- Researchers investigate the effectiveness of e-readers for academic reading
- Academic publishing: How to deal with rejection
- Workshop for writers on publishing process, June 17-18
- Book Review: Writing Successful Textbooks
- Book Review: Faculty Fables: A Campy Exposé
- Morfaw awarded $750 TAA Publication Grant
- Larson writes 'new type of textbook' and you can too
- TAA podcast 'Kicking It Out the Door' now available
- TAA podcast 'An Inside Look at Journal Publishing' now available
- 2012 TAA Conference Committee seeks ideas, themes
- Listen to interview with Felicia Moore Mensah on writing and publishing your scholarly journal article
- Listen to interview with Joanne Cooper and Dannelle Stevens on boosting writing power and productivity
Researchers investigate the effectiveness of e-readers for academic reading
By Dionne Soares Palmer
E-readers have much to offer, but new research reveals that traditional print materials still offer some benefits for academic reading that e-readers do not yet provide.
In an effort to explore the effectiveness of e-readers for academic reading, six researchers from the University of Washington -- Alexander Thayer, Charlotte Lee, Linda Hwang, Heidi Sales, Pausali Sen, and Ninad Dalal -- examined how graduate students used the Amazon Kindle DX over the course of one school year.
The group found that the Kindle DX has some advantages over traditional textbooks, such as portability and storage capacity; however, the e-reader also posed some difficulties for many of the graduate students, including:
- Unsuitable format for active reading techniques such as marking up a text
- E-reader not designed for rapidly scanning content, such as skimming texts looking for references
- Formatting constraints and screen quality made it difficult to interpret illustrations for students who typically examine visual aids in texts
- E-reader made it difficult to create cognitive maps, or mental images of where content occurs in a text
Thayer and his colleagues answer some questions about their research:
What inspired you to do this research?
“The University of Washington was one of seven colleges and universities that participated in the Amazon Kindle DX pilot program. Each school conducted a study of its own design; our study was qualitative and spanned the academic year. All of the incoming graduate students in Computer Science and Engineering were given Kindle DXs and we wanted to investigate their academic reading practice after receiving these devices. Going into the study, we knew about the excellent work that had already been done on the usability of e-readers in general and the specific academic audience issues with e-readers.
That’s why the research question for our study asks how students integrate e-readers into their academic reading practice. We chose to do a longitudinal, qualitative user study to develop answers to this question: We had the students fill out a diary entry each time they used the Kindle DX, and we interviewed the students about their reading practice.”
Can you comment on why the weaknesses of the Kindle DX (in terms of academic reading) are problematic for graduate students?
“It’s not so much a question of the Kindle DX and its strengths and weaknesses, but a question about what students in general are trying to do when they read. The use of references, illustrations, annotations, etc. are part of a larger flow of work in which students engage. They need to accomplish something else other than reading: They are trying to locate related research articles, write papers, create presentations, and so on. They need the technologies they use to support these tasks in certain ways, and they are reluctant to completely jettison all of their existing practices and technologies when a new technology appears. This is one reason why the Kindle DX did not broadly replace printed texts among the students in our study: The Kindle DX fills a niche but it’s not necessarily a replacement for other reading technologies.”
What makes your work unique?
“Our work is unique because it’s the first qualitative, longitudinal study of a mass-market e-reader device (not a prototype) being used by university students throughout an academic year. There have been other qualitative studies of e-readers, but ours was different in that we conducted interviews and a diary study during autumn and spring quarters. In other words, we got a sense of how students initially used their Kindle DXs, and then we checked back after a few months to see how things were going with the same students. This wasn’t a lab study. Nobody really knew what would happen once the students received their Kindle DXs. Unlike many e-reader studies our interest was not in evaluating the specific device, the Kindle DX. Yes, we looked at the use of the Kindle DX, but that was a way to get at deeper concerns. In particular, we were interested in looking at how and why students read so that we could target the future of e-readers and think deeply about what e-readers can and should be doing for students.
We included student reading techniques as part of the theoretical basis for our study. When students do their academic reading, they use five reading techniques (scanning, search reading, skimming, receptive reading, responsive reading) (all according to Pugh, 1978). Each technique requires a different level of intellectual engagement with the content, and e-readers such as the Kindle DX provide varying levels of support for these different techniques. This matters because students routinely switch between reading techniques: from skimming to responsive reading and back again, from scanning to responsive reading, etc. There is no e-reader or slate computing device that supports this sort of switching, yet students need to switch from technique to technique to do their work as effectively as they would like.
