** High Priority **

Yes I am eliminated them and saved our county a lot of money in doing so.  Once the students realize that this method is actually the most up to date technology and that textbooks become obsolete as soon as they are printed; they are excited.  This also allows students to access numerous sites and not be bored as they learn.  I have a site through PORTAPORTAL and will give you access to it, students are only allowed to access these websites in my class.  You can also start your own by going to www.portaportal.com  and sign up for an account.  Need to have a Teckie background, yet it isn't too difficult.

Here's mine:

http://guest.portaportal.com/cwsmith 

Let me know if you find this helpful.  I build it as needed!






Calette W. Smith
Adult Education
CareerTransition Specialist 
Georgetown County 
Howard Adult Ed., Learning Center
500 So. Kaminski Street
Georgetown, SC 29440
Telephone: 843-576-0219 Fax: 843-527-0236
cwsmith at gcsd.k12.sc.us


>>> mhefner at cccti.edu 9/3/2008 12:01 PM >>>

I think that your question speaks to additional issues as well.  I'm
interested in the transition from a model that presents information and
assesses learning by how well learners recall sets of information to a
model where information is not teacher driven (the so-called sage on the
stage ) but teacher facilitated (the guide on the side).  In the new
model, information is equally accessible to both teacher and learner, is
not limited to a textbook or other singular source, and learners
process, analyze, synthesize, collaborate with others, critically
evaluate, and utilize the information in real-world as well as
hypothetical applications. Relevance becomes even more important as
learners are actively engaged in the learning process.  Learning is
assessed in a variety of ways, i.e. projects, portfolios, substantive
participation, etc. and not limited to traditional assessments (tests). 
The "old" idea of textbooks becomes almost obsolete in an environment
where information from a plethora of sources is available to all and
where learning is a partnership between the teacher and the learners.  
 
The elimination of textbooks doesn't mean the elimination of sound
instructional information.  I think a key element is teaching to the
varied learning styles and preferences of the learners.  Some may best
learn via text so you may want to consider having scripts of videos in
pdf or docx files as well as other ways to create text-based compliments
to audio and visual instructional content. Other learners may not learn
well at all in a text-based learning environment so I applaud you for
using a variety of instructional strategies.  I have some students who
are "text-dependent" so I provide text for them as much as I can, but it
doesn't always come in the form of the textbook being the predominant
learning source.  Although there are exceptions, they tend to be older
students and/or students who are not as techno savvy as others.  They
also tend to be students who are most familiar with the "sage on the
stage" model so a new model is unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable
for them. 
 
I could go on and on, but I don't want to be a discussion hog!!   
Great question.
 


>>> On 9/2/2008 at 1:10 pm, in message

<3f7562680809021010l14dd95d9h84500c8bc7645b11 at mail.gmail.com>, "Joe
Horne" <jhorne10 at gmail.com> wrote:
Hello everyone,



I am teach technology (programming, film making, web design) in a
small
private high school.  Been at it for all of eight days!  Before that, I
was
teaching technology to adults in the corporate world.  I am
experimenting
with not using a textbook and so far the learners have taken well to
it.  We
use iTunes U, blogs and other (free) web based tools.  I was wondering
if
any of you had eliminated books with adults (especially older adults). 
How
did they respond?  Before I left the corporate world, I had eliminated
lots
of documentation (especially in new hire orientation) because of the
environmental waste.  Some people liked it, others did not*  Any
suggestions
on how to overcome resistance?  Parents seem a little alarmed that I
would
do such a thing*but the kids love it.



Thanks for your insights and observations,



Joe

Grad student at Georgia State University
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