Monday, November 25, 2013

Spiral Binding for New Adoptions Now Available!

We're excited to announce that, effective immediately, spiral binding is available on all newly adopted AcademicPub books. This option does not apply to books previously committed unless instructors re-commit their books within the system.

The cost to students to add spiral binding is minimal, $1 more than traditional perfect binding.

These spiral bindings are perfect for lab manuals and workbooks.



Ready to build a textbook for your class?


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

AcademicPub Adds Publishers, New President and COO

A Dozen New Publishers Sign With AcademicPub as AcademicPub Names New President and COO

NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AcademicPub™, the leading integrated content services platform for higher education, today announced twelve new publishers have become partners in the world's largest repository of chunked content available for creating custom course material, bringing the total number of partners to more than 250, representing more than 12 million pieces available to instructors globally.

Building on its vast library of multimedia content available for selection by instructors worldwide, AcademicPub reported that Goodfellow Publishers, Kellogg School of Management, Plunkett Research, Pluto Journals, S. Karger AG, Medical and Scientific Publishers, Temple University Press, The History Press Ltd., The MIT Press, University of Arkansas Press, University of Notre Dame Press, University of Tennessee Press, and University of Texas Press, have agreed to offer their materials as atomized content in course packs. A complete list of publishers in the AcademicPub Content Library may be found here.

Caroline Vanderlip, CEO of AcademicPub parent company, SharedBook Inc., made the announcement.

Vanderlip also announced several executive promotions within SharedBook/