Another example of what makes our work unique is our detailed exploration of a phenomenon called cognitive mapping. When we read printed books, we experience kinesthetic interactions with the books themselves: We grow accustomed to the specific weight of the pages in each hand, the number of pages turned, and other physical cues about our location within the text. The act of reading information produces a lot of this secondary information about the text. Our human ability to link ideas and their spatial locations within the texts we read is often described as ‘cognitive mapping.’ These cognitive maps are important because they help us retain and recall textual information more effectively, and potentially aid in comprehension as well. Therefore, they are crucial to students’ ability to attain their academic goals because cognitive maps help them learn and work more effectively. Unfortunately, when students use e-readers, their physical experience with texts changes and they miss the kinesthetic interactions and consistency of reading on paper or even on a computer screen. The result is that students struggle to create cognitive maps, which could put them at a disadvantage academically: When students stop building cognitive maps, they take longer to locate information they have previously found, they have less mental energy for other tasks, and they have reduced retention, recall, and potentially comprehension of the texts they read.”
Why are your findings important?
“The purpose of our study is to inform the design of e-readers for academic users: We want to encourage a reimagining of the e-reader design space for student users, so we think it’s important to look at students’ reading practices in the larger context of their academic experience. With this in mind, our findings are important because college students already have highly specialized and effective ways of working. Designers of new reading technologies, such as e-readers, must support and extend these practices as they design new products, interfaces, and texts. Students are busy and are concerned about performing well in their classes and are not about to drop ways of working they have developed over a lifetime and that have served them well.
The other thing to consider is that reading is just a means to an end for students. When people read for leisure purposes, they are reading for the sake of reading (or perhaps to relax). When students read for academic purposes, they are reading because they are trying to achieve larger academic goals: getting a good grade in a class, completing an assignment, and so on. The real question that designers of e-readers and e-textbooks need to answer is how their products fit into students’ academic practices and workflows. A device such as the iPad, for example, could offer a number of terrific annotation applications and highly interactive textbooks. However, unless the content itself is useful to students in the context of what they need to do for school, these applications and enhanced textbooks will not necessarily provide any added value to students.”
Do you know if e-reader developers are familiar with your work? Do you know of any efforts that might be in the works to make e-readers more effective for academic reading?
“So far we have only had brief contact with a company named Inkling, which develops enhanced textbooks for devices such as the iPad. We have not had any specific contact with companies that make e-readers, nor are we aware of any specific efforts to make e-readers more effective for academic audiences. However, we have spoken to other researchers who continue to work in this area. Nicholas Chen at Cornell, for example, has a fantastic multi-screen prototype based on the Kindle DX that seems quite promising. We would be excited to speak with more e-reader developers and companies, particularly since one of us, Alex Thayer, has a background in hardware and software user experience design at Microsoft.”
Do you have any advice for textbook authors whose books are made available for e-readers?
“I think it’s important for textbook authors to privilege content first with their e-books. Several students in our study complained about typos in their e-books, which caused them to stop trusting the quality of the e-books and go buy printed versions of the same texts instead. Part of this is clearly a problem with the technological platform, but a lot of it has to do with the myriad of e-pub formats and the fact that many textbooks appear to be page scans of printed books saved as PDFs. That is entirely unacceptable for students who need to see the fine detail of their texts. Another group of students needed to read their academic texts in color, which is an important consideration depending on the subject area.”
Do you have any advice for professors who are using digital textbooks in their classes or whose students are using e-readers for academic reading?
“Professors need to assume that some segment of their students is already using e-readers for academic reading whether they want them to or not. For those professors who are using digital texts in their classes, we heard from the students in our study that they wanted different assessment methods for determining whether they had read certain sections of the assigned texts. It’s not really a question of getting students to do 100% of their assigned readings, it’s more a question of how to motivate students to see the connection between the value of the assigned readings and the learning they need to extract from the class as a whole. Many of the students in our study indicated that they judge for themselves whether readings are useful to them, and they only do the readings they think they should.
Finally, e-texts provide a great opportunity for professors to instruct students, particularly first-year undergrads, on how exactly they should be using texts as part of their learning and research processes. It’s becoming possible to share more than just annotations made in a digital copy of a book: Perhaps students could follow the progression of how a professor reads texts as a way to learn how they should be doing it too.”
More information about the theoretical background, methodology, results, and implications of this study can be found in their recent publication:
Thayer, A. Lee, C., Hwang, L., Sales, H., Sen, P., & Dalal, N. (2011). The imposition and superimposition of digital reading technology: The academic potential of e-readers. Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on human factors in computing systems. May 7-12, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Dionne Soares Palmer is a freelance writer based in northern California.
