This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project is focussed on how to create, deliver and assess a learning environment that integrates textbook materials with students' notes, instructors' slides, learning objects, and the capacity to expand student inquiry and reflection. The proposed solution is to commercialize LectureTools, a learning management system developed and licensed from the University of Michigan, and extend it through addition of LivingText textbook apps to produce a new system that allows students to access textbook content integrated with in-class functionality for note taking, student response, student inquiry and meta-cognitive tools. Users will be able to search the combined domain of instructor lecture slides, their own notes and the textbook in one application. The commercial LectureTools system will provide a basic suite of functionalities including note-taking, student response, student question and lecture upload and presentation tools and delivery of lecture podcasts. An application programming interface will be created that allows other developers to create and market applications that further extend options for instructors and students. Initial applicatioms will include a revolutionary search engine and note cloud generator that will serve to integrate textbook content with class notes and instructor slides.
A 2006 NSF panel considered the state of the college textbook and concluded that the current model might be broken. Moreover the panel summarized that: ' ... The textbook of the future ... will be the organizing hub of an integrated learning environment where the student experience is key ...'. The LectureTools package will be attractive to higher education, continuing and on-line, and corporate education organizations. LivingText is working closely with the University of Michigan as a testbed and potential customer and a number of publishing companies, including Cengage Learning, who will supply the textbook content. Key players include 1) publishers who will potentially benefit from increased revenue despite lower customer costs through a diminution in used book sales; and 2) education organizations that will be able to offer a more integrated learning environment to their students at a lower overall cost. The proposal identifies how these players will be involved throughout the process for our mutual benefit.
