Thank You #ACRLNE for The Knowledge Bank

Collaboration was the theme for the 2011 #ACRLNE held on College of Holy Cross campus.

It was an impressive atmosphere, not just because of the talented pool of librarian attendees but their genuine passion to make the institutions they serve more effective through innovative programs and resource utilization. As a full-time business faculty member, I continue to learn about the potential for collaboration with all of my faculty and teaching colleagues to deliver great content with proper context and high quality learning opportunities for students.

This is an ongoing adventure fueled by my passion for technology and curiosity to figure out how I an utilize all of these amazing tools at my disposal to deliver the ultimate learning experience for students (face-to-face,hybrid or online).

As I prepared for my presentation at ACRLNE I had the good fortune to have time to attend an earlier session simply titled KnowledgeBank - there was a longer title but for the point of this post, you can check out the related twitter feed from this presentation - #KnowledgeBank

The basic concept is to develop a source of information that multiple people interested in that content can access, evaluate, utilize, edit etc. In theory, this is not a new concept, but something clicked with me as I left the presentation.

Librarians,faculty and students all share similar challenges. We have intelligence but sometimes our efficiency in this area is compromised by the resources we expend on trying to come up with new ideas, updated sources to include in lectures and content to support our creative and critical thinking required in a variety of courses.

I have a Knowledge Bank of sorts that I began accidentally for the embedded ebook project, I am currently working on with Brooke Ratto (Information Literacy Librarian for Shapiro Library).

However, this is an adhoc artifact of my random research in the area of marketing.

It's time we (Library and Teaching Faculty) make a focused effort to promote all of the valuable resources (library resources, quality open resources, ideas from faculty and students) and set programs in place that allow discussions in any discipline to grow and flourish vs. Being limited or squelched due to time constraints and the limitations of traditional semester time periods.

Librarians can lead the way in marketing these programs, students will inherently see the value in the resources provided and the experiences they have as a result of using knowledge banks to earn interest and not just house content.

Would love to hear about ideas and current "living and breathing" knowledge banks that benefit faculty, students, librarians, entire school systems, etc.

Enjoy figuring it all out!

Andy Lynch - a.lynch@SNHU.edu

Faculty Have Tools to Impact Traditional Textbook Publishing Model

The close of the semester is a great opportunity to reflect a bit on the semester and take some time to dream a little bit.

I sit at a local Panera with coffee nearby, fire at feet and iPad on lap, with thoughts of making the world a better place. However, because the world is a bit aggressive, I choose to focus my attention on how I can take advantage of the technology tools available to faculty to create a more engaging learning envirnment for students to experience.

Though I have more ideas than time or attention span to share all, I will share my perspective and thoughts on transforming that perspective so that faculty colleagues can benefit and experiment with these ideas and concepts.

PERSPECTIVE
My current perspective as a full-time faculty member who teaches face-to-face, hybrid and traditional online undergraduate and graduate marketing courses. Having taught for 10 years, I have experienced the "course in a book" approach where publishers provide syllabi,lecture notes, PowerPoints, Tests and companion websites.

I have also been a student in courses when class materials came in the form of photocopied articles, etc that were cobbled together by well-intended faculty in hopes of delivering a relevant course. And then there is everything in between.

My point is not to stand in judgement on any of the above approaches but to challenge faculty. Explore the numerous online tools that enable us to efficiently deliver relevant content to support courses while also strengthening our credibility with students.

Student engagement starts when we understand our audience(s)learning styles. Understanding learning styles is only one step in the process. It's 2011 and chances are you have a diverse group of students with unique learning styles. Noting this, its critical and yes A CHALLENGE to be sensitive to these learning styles and deliver your courses so that each learning styles can be effectively serviced.

I get it, the three faculty who may be reading this are saying "sure, that sounds great, but how do you build that scenario without burning out with personally?"

LIBRARY RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP
If I allow myself to admit that "I can't do it all and know everything about my discipline," I empower myself to get excited about the resources available to me.

One resource that I've overlooked for years is the library. It sounds silly, but generally the library was the last place I would look for help when developing my courses. Library staff and teaching faculty are great partners for creating dynamic learning environments for students. From information literacy to developing course-specific library guides (LibGuides) that support entire courses and assignments for those courses; these resources are invaluable for creating a credible learning environment for all students, while collaborating with colleague and increasing the utility of existing university resources.

In addition to library resources, there a variety of readily available online tools that provide innovative channels for delivering lessons, content and for assessing student engagement and learning.

Below is a list of online tools I am currently using or experiment with and I invite you to share how you are using any of these tools or would like to brainstorm about how to use these to effectively support your course without relying on expensive traditional textbook options.