Academic publishing: How to deal with rejection
By Dionne Soares Palmer
Rejection can certainly be discouraging, but it doesn't have to mean the end of a project. It is important to move forward after your work is rejected and there are some steps you can take to avoid rejection altogether.
Overcoming disappointment is often one of the first things an academic author must face after a rejection. Dannielle Joy Davis, an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Law at Alabama State University and a new co-editor for the journal Learning for Democracy, recommends setting aside a finite amount of time to feel disappointed before moving on and taking steps to resubmit. "I always send [a rejected paper] back out to a refereed venue and do not dwell on disappointment for more than 24 hours," she said.
After conquering your disappointment, you must decide whether or not to resubmit your work to another journal. Tara Gray, the director of the Teaching Academy at New Mexico State University, and author of Publish and Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar, suggests objectively evaluating whether the costs of revising the project outweigh the benefits, rather than making a decision based on your emotional reaction to the rejection.
"When you get the rejection feedback, it feels devastating," Gray said. "But when you try to respond one step at a time, usually you can respond reasonably and well. I would never reject a project based on reading bad feedback. I would reject it only upon trying to make those changes and finding they are insurmountable." Gray said she always resubmits when her own work is rejected.
Davis urges writers to persevere and never give up on their manuscripts. In her experience as a writer, co-editor and reviewer, she has never come across a project that should be abandoned. "Authors must persist in the face of rejection and not take rejection personally," Davis said. "Remember, every good manuscript has a home. It is our job as authors to find that home and to continue to polish the work while searching for it. Persistence is key in the publishing process." Davis has never given up on a rejected project. Her strategy of persistence has paid off, earning her more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and a recent book contract.
One way that academic authors can potentially avoid the disappointment of rejection is to request pre-submission feedback in order to identify and fix problems early. Gray is a strong advocate for this strategy and works with three groups of readers for her pre-submission feedback. She asks non-experts, such as family members or friends, to read her work and look for issues in clarity and organization. She also asks people in her field that she trusts to read her work and comment on issues related to content, methodology, and theory.
In addition, Gray contacts the scholars that she has cited the most often and/or the most heavily in her manuscript to elicit valuable additional feedback. "I generally get about a 50% response rate from these experts," Gray said. "I contact them and ask them for feedback on how I am using their work. That tends to be the hook that gets them to want to interact with me more. I also ask them for just a quick read—just 20 minutes of their time—to look for the biggest problems they see. Some of them have been enormously helpful to me."
Gray asserts that pre-submission feedback can be extremely helpful in avoiding rejection and can help ensure that a project is worth pursuing in the early stages of the work: "If you've gone through a half a dozen experts and non-experts before you submit, you won't be working on many projects that need to be abandoned."
Dionne Soares Palmer is a freelance writer based in northern California.
Workshop for writers on publishing process, June 17-18
Three publishing professionals will present a two-day publishing workshop June 17-18 for writers working in fiction or nonfiction. David Emblidge, Julie Michaels and Nina Ryan will give an overview of the publishing process as seen from authors' and publishers' viewpoints, including where to sell your work and how to negotiate a publishing contract, followed by one-on-one consultations. The workshop will be held at The Mount, Edith Wharton's estate in Lenox, Massachusetts. Cost: $275. For more information, visit http://EdithWharton.org
Anthony Haynes
Writing Successful Textbooks
Reviewed by Irina Weisblat, Ed.D.
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Anthony Haynes practices what he preaches. His Writing Successful Textbooks, published in 2001, is a constructive, specific, and inspiring book. It meets all six requirements of a successful textbook that Haynes identifies for aspiring authors. Haynes makes it perfectly clear what he means by success – success translates into the bottom line.
Yes, Haynes means business. His advice to textbook authors is founded in his expertise of a commissioning editor for education and professional subjects at the Continuum International Publishing Group. The know-how he provides to textbook authors is designed to deliver this message: No one reads textbooks for fun, and no one writes textbooks for fun. Both textbook readers and writers alike have their own purpose. Textbook writers must understand the readers’ needs and their unique learning styles in order to compose a textbook that will sell successfully and, maybe, even live through several editions.
