Having lectured at universities over the years I was always amazed at how pedantic and backward the content of most textbooks were vs. the actualities of our fast-paced communications industry. How many times I longed to change the curriculum to better reflect reality. Often hard to do with scholarly auditors watching from the back of class as you hand out poorly copied xerox’s of more recent industry material from a school copy machine that groaned like an old man walking up his last flight of stairs.
Now it seems Macmillan (one of the largest textbook publishers) is jumping at the opportunity to allow educators the chance to customize and change the text and construct of a curriculum to best suit their style, the industry or overall approach of the institution.
interesting….about time!Did you read this in the NY Times about a prof trying to restrict laptop use?http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/20/opinion/20AYRE.html?scp=1&sq=students%20and%20laptops&st=Searchand this one about ditching ‘boyfriends and laptops’ to get a better education:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/opinion/26gradstudents.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage