iSean

well, i applied to do a sabbatical a year from now and i have passed the first round already. the personnel committee unanimously supported my proposal. faculty vote comes monday and then it’s on to divisional and through the channels. i wrote months ago about wanting to do research in Europe, but i couldn’t get anything off of the ground. my wife certainly did. she also applied for a sabbatical and has contacts in Italy, Paris, Amsterdam and even in Prague. i had nothing. so i decided to switch my focus to a non location specific project. i am going to be writing a Wiki-based textbook.

i previously wrote about wikitextbooks as far back as early 2006 here (Feb.) and here (Jan.). i tried hard to get a wikitextbook off of the ground and running, but i just did’t have the time. i now might have the time to get the infrastructure in place and even a decent version up and running. i have given it a lot of thought since my initial efforts. i have explored current wikitextbook projects that are in the works. one thing i’ve noticed about other projects is that they’ve been in the works for a long time. wikitextbooks are very similar to open source software, yet open source software seems to be having better success at getting projects up and running. in my sabbatical proposal, i explore why this is and why a wiki like Wikipedia can realize incredible success while wikitextbooks cannot. i don’t think the wikipedia model can work on a wikitextbook and my model will be a modified version of what Wikipedia uses. of course this won’t make wiki purists very happy, but they can stick to their guns and not see a wikitextbook realized all they want. heh.

my proposal takes the position that textbooks should be accessible to all students. an electronic version of a textbook can be much more accessible than a paper version. the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) is dedicated to Universal Design in Learning (UDL) and UDL is all about making instruction and content accessible to all students. Cast describes UDL as:

* Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,
* Multiple means of expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know,
* Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners’ interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation.

UDL is at the heart of my proposal. personally, i think all textbooks should be provided in electronic format so that all students can more easily access the content. if a blind student wanted to use a screen reader then that could happen with an e-version. if a student with a learning disability wanted to listen then the same tools could apply for that. a student with low vision might just want the font size increased, etc. one textbook can be designed to work with all students instead of the paper model that has to be special made for some students. bleh.

i’ll be talking more about my proposal as it makes it way through the channels. if ultimately accepted then i can start work as soon as possible so i’ll rely on the few folks who read my blog to give me some feedback on various directions i’ve chosen. exciting times ahead . . .

Technorati Tags: CAST, ed tech, open source, textbook, universal design, wiki, wikitextbook