When I took on this review of Writing Successful Textbooks, I did not realize that this book was exactly what I needed. An aspiring textbook author myself, looking to publish a textbook for the first time in my career, I did not even know where to start, until I opened Haynes’s book. One important feature that struck me as a unique attribute of this book is its utility, an extra-added value that any author – a novice and a seasoned one – can benefit from. Not only does Haynes teach writers what do to, but he also explains how to do it right, and why one should follow his advice. Because Haynes offers his advice from the publisher’s perspective, he convinces me to trust him. He guides his readers through the entire book-writing route by applying the commissioning editor’s viewpoint and criteria to the process of selecting a successful textbook for publishing. Haynes’s book, I imagine, will be also an invaluable tool for those authors who had been published before, but still need to polish their writing style, time management skills, familiarity with IT (information technology) and research methods, or simply to make an informed decision about other publishing options, such as online publishing, for example.
Haynes guides his readers through three essential stages of textbook writing: (1) preparation; (2) composition and design; and (3) taking it further. The preparation part contains some invaluable insights into qualities that define a successful textbook author. According to Haynes, a good textbook should be authoritative, comprehensive, pitched at the right level, clear, organized, and up to date. More importantly, Haynes emphasizes the idea that a successful book is a product of successful writer. Incidentally, successful writers are those who possess all of the aforementioned characteristics of a good textbook themselves.
In addition to the six-item list of characteristics critical to success of textbooks and their authors, writers must also possess:
- Knowledge of the context in which a textbook will be used (in other words, they must intimately know the market for which their textbook is intended). That’s why professors who have experience in teaching a certain subject in the classroom often make better textbook authors than the leading experts in a particular field of knowledge.
- Project management and information technology skills
- Effective time management skills and self-discipline
- Clear and realistic idea about the market the book will sell to
The value of research cannot be overestimated in the preparation stage, as it may often define the intended market, the context in which the textbook will be used, address the strengths and weaknesses of the competition, analyze what competition does not offer, and, thus, fill the gap in the market offering. The key to a competition analysis is to apply the same six criteria of a good book. The first part of the book climaxes with the practical counsel on selecting the right publisher for your book, and wise recommendations about the proper way of approaching the publisher, followed by one of the three ways of proceeding: an inquiry, a prospectus, or a proposal with sample chapters. As a bonus, alternative methods of becoming known to the publisher were also offered, and some practicalities related to the contract and negotiation of royalties, advances, and free copies were mentioned.
The second section on composition and design is the most important part of the book. To me, it was a real eye-opener. Advice on the proper usage of language and style, ways of presenting visual materials (graphs, diagrams, or photographs), or methods used to increase the overallbook’s readability, was expected. The part that contains some unique views on how to meet the readers’ needs and how to structure the book materials was surprising. It appears that authors who understand how people learn and distinguish between the four types of learning styles are more likely to satisfy their readers’ needs. In one way or another, each successful textbook incorporates materials that appeal to all four types of learning styles.
Although the shortest section in the book, the third part reveals some substantial findings. One such discovery addresses the future of digital textbooks. As we all experience the overwhelming effects of technology developments on a daily basis, many questions arise about books in the electronic age. Haynes addresses these queries authoritatively and comprehensively. As a good researcher, hetakes a non-biased position, while offering all the pros and cons of electronic publishing. Haynes summarizes perspectives of all major stakeholders: the publishers, the distributors, the writers, and the readers of the electronic books. After a thorough analysis of all perspectives, Haynes offers his informed prediction of the future of electronic books, leaving it to the author to accept or reject his position.
Haynes skillfully builds his volume of recommendations to textbook writers by first introducing his vision – the six-item list of winning characteristics of a good book. When the foundation is laid out and the essentials of composition and design are identified, the author moves on todiscussing the book’s future in the end. In his final chapter, Haynes shares two secrets to keeping a book in print. One is to help your publisher to market the book, another – to prepare new editions. What differentiates Haynes’s book from other similar texts is his philosophy of treating a textbook as an individual, or a live organism. That is why his recommendations not only relate to conceiving a great idea for a project, writing a quality text, and publishing a successful textbook, but they are also concerned with the sustainability of your book’s success. Haynes discusses how to take your product one step further in the product life cycle and keep it in print in the future.
About the Reviewer
Irina Weisblat, Ed.D., holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University (SDSU), a Global MBA from National University, San Diego, and a BA in English from St. Petersburg University, Russia. She teaches Educational Leadership in Master’s and Doctoral programs at SDSU, and International Business and Marketing at the university and community college levels, as a part-time professor. Her research focuses on educational effectiveness and development of basic skills and global competencies. Dr. Weisblat’s academic writing includes topics of student learning, sustainability of the curriculum, and workforce development for the green economy. Dr. Weisblat presented at the state, regional, and bi-national conferences.
