I can recommend this book to anyone looking to improve one’s courses and teaching.

Reference

Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Book Review: Thinking about teaching and learning: Developing habits of learning with first year college and university students

Friday, March 18th, 2005

Leamnson (1999) was recommended to me by a former colleague and good friend. We both work with first-year university students, and I have never read a book aimed specifically at this unique population. Overall, the book is very well written, and the arguments are presented carefully. Let me start off by writing that if you work with such students, this book is a must-read!

I chose this chapter (Leamnson, 1999, chap. 5) because I have had several Aha! moments in reading it. Leamnson starts off the chapter with an unorthodox definition of teaching: “any activity that has the conscious intention of, and potential for, facilitating learning in another” (p. 51). He wants to separate teaching from learning because this chapter is about the behavior of teaching itself.

Critical concepts from this chapter (Leamnson, 1999, chap. 5) include the fact that we should be persuading our young college students to have the motivation to learn. We should be exposing and inspiring (he also uses the word seduction for lack of a better term) our students because learning is internal. We also should be encouraging our students to make notes (as opposed to take notes, like it is something we give our students) and organize the material they are working with. He stresses language is a key for our students; they should be talking and writing about their work.

Leamnson (1999, chap. 5) summarizes the chapter with five of the techniques he discussed:
1. Use ten minutes of class time to talk with different students about course material (for example, material from the previous class).
2. Give the concept first, then the term which defines it (we usually do it the other way around). This way the students will listen better.
3. Have the students do the cognitive work. Do not give them pre-packaged notes, outlines or organized material!
4. Teachers should be “inspiring and persuasive” (p. 81).
5. Cooperative learning is important. Students should work in groups to check their knowledge and share ideas.

Reference

Leamnson, R. (1999). Thinking about teaching and learning: Developing habits of learning with first year college and university students. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

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Book Review: The Adult Learner

Tuesday, March 15th, 2005

Knowles, Holton, and Swanson (2001) is the latest version of a book on andragogy, or adult learning. Chapter Four (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, chap four) starts by noting that many of the great educators known throughout the world (Confucious, Lao Tse, the Hebrew prophets, Jesus, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Cisero, Evelid, and Quintillian) were known as teachers of adults. However, many of the dominant theories of teaching are directed towards children (pedagogy). The concept of andragogy, or the teaching of adults, was first mentioned in Germany in 1833, but did not come into its own until it was developed in Yugoslavia and Hungary in the 20th Century. The chapter gives a very detailed history of this development and andragogy’s introduction to the U.S.

The points of main interest to me were the major differences in how education could be different for children and adults. Children need to know because they need to get through school; adults do because they want to improve their lives. Children’s self-concept is that they are dependent on someone (like their teachers); adults’ is they are responsible for themselves and can do whatever that takes. Children’s role of experience is that the teacher has the experience to impart to the learners; adults have experience, and they want to build on it. Children’s readiness to learn comes from their teachers telling them what to study in order to pass whatever goals lie before them; adults want situations they can use in real life. The orientation to learning for children is the material (or subjects) they need to pass; adults need and want life/task/problem-centered foci. Finally, the motivation for children is external (their parents’ pressure, their teachers and the resulting grades); adults’ is internal. They want to improve the quality of life and get better jobs.

It is important to note that these concepts are not black and white. Sometimes issues such as grading plays a part in the education of adults. Some of the andragogical concepts are finding their way into pedagogical environments. Maybe our goal is to find the best of both worlds.

Let me finish by saying that if you work with adults, then you should know the material in this (or earlier versions) of this book.

Reference

Knowles, M. S., Holton III, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2001). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Elsevier.

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