Textbooks are expensive, updated infrequently, and rarely used effectively by students. We discuss here a way for students to create the textbook for the course, helping them feel ownership over the course material. This Wiki-based, student-created textbook is online free for use, widely accessible by all, and editable during the course of and as…

This article describes the self-publishing journey, challenges and methods of development, impact, the value of a self-published e-textbook in tenure decisions, and recommendations. This journey led to the self-publishing of an e-textbook for iPad® delivery at a Midwest university for a course on electronic distribution and hotel management in the…

This article reassesses the Fred Newton Scott and Joseph Villiers Denney collaborative textbook authorship by emphasizing Denney's generally overlooked contributions to that coauthorship and to the field of composition generally. Through an examination of Denney's scholarly work and his personal correspondence with Scott during the period marking…

To address the high cost of textbooks, Rice University's Connexions and the Community College Open Textbook Project (CCOTP) collaborated to develop a proof-of-concept free and open textbook. The proof-of-concept served to document a workflow process that would support adoption of open textbooks. Open textbooks provide faculty and students with a…

Working with 14 high school students and two teachers from the Bronx, New York, in 2006-2007, the author facilitated a year-long conversation about matters of deep concern to the students' lives and learning, both in and out of school. Their discussions resulted in a short book, which took the form of a standardized test they called "SAT…

Writing and publishing a textbook for the first time is an arduous process. Potential authors are provided information on things they should, and should not, do to insure a more successful experience in writing their first textbook. Authors are provided information on decisions to be made and actions to be taken at the various stages of…

A textbook author tells of her early struggle to become a textbook writer, the long journey and the many detours she took along the way to getting her first textbook published. Having identified early in her career that writing a textbook was her chosen way to have an impact on her field of organization theory, she encountered many obstacles to…

Describes the experiences of the author (a high school English teacher) in developing, writing, and publishing a twelfth-grade literature and language text that completely integrates the language arts curriculum, eliminating the need for multiple, unrelated texts. (RS)

Examines the sociological mechanism which is driven by five audiences (students, instructors, peer/colleagues, publishers, and the individual's inner feelings/needs), which shapes the college textbooks that are adopted and used by today's science teaching community. (JN)

In order to obtain a publishing contract, an author must usually submit a prospectus of the text which includes a description of the proposed text, an annotated table of contents, and sample chapters. (JN)

The relatively new field of open educational resources (OER) is just now receiving more widespread attention and study. As such, there have been few opportunities thus far to share knowledge across program, organizational and national boundaries. This article presents a case study of the development of the South African project Free High School…

Increasingly, college textbooks written to the specifications of individual professors are being produced on demand by custom publishers, often prepared very quickly to contain up-to-date information. Students prefer them to photocopied packets of readings. The trend is a reaction to the emergence of information-on-demand computer networks. (MSE)

Discusses changes in the process of planning and publishing a middle school literacy program, noting the difficulty of incorporating trends in pedagogy and curriculum development. Considers factors for choosing literature for a literacy program, the continuing role of textbooks, and the role of technology in the development of literacy materials.…

In the fall of 1984, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) was awarded a grant from the U.S. Secretary of Education's Discretionary Fund to identify alternative state roles for improving instructional materials in mathematics. To help state leaders define an appropriate and effective role in upgrading these materials, ECS proposed first to…

Examines the impact of the new California History Social Science Framework on the development of new textbooks. Provides an outline of this K-12 framework and discusses the question of whether the program will falter if textbook development is not adequate. (KO)