By Buzz Lamb
Staff Writer
Innovative thinking by a group of three students on North Campus recently caught the Board of trustees by surprise. Every year, beginning in January, the Board of Trustees conducts three of their monthly meetings on each of the Broward College main campuses. At all of these meetings the students from the individual campuses do a presentation to the Board.
Michael Bramwell, Jewel Khan and Micki Racine used a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate a ground-breaking idea to address the issue of textbook affordability. “According to a recent study, the average cost for textbooks is about $120 per class,” Bramwell told the Board. “We are greatly interested in opening a new chapter in the affordability of textbooks for students at Broward College,” he added.
According to Bramwell, the Florida Legislature previously adopted Statute 1004.085 which required that by March 1, 2009 the State Board of Education and the Board of Governors shall each adopt policies, procedures and guidelines for implementation by community colleges and state universities, respectively, that further efforts to minimize the cost of textbooks for students attending these institutions while maintaining the quality of education and academic freedom.
Jewel Khan’s portion of the slide presentation included information about Miami-Dade College and Northwest Missouri State University. “Miami-Dade will be implementing their first e-book (electronic book) program this summer.
Thirty-seven students will be participating in the will have a choice of utilizing iPod Touch or the iPhone. It will allow students to sign in to class and give non-verbal responses to specific question with the flip of a button,” she said. “They will still have to attend class.”
According to Khan, Northwest Missouri State already has an e-book in place which has 500 students in 10 different departments participating. “Those students were provided with a Hewlett Packard (H/P) rental laptop computer, which is ironic because BC already has a contract with H/P,” she said. “The students are charged $10 per credit hour for the use of the laptop.”
Miki Racine, Phi Beta Lambda President, explained to the Board that each student selected the way they would get involved with an e-book program. “With that being said, I would like to introduce you to the new iPhone,” he told the Board. “Some of the features are that it is very flexible, convenient and compact. Books can be downloaded, stored and deleted.”
The next device Racine displayed was the Kindle 2 by Amazon.com. “I had the pleasure of experimenting with the Kindle 2 and I can tell you from my personal experience that it is great,” he said with a big grin on his face. Racine said that this electronic gadget is affordable and books can be downloaded to the Kindle 2 for only $9.99 and it is capable of downloading a vast number of newspapers and periodicals as well.
Racine showed the Board and the audience a brief video presentation describing the features of the Kindle 2. The video stated that there are over 250,000 book titles available on Kindle 2. “Moving on,” Racine said,” you’re probably wondering how this will benefit students. First and foremost is affordability. They create a way for students to save on the cost of textbooks.”
Racine said e-books are environmentally friendly as well. “It took 8.4 million trees to print the Harry Potter books,” he said. “I can download the whole series onto this little device,” he said as he waved the little 10-ounce unit above his head. Before Racine could turn the presentation back to Bramwell, Trustee Sosa-Douglas asked if she could get a hands-on demonstration of the new apparatus and Racine obliged by carrying it over to her. “I’m just blown away by this idea,” she said.
After the Board members took a few minutes passing the small device among themselves, the students were able to resume their presentation. Bramwell resumed by saying, “So, what are we asking for? Well, we’re asking for your endorsement and support for a pilot program for the fall semester of 2009.”
Bramwell said the North Campus English Department has already endorsed the experiment and has gone as far as authorizing e-books for two classes. “ENC 1101 (Prof. Karen Parker) and ENC 1102 (Dr. Tai Houser) will be using the Kindle 2 in their classes,” he said.
Associate Dean Jeffrey Nasse, who was sitting in the audience, told the Board that the English department was already using e-book in some of their classes. “They are much cheaper than traditional textbooks. Professor Parker is currently using one and Dr, Houser is using one as well in his class. These are much more than just reading. There are a lot of interactive activities and videos that go along with this as well. Faculty will decide which devices are appropriate”
Trustee Sosa-Douglass asked “How can we help you make this happen? You certainly have my full support as a Board member.” BC President J. David Armstrong, Jr. responded, “This is a grand experiment that we should explore and let these great faculty members and the students test it out for us and diagnose what bugs it might have and what challenges there are using e-books in our classes.”