ONLINE TOOLS OF INTEREST

• Google Blogger
• Google Books
• Google News
• Google Reader
• Google Finance
• Google Sites
• Google Alerts
• Facebook
• Electronic Library Resources Embedded Links
• Twitter
• Jing
• YouTube
• ITunes U
• RSS Feeds

I really enjoy the integration of Google tools and the flexibility they offer students but their are obviously others out there. I will try to expand on specific uses (successes and failures in future posts) and reinforce this idea that experimenting and utilizing programs by enthusiastically share our disciplines with students in multiple engaging ways.

Seeking an Introduction to Marketing Textbook? Global Textbook Offers an Option Available to All at No Cost

Over the past 100+ years, the marketing discipline has dramatically evolved since the Wharton School of Business offered the first marketing course, "Marketing Products", in 1904. 

As the discipline has evolved, a massive amount content on the subject of marketing has been published and made available to practitioners, faculty and students via the traditional textbook model (i.e. publishers develop textbooks and supplements for faculty to require for their course, and in turn, students are required to purchase the textbook to complete the course).

When you conduct an Advanced Search for Titles with "Introduction to Marketing" in them on Amazon.com, you initially find 110 results (http://goo.gl/y5dPZ). Many of these specialize in various marketing sub-topics, but at least 15 could qualify as viable foundational textbook options for undergraduate Introduction to Marketing Courses.

Amazon's Bestselling title to date is Marketing: An Introduction (9th Edition) by Gary Armstrong and Philip Kotler, published in 2008 by Pearson (now in its 10th edition). The price for this title ranges from $136.99 to $5.94 (Unknown binding - YIKES) and  it's already superseded.

Here is the Table of Contents for the 8th Edition of Marketing: An Introduction (better layout than TOC for 10th edition

This is an excellent text that certainly addresses the key terms & concepts covered in my Introduction to Marketing course, and if you are a good shopper you can locate a copy of this text (in print or electronic) at a great value.

Another option to this traditional textbook model is made available to faculty and students by The Global Text Project. This exciting initiative creates open content electronic textbooks that are freely available from their website. One of their available marketing textbook titles is "Core Concepts of Marketing" by John Burnett (2008).

When you review this title's Table of Contents, its worth considering adopting as a foundational or supplemental text Introduction to Marketing courses.

SOURCES
Evolution of Marketing Textbooks: Survival of the Fittest Approach (1997)
Core Concepts of Marketing by John Burnett (2008)
Marketing: An Introduction (9th Edition) via Amazon.com

Use Google Reader to Interact with Students with Relevant Web Content in 10 Easy Steps

Technology affords faculty to access countless sources of content on a second-by-second bases. Sometimes, it takes a few tips to move faculty from the theoretical aspect of this statement to the application of this fact in their classrooms.

In this post, I want to introduce you to Google Reader and the potential for it being a useful tool to interact with your students AND leverage as a tool to provide relevant content in a timely manner that requires nothing but a few minutes to set-up.

Enjoy experimenting with the potential of Google Reader.

10 STEPS to GETTING STARTED and USING GOOGLE READER as a LEARNING TOOL

1. Start a Google account.
2. Jump on Google Reader.
3. Find an article that interests you and applies to one of your courses.
4. Add a "Tag" - Don't worry, Google Reader will keep it forever if you want, but make it something short and easy to understand (this makes more sense as you experiment with the URL Google assigns to this tag).
5. Select "Share with note" and write a comment.
6. Select "Manage Subscriptions"
7. Select "Folders and Tags"
8. Make the "Folder/Tag" you created "Public"
9. Select "View Public Page" option
10. Congratulations! You have just begun the fun process of integrating Google Reader in your courses and sharing relevant content that DOES NOT come from an expensive textbook.

I've taken some screen captures and added a few notes below, please feel free to comment and most of all experiment with this great tool.

Pick an item of Interest in Google Reader...

Share your selected item with your students via the "Share with note" option

Click "Manage Subscriptions" and select "Folders and Tags"

Take a look at what you just created... and ENJOY the possibilities!

Moving from Textbook-Alternative to OER

Rob Reynolds' blog, the xplanation, has recently become my "first-stop" resource for discussions of all things OER, ebook, and trends in higher education.  One of his recent posts sheds a lot of light on what might happen (or needs to happen) to textbook publishers' business models with increased use of Open Educational Resources on campuses throughout the country.  The research project that led to this blog is based on replacing the traditional textbook with library subscription ebook content.  This works out great for both the students and the library:  the students don't spend a dime on their "textbook", and the library increases resource awareness and ebook database use.  As a librarian, I appreciate the moments when we can position ourselves to be a critical component of course delivery, and embedding library subscribed content into a course to replace the traditional textbook is a huge win on that front.  However, I'm over the fact that textbook alternatives should only be library resources.