Gerald Stone
Faculty Fables: A Campy Exposé
Reviewed by Ron Pynn
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I am not Fenwick Pettipotter, I swear I’m not. Well, maybe just a little I am. I more resemble Dr. Wanda Funderbinder for whom tenure loomed large and choices had to be made. These are just two of the characters in Gerald Stone’s Faculty Fables: A Campy Exposé (Chautauqua Press, 2011). There are more, many, many more, characters in Stone’s delightful and amusing romp through the halls of academia. In Faculty Fables you will find them all: faculty members, students, and administrators; Stone spares no one with his humor. All are here with theirglorious idiosyncratic eccentricities. And anyone who has ever graced a college campus will recognize traits in faculty, students, and administrators we have encountered. Why, we might even see a bit of ourselves in these pages!
Fenwick Pettipotter spends his day circling campus in hopes of spotting a parking place. Who among us has not set our daily schedule by the availability of parking? Dr. Wanda Funderbinder discovered being agood teacher interfered with publishing, and tenure hung in the balance. Sound familiar? Then there is Weggie Thorenblatt who made the mistake of accepting a student’s interpretation of an exam question in class. Or how about those student excuses why I didn’t get my paper in on time. This caused Professor Grimsley to virtually quiver with sensitivity.
Gerald Stone sees it all, albeit through rose colored glasses. In the book there is the grading scale, the faculty member who delighted in large words, the administrator who built an empire, how students select a major, and how to build enrollment (a degree in salad bar management will help). Stone’s campy expose pokes fun at all the eccentricities and behaviors found on college campuses, and Stone not only does it with good humor but with a touch of truth that comes too close to home for comfort.
Gerald Stone is well suited to write this campy expose. His credentials are impeccable: He is my friend and a long time TAA member (I believe the order correct). In addition Gerald has been a faculty member, scholar, dean, visiting professor, and journal editor. So he has gotten to know (possibly become) many of the characters in the book. Although I believe his long association with TAA, including a turn as president, did not bring him into contact with any of the figures found in the book.
I highly recommend Gerald Stone’s Faculty Fables for anyone who has even been a faculty member oradministrator at a college or university. You will recognize these characters on your own campus, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. And should you have any insecurity about buying this book, consider Dr. Swizzlestix. Buy the book, become a department chair, and all your doubts will disappear.
About the Reviewer
Ronald Pynn is Professor Emeritus from the University of North Dakota where he taught political science from 1971-1997 and TAA President. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. While at North Dakota he served as chairman of the Department of Political Science for 12 years and he was Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1992-1994. Pynn has written several books on political science, including Watergate and the American Political Process, American Politics: Changing Expectations (5 Edition), Political Economy, and The Election of 1994. Pynn was a charter member of TAA, serving as a senior member during its formation. He has twice been President of TAA (1992-93, 1996-97), and he served as TAA's Executive Director from 1995-2005. He presently resides in Burlington, Vermont.
Morfaw awarded $750 TAA Publication Grant
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John Morfaw has been awarded a $750 TAA Publication Grant to fund book production costs for his new book, Project Sustainability: Strategies, Processes and Plans, to be published by iUniverse Publishers in May 2011.
The funds will be used to pay for the book's production services including editorial evaluation, developmental editing, proofreading, professional indexing and copyright registration.
"I am very excited with the very generous publishing grant offered to me by the Text and Academic Authors Association to facilitate the publication of my book," said Morfaw. "This goes a long way to illustrate the efforts made by this organization to help needy authors to get their books published in order to disseminate information, inform people and educate the people on contemporary issues affecting the social, economic, environmental, political, cultural and educational changes around the world. TAA is a very unique organization offering this type of philanthropic services to authors and this magnanimity needs to be emulated because they are helping to transform the entire universe. This is actually an inspirational and transformational philanthropic gesture by TAA and it will transform the lives of authors and readers and this will continue to speak volumes around the world for many decades."
The purpose of Morfaw's book is to analyze and evaluate the effects and impact of various project implementation models on the sustainability of projects and the relationship between a good strategic implementation plan and the efficiency and effectiveness in implementation in order to enhance their sustainability in the marketplace. It elaborates on the various project sustainability metrics, characteristics, measurement, indexes and parameters involved in the effective and efficient implementation of projects.
