June
12, 2006
Pearson to acquire
Apple's PowerSchool
Pearson Education
has acquired PowerSchool, Apple's student information systems (SIS)
division to develop educational content for teachers and students that
is compatible with iPod. PowerSchool's web-based solutions provide K-12
administrators, teachers, students and parents with secure, up-to-the-minute
information on student performance, including grades, homework and attendance.
They complement Pearson's existing enterprise and SIS business, which
brings assessment, reporting and business solutions to more than 16,000
schools, helping them to fulfill the accountability requirements set
by No Child Left Behind. Pearson will also develop new services for
educators and students, including research-based educational content
compatible with iPod. Teachers will have access to podcasts on professional
development to help with lesson preparation and provide innovative ways
to reach students struggling with specific content. Students will be
able to load their iPods with study guides that are aligned with Pearson
texts and listen to review notes to prepare for exams.
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Ads
in textbooks?
A new program called
dotReader will help Freeload Press cut the costs of textbooks by 60
percent by allowing the company to embed ads within its e-books. Freeload
Press will be using dotReader to publish a proprietary line of free
textbooks, as well as distribute other publishers' e-texts, by embedding
advertising within the texts. dotReader is an open source e-book reader
with an open architecture that allows publishers and distributors to
create plug-in features, such as an advertising module. "The dotReader
permits unobtrusive dynamic advertising that can be 'hidden' during
reading and studying work," says Mark Carey, CEO of OSoft, which created
the dotReader.
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McGraw-Hill
defends copyright rule in story contest
Suzanne Toney,
a spokesperson from SRA/McGraw Hill, defended a contest rule from the
company's "What's the Story" teacher author contest which states that
the company retains the copyright for all entries ("All entries, including
supporting materials, and any copyrights therein, become the sole property
of McGraw-Hill and will not be returned.").
In an e-mail to
TAA Executive Director Richard Hull, Toney said: "Per our legal department
we had to insert this statement in order to cover SRA/McGraw-Hill legally
and be able to do the contest. The statement is more to protect SRA/McGraw-Hill
not prevent non winners from sending their works to be published by
other publishers."
Hull responded
by saying that the company then needs to make a clarification to their
statement of obligations to the submitter: "The current rules clearly
will be taken to mean that your permission would need to be obtained
for any submission that does not win to be published elsewhere, and
as such will discourage would-be entrants (including myself) from making
submissions."
Previous TAA Notes
item:
'What's the Story?' contest has non-author-friendly rule
click here
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Hess appointed
to TAAF Board
TAA President John
Wakefield appointed Kären Hess to serve on the Text and Academic
Authors Foundation board. Hess said she was deeply honored to be asked
to serve on the TAA Foundation board: "The mission of TAA has been in
line with my own professional goals since its inception. As a charter
member, I was very active in TAA, but as my life got busier, my involvement
declined. I owe a great deal to TAA for what I have learned at the many
conventions I have attended as well as from its newsletters. I am happy
to give back to the organization by serving as a TAAF board member."
Hess taught writing at Normandale Community College in Bloomington,
Minnesota, for 30 years while authoring or co-authoring over 30 trade
books and college-level textbooks on a variety of topics including financial
planning, dental marketing, art, literature, engineering, hospice care,
reading, management and report writing. She currently is writing full
time, keeping 10 criminal justice textbooks she has authored or co-authored
current for Wadsworth Publishing Company, several going into their eighth
and ninth editions. She is also the editor for Innovative System Publishers,
Inc., a company her husband owns and operates. Hess is a charter member
of TAA and served as the TAA Council secretary for two terms. She is
also a member of the TAA Council of Fellows, as well as a member of
several other professional organizations.
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Correction: Flynn
lead author for McGuffey winner
Ann McHoes was incorrectly
listed as the sole recipient, and author, of "Understanding Operating
Systems," 4th Edition, which won a 2006 McGuffy Award, in the June 2006
issue of "The Academic Author." Ida Flynn was the lead author on the
text, written with Ann McHoes.
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Join the discourse!
Visit TAA's blogs
and post your text and academic authoring questions.
TAA
Community blog
TAA Members Only blog
Be sure to visit Richard's
Blog too!
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TAA welcomes
new members
Gary Burke, Brian
Goetz, Andrew Martin, Ann McHoes, John Smagula, Regina Trevino, Martin
Weismann
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Busy TAA People
online web form
TAA has added a
secure online web form to the TAA website to make it easier for members
to share their news. Check it out here.
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Renew your membership
online!
TAA has just launched
a new online member form that will allow members to renew online using
a secure server. The form can also be used by new members. Check it
out in the TAA Member Center here.
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