A few days after the Board meeting, Dr Houser said he is pleased that the cost to the student will be less that if they were to purchase a traditional textbook. “I think e-books and the effective use of technology in the classroom, properly utilizing blackboard and its features, for instance, is really a great way for the college to become more learning centered,” he said.
“Students are engaged in reading all the time; e-mails, web pages, chat rooms, blogs, video blogs, etc. If 21st Century education is operating in a 19th Century paradigm, then education and educators are missing their primary goal. It’s fun for me because it’s asking me to step out of my comfort zone as an instructor and into a reality that belongs to my students.”
North Campus Provost, Dr. Barbara Bryan said she has always had an interest in finding ways to help students afford their books. She said she recently read a story about North West Missouri’s e-book pilot program and it looked promising. She met with all of the campus organization leaders and asked if there was an interest on the part of BC students.
In response to an e-mail inquiry, wrote, “E-text books are one on the few viable affordability options that colleges can consider. BC’s research study will focus on students and faculty satisfaction with the e-book format and the effectiveness of e-books as teaching and learning tools.”
Kindle 2 Overview
Staff Writer
Innovative thinking by a group of three students on North Campus recently caught the Board of trustees by surprise. Every year, beginning in January, the Board of Trustees conducts three of their monthly meetings on each of the Broward College main campuses. At all of these meetings the students from the individual campuses do a presentation to the Board.
Michael Bramwell, Jewel Khan and Micki Racine used a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate a ground-breaking idea to address the issue of textbook affordability. “According to a recent study, the average cost for textbooks is about $120 per class,” Bramwell told the Board. “We are greatly interested in opening a new chapter in the affordability of textbooks for students at Broward College,” he added.
According to Bramwell, the Florida Legislature previously adopted Statute 1004.085 which required that by March 1, 2009 the State Board of Education and the Board of Governors shall each adopt policies, procedures and guidelines for implementation by community colleges and state universities, respectively, that further efforts to minimize the cost of textbooks for students attending these institutions while maintaining the quality of education and academic freedom.
Jewel Khan’s portion of the slide presentation included information about Miami-Dade College and Northwest Missouri State University. “Miami-Dade will be implementing their first e-book (electronic book) program this summer.
Thirty-seven students will be participating in the will have a choice of utilizing iPod Touch or the iPhone. It will allow students to sign in to class and give non-verbal responses to specific question with the flip of a button,” she said. “They will still have to attend class.”
According to Khan, Northwest Missouri State already has an e-book in place which has 500 students in 10 different departments participating. “Those students were provided with a Hewlett Packard (H/P) rental laptop computer, which is ironic because BC already has a contract with H/P,” she said. “The students are charged $10 per credit hour for the use of the laptop.”
Miki Racine, Phi Beta Lambda President, explained to the Board that each student selected the way they would get involved with an e-book program. “With that being said, I would like to introduce you to the new iPhone,” he told the Board. “Some of the features are that it is very flexible, convenient and compact. Books can be downloaded, stored and deleted.”
The next device Racine displayed was the Kindle 2 by Amazon.com. “I had the pleasure of experimenting with the Kindle 2 and I can tell you from my personal experience that it is great,” he said with a big grin on his face. Racine said that this electronic gadget is affordable and books can be downloaded to the Kindle 2 for only $9.99 and it is capable of downloading a vast number of newspapers and periodicals as well.
Racine showed the Board and the audience a brief video presentation describing the features of the Kindle 2. The video stated that there are over 250,000 book titles available on Kindle 2. “Moving on,” Racine said,” you’re probably wondering how this will benefit students. First and foremost is affordability. They create a way for students to save on the cost of textbooks.”