Various aspects of project sustainability such as financial, economic, social, cultural, political, legal, environmental and educational are explored for a comprehensive approach forproject implementation. The book also provides an exhaustive elaboration on the theories of management postulated by the Gurus of Total Quality Management such as Edward Deming, Joseph Juran, Philip Crosby, Walter Shewhart, Kaoru Ishikawa and Shigeo Shingo. Other contemporary business concepts such as Six Sigma Methodology, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Capacity Building, Knowledge Management, Configuration Management, and S.W.O.T Analysis, the S.M.A.R.T Techniques which help in project monitoring and evaluation and ultimate sustainability are discussed.
The book elaborates on the Project Sustainability Management (PSM) concept which gives room for effective and efficient implementation of various sustainability processes, systems, structures and other activities. It alsoprovides a series of Project Sustainability Management training forms and templates for various project management processes and a very comprehensive and elaborate Strategic and Sustainable Implementation Plan (SIP).
"There a lot of very great unpublished authors out there who have not yet been discovered because their works have been halted or stopped by financial and material obstacles, the fundamental resources required for the book publication," said Morfaw. Through various personal and professional obstacles, Morfaw said he has remained very optimistic, continuing to conduct research to develop his book. "Luckily my prayers have been heard and TAA has come to my rescue," he said.
Morfaw currently works as a facilitator/trainer with ResCare Workforce Empowerment Services of Prince George's County in Maryland. He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tanyimor Project Inc. and Tanyimor Foundation Inc. He is also the Coordinator of Strategic Management Services with the Institute for Research in Global Business (IRGB). He is from the Republic of Cameroon, West Africa. He was awarded a scholarship as an Exchange Student to the USA through the Council of International Programs in Cleveland, Ohio in 1990. During the program he had orientation on American history, politics, social, cultural and academic policies at Cleveland State University. He also took classes as a Graduate Audit Student at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case WesternReserve University, and Cleveland, Ohio. He later moved to Pennsylvania andobtained a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1999. In 2005 he was earned a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from the Graduate School of Professional Studies at Penn State University- Great Valley, Malvern, Pennsylvania.
He is a community advocate and activist, involved in many other community activities with both national and internal organizations around the world. He is also a member of the Advisory Boards of The Sustainability Institute of Clarion University of Pennsylvania and a mentor with the Africa Unbound Mentorship Program. He has participated in various World Bank Africa Diaspora Program Network conferences and “Africa Plan of Action” consultative meetings towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
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TAA Publication Grants are open to member and non-member authors. Authors can apply for a Publication Grant of up to $1000 to cover the cost of publishing already accepted journal articles, or for the preparation of artwork or other charts, diagrams or images to be included in accepted articles or academic books.
Larson writes 'new type of textbook' and you can too
Mathematics textbook author Ron Larson has written Math And You, the first book in a new series of books he is calling "AndYou.com." The goal of Math And You, said Larson, is to show students who might have low math confidence that they can use the power of math to analyze problems in real life. Although inexpensive print versions will be offered, the book is free online at www.mathandyou.com
The book's website features social interactivity with the ability to post comments on exercises and share pages of the book on Facebook and Twitter. All 10 chapters will be available by September 1. Chapter one is now available. To enable them to make the book available free online, the website will be financed by advertisements, he said.
Larson is seeking authors for other books in the series in the fields of writing, accounting, economics, art, psychology and more. Visit www.andyou.com for more information.
TAA podcast 'Kicking It Out the Door' now available
A podcast of the TAA audio conference, "Kicking It Out the Door: How to (Finally) Submit Your First Journal Article," is now available.
TAA podcast 'An Inside Look at Journal Publishing' now available
A podcast of the TAA audio conference, "First-Time Writers: An Inside Look at Journal Publishing," is now available.
2012 TAA Conference Committee seeks ideas, themes
The 2012 TAA Conference Committee is seeking input for the association's 25th Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 8-9, 2012. Please send your ideas and suggestions for themes and speakers to Conference Chair Mary Kay Switzer at
mkswitzer@verizon.net by July 1. The 2012 TAA Conference will mark the association's 25th anniversary.
Listen to interview with Felicia Moore Mensah on writing and publishing your scholarly journal article
Felicia Moore Mensah previews her pre-conference workshop, "Writing and Publishing Your Scholarly Journal Article" on TAA's blogtalkradio show.
Listen to interview with Joanne Cooper and Dannelle Stevens on boosting writing power and productivity
Joanne Cooper and Dannelle Stevens preview their conference presentation, "Five Key Strategies to Boost Writing Power and Productivity" on TAA's blogtalkradio show.
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