No Paper for a Day

Just came across an interesting spot on Yahoo video from ABC interviews and have some interesting insight into the movement toward online course materials:

• E-textbooks and Open Text Survey Interview:  Are E-books economical?  This interview suggests that e-books aren’t economical yet as most larger publishing houses are extremely profit driven.  They also point out that up to 75% of students still appreciate hard copies of their books.  The interview ends suggesting that open texbooks and newer hybrid publishing will help to make ebooks more aforddible (for example:  Flatworld Knowledge uses a more modular approach to content production)

Clearly, one of the biggest educational paper consumption issues is the use of paper based textbooks and course material in our classrooms.  To minimize the environmental impacts (and costs) of texts, Schools re-use textbooks, offer reselling programs, and attempt to minimize moving to new textbooks (or new editions) each year.   At www.npfad.com, we have been following the new trend to move to digital course resource material in 2009 and see buy-in from both the publishers and various educational institutions across North America.

Please check out this story from the NY times (note registration for their online paper is free and saves paper) on the future of textbooks.  The article points to increased online resources and even open source learning tools to help improve education in K-12 and College through University programs.  These initiatives fit the npfad.com mantra of improviving educational tools and operational processes while reducing the environmental impacts of paper usage.

The following schools and articles also reveal a dedication to moving towards paperless course materials:

• Professers Gone Paperless - Open source texts and three examples of prof’s providing paperless options course materials
• Open Source textbooks make learning more affordable - petition to help spread Open textbooks as a viable option for higher education.
• Anaheim University will be the first accreditted paperless campus in North America - course delivery and processes will all by digital;  they are working with publishers to convert all course materials to be reviewed through the Sony Book Reader and Amazon Kindle

This leads to my next article which will explore some of the technologies available that make the movement towards paperless possible like never before…

Regards and reduction,

Kyle Gruen