[AISWorld] Inexpensive text projects (formerly: Intro to ISys Book)

[Galletta, Dennis]

Conan, and all others who are interested in such things, it might be good to link up with other projects that endeavor to save students money to avoid reinventing the wheel. Some of the following individuals might be too modest to point out their alternative models. Also, the subject header might not fully describe the contents and December 6 was a bad time to send out such an announcement, as many were traveling to ICIS.

Anyway, here are three other projects to reduce book costs:

Rick Watson and Don McCubbrey are spearheading the Global Text Project (http://globaltext.terry.uga.edu/home). These are intended to be free, targeted to developing countries. I'm not sure if they are intended for use by those in wealthy countries, who can (more or less) afford textbooks.

Alan Dennis is working with an organization called "Courseload" (http://www.courseload.com/) that provides "up to a 70% reduction" in book prices. In this model, the entire class must purchase an e-book but the cost is reduced below that of Coursesmart (below).

Many of us know Coursesmart (www.coursesmart.com), which allows students to buy digital copies of texts at "up to 60% off" hard copy pricing.

I am not providing any assessments of quality of any of these endeavors, but merely pointing out their existence. Maybe others know of more of these.

DG

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dennis F. Galletta                      Professor of Business Administration
University of Pittsburgh                 and Director, Katz Doctoral Program
282a Mervis Hall                            Katz Graduate School of Business
Phone +1 412-648-1699                                  Pittsburgh, PA  15260
E-mail: galletta @                                       Fax +1 412-648-1693
        katz.pitt.edu                       homepage: www.pitt.edu/~galletta
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


-----Original Message-----
From: aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org [mailto:aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org] On Behalf Of Conan C. Albrecht
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 12:22 PM
To: ISWorld
Subject: [AISWorld] Intro to ISys Book

I am looking for a faculty who is interested in writing an Introduction to Information Systems textbook.  Or even better, I am looking for a book already written that doesn't yet have a publisher.  Textbook prices today are often over $200/student, leading many faculty to limit the use of textbooks and leading students to purchase "alternative" versions. :)  After years of frustration, I (and a few other faculty) started a publishing organization to publish free textbooks to students around the world.  

The revenue model is a 25% author, 75% publisher split (most publishers are around 15%).  The text will always be available for any student to read and any professor to use in their courses free of change.  Or, professors can choose to have the students pay $20 per semester for enhanced services (automatic grading, highlighting features, grade book, test banks, rearranging chapters/text, etc.).  We believe this model will not only benefit students in both developed and developing countries, but it will also provide increased revenues for authors.

To see an example of a recent publication, see http://www.IntroToOB.com.  The book has only been out for a month, and it already has over 15 universities who have adopted it.  If you would like to partner in revolutionizing the textbook industry and fixing the high costs, please contact me.  We are initially focusing on introductory books, but we're also open to more specialized textbooks as well.

Best, Conan Albrecht

-- 
Conan C. Albrecht, Ph.D.
Information Systems Department
Brigham Young University
Email: ça at byu.edu
Blog: http://warp.byu.edu/


_______________________________________________
AISWorld mailing list
AISWorld at lists.aisnet.org