OER's like the textbooks available via Flat World and the like can get a lot of flack for lacking credibility, authority, etc.  Yet, I saw Jeff Shelstad speak at the 2010 Charleston Conference (presentation breakdown by ebook guru Sue Polanka here), and he did a fantastic job conveying the benefits of not only the Flat World Knowledge content, but OER content in general.  The content available via Flat World does come from authoritative sources, just like our traditional textbooks.  Are accrediting teams really going to weigh in on the "vettedness" of our textbooks (please argue/comment if you have an actual answer to the rhetoric)?  Shouldn't they (the accrediting bodies) appreciate our willingness to evolve and meet student needs over our adherence to textbook traditions/norms?  I'm not going to lie:  starting this evolution from traditional textbook to etextbook in the Marketing classes on our campus has gone so smoothly due to the fact that we have replaced the traditional text with copyrighted, "vetted", textbook-like content available via our ebook database subscriptions.  However, I'm ready to push the envelope and explore the other, non subscription based, options out there.


The two main goals for this blog space are to 1) discuss advances in textbook alternatives for higher education and 2) share/compile a list/database of those alternatives (so PLEASE, send us your suggestions!).  Point is, there's a LOT out there already, and as we see in news stories/blog posts almost DAILY at the xplanation, The Chronicle, and Inside Higher Ed, this conversation is only beginning.  What effect will OER's have on textbook publishing practices?  What effect will using subscription ebook aggregators as textbook content have on publishers?  Honestly, I'm both excited and scared to find out.  I finish this post in the midst of the HarperCollins announcement that they will only lend ebook titles to libraries for 26 "checkouts" before the titles become unavailable in ebook format.  Clearly, the way in which users interact with content is changing rapidly, and publishers are reacting...sometimes prematurely or irrationally. 

Student Motivation Should Spur Faculty Usage of Open Resources

Student motivation ranges from earning a degree to fulfilling a promise to an influencial person in their lives and everything in between.

Regardless of the motivation source, one fact remains clear with all students, they want to learn. Learning happens through lecture, active discussions and the sharing of content that helps students connect with the course and faculty delivering the course.

Students have trust in the faculty and the content they are delivering regardless of the environment in which they are learning - i.e. Face-to-face, hybrid, or online or even a format somewhere in between.

Acknowledging this trust, faculty should be inspired not to only deliver course content prescribed by publishers via traditional textbooks but should leverage both their knowledge and access to information technology to not only deliver basic course content but to engage and inspire students with relevant on-demand content that validates the course and the commitment of the faculty to students.

Textbooks are vetted reliable secondary sources but are now matched by aggregated information sources such as Google News and Scholar in addition to paid ebook resources that university libraries purchase for unlimited use by faculty and students (great example is Books 24x7).

There is existing research that indicates students relying on open source content learn at equal or higher levels than those who rely solely on traditional textbooks.

Though in the early stages... I urge more colleagues to recognize and explore the potential of relevant open-source content and be motivated by your student's thirst for learning and match that thirst with your effort to leverage your knowledge and existing information technology to deliver a quality course that is affordable and exceeds your student's expectations.

Student Loophole or Opportunity for Publishers to Create A New Textbook Model

Currently, there are subscription-based electronic databases that legally house 1000's of complete textbook titles that can be accessed by both students and faculty. One example is Books 24x7, which mainly focuses on business and IT discipline titles.

Out of curiosity, I have worked with library faculty to develop embedded links to this database to offer students a textbook option that delivers high-quality textbook content electronically... At no cost to them. With a clear course plan of key terms and concepts that students need to achieve course objectives, we mapped each key term and concepts, via embedded links, back to no less than 16 textbooks housed in the Books 24x7 ebook database.

This exercise has been an amazing learning experience for me as an instructor and as a consumer of textbooks.

For many faculty, textbook reps show up individually, present us with updated editions of textbooks that are accompanied with any number of course supplements that include, companion websites, test banks, power points, videos, sample syllabi, etc., etc.

In general, this model has worked... Faculty receive vetted content to share and distribute to students and student expectations are met because they receive a syllabus, a required textbook and marching orders for the course.

This is not a poor model, but it is difficult for me not to only question this model but to challenge it by providing students with an option that satisfies or exceeds course objectives, becomes a "click away" for users, requires no additional money from students and takes advantage of an existing electronic library resource.

It's silly to even say, "things have changed." Available high-quality content for numerous disciplines is not only readily available but can be fed to us based on individual interests via RSS feeds and simple permanent URLs.

Linking students to key terms and concepts in my current Introduction to Marketing course may be a short-term loophole that only current and near-future students can benefit from.  Surely, publishers who contribute licensed content to Books24x7 did not envision their texts being accessed in such a way, and my fear is that, as much as I would love this model to catch on, if it does, publishers may be less willing to participate in these ebook aggregators.  In the meantime,  I will continue to improve this model with colleagues to maximize the potential for sharing relevant content from existing ebook databases.

However, I realize there is still a large market of my colleagues that benefit the traditional textbook model. My challenge would be for publishers to reevaluate their model to identify how they can develop and sustain a system where electronic textbooks from multiple publishers that support multiple disciplines can be available to students and accessed in this manner without the loophole closing.