Racine said e-books are environmentally friendly as well. “It took 8.4 million trees to print the Harry Potter books,” he said. “I can download the whole series onto this little device,” he said as he waved the little 10-ounce unit above his head. Before Racine could turn the presentation back to Bramwell, Trustee Sosa-Douglas asked if she could get a hands-on demonstration of the new apparatus and Racine obliged by carrying it over to her. “I’m just blown away by this idea,” she said.
After the Board members took a few minutes passing the small device among themselves, the students were able to resume their presentation. Bramwell resumed by saying, “So, what are we asking for? Well, we’re asking for your endorsement and support for a pilot program for the fall semester of 2009.”
Bramwell said the North Campus English Department has already endorsed the experiment and has gone as far as authorizing e-books for two classes. “ENC 1101 (Prof. Karen Parker) and ENC 1102 (Dr. Tai Houser) will be using the Kindle 2 in their classes,” he said.
Associate Dean Jeffrey Nasse, who was sitting in the audience, told the Board that the English department was already using e-book in some of their classes. “They are much cheaper than traditional textbooks. Professor Parker is currently using one and Dr, Houser is using one as well in his class. These are much more than just reading. There are a lot of interactive activities and videos that go along with this as well. Faculty will decide which devices are appropriate”
Trustee Sosa-Douglass asked “How can we help you make this happen? You certainly have my full support as a Board member.” BC President J. David Armstrong, Jr. responded, “This is a grand experiment that we should explore and let these great faculty members and the students test it out for us and diagnose what bugs it might have and what challenges there are using e-books in our classes.”
A few days after the Board meeting, Dr Houser said he is pleased that the cost to the student will be less that if they were to purchase a traditional textbook. “I think e-books and the effective use of technology in the classroom, properly utilizing blackboard and its features, for instance, is really a great way for the college to become more learning centered,” he said.
“Students are engaged in reading all the time; e-mails, web pages, chat rooms, blogs, video blogs, etc. If 21st Century education is operating in a 19th Century paradigm, then education and educators are missing their primary goal. It’s fun for me because it’s asking me to step out of my comfort zone as an instructor and into a reality that belongs to my students.”
North Campus Provost, Dr. Barbara Bryan said she has always had an interest in finding ways to help students afford their books. She said she recently read a story about North West Missouri’s e-book pilot program and it looked promising. She met with all of the campus organization leaders and asked if there was an interest on the part of BC students.
In response to an e-mail inquiry, wrote, “E-text books are one on the few viable affordability options that colleges can consider. BC’s research study will focus on students and faculty satisfaction with the e-book format and the effectiveness of e-books as teaching and learning tools.”
Kindle 2 Overview
· Revolutionary electronic-paper display
· Simple to Use: no computer, no cables, no sync
· You never have to locate a “hot spot”
· Utilizes EVDO high speed cell phone network
· No monthly wireless bills, service plans or commitments
· Buy a book and it is delivered in less than one minute
· Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback book
· More than 250,000 titles currently available
· More than 1,100 top blogs available
· Holds over 200 titles
· E-mail your Word documents and pictures to Kindle 2
· Top US and International newspapers can be auto delivered
· Has a text to speech feature
· 6-inch screen with 16-level grayscale electronic paper
· Kindle for iPhone allows iPhone and iPod Touch to access Kindle
· Current retail cost from Amazon.com $359
· Simple to Use: no computer, no cables, no sync
· You never have to locate a “hot spot”
· Utilizes EVDO high speed cell phone network
· No monthly wireless bills, service plans or commitments
· Buy a book and it is delivered in less than one minute
· Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback book
· More than 250,000 titles currently available
· More than 1,100 top blogs available
· Holds over 200 titles
· E-mail your Word documents and pictures to Kindle 2
· Top US and International newspapers can be auto delivered
· Has a text to speech feature
· 6-inch screen with 16-level grayscale electronic paper
· Kindle for iPhone allows iPhone and iPod Touch to access Kindle
· Current retail cost from Amazon.com $359
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