Are publishers dinosaurs?

This morning as the professor and I were having our Saturday morning conversation a lightbulb went off in my head. Everything has really changed because of technology. It really has!

We were talking about publishing textbooks. He had been asked recently if he was interested in writing a textbook by a publisher. He said that he wasn't and as we talked it became clearer and clearer why.

The picture to the left is a very rough diagram of a concept that Marc Andreesson explained to Charlie Rose (see http://malahinitx.blogspot.com/2009/02/charlie-rose-interviews-marc-andreessen.html). As long as there were no refrigerators the Ice Man had a good job, but as refrigerators became more common the job of Ice Man was no longer needed. It really did the Ice Man no good to complain about refrigerators. This graph shows a point at which you still need SOME ice delivery because everyone does not yet have a refrigerator, but beyond that crossing point gradually everyone gets a refrigerator and the ice man becomes a thing of the past.

I think we are at the crossing point with publishing, especially publishing textbooks. It will not be long until we have no need for traditional textbook publishers and everyone has access to any information that they need online.

It is exciting to live and work in a time where such deep changes are happening. Several years ago I was skeptical when people said that the Internet was changing everything, but they were right. Now.... what can we do about education in general which is at the same point?

Reflections on the past

Today, a quiet Saturday, I decided to spent a little time looking back at the portfolio I created in 2000 to finish my Master's Degree in Ed Tech. I am just amazed at all that I did...and that I still agree with myself :-) I spent some time clicking through my worksamples. Many of the links did not work anymore, but many of them even still work.

http://jfriesen.net/worksamples.html


There was my project for Trends in Literacy Instruction





and the first school webpage I created with kids




and a course I designed on Technology Leadership in Schools.


and more... Most interesting I think was something I said in 2000 when I wrote up my reflections. It is something I deeply believe and has become common talk now.

"The new role in schools would be a technology coach. This is someone who knows education and has experience in the classroom and also knows technology. The role of this person in a school would be to act as a bridge and a buffer to technology for the educators including both teachers and administrators in the school. This person would have the ability and time to keep up with changes in technology as they occur. At the same time they would have the larger view of teaching and learning, so that technology can be applied in meaningful ways in classrooms."

I am lucky to have this role in my current job. It is not totally clear always how it should work and I don't feel very confident at times that I am doing a great job, but I still think it is correct!

This really shows me how amazing having things online can be. I don't often have time to look back, but it is nice to know that that stuff is there and is still meaningful at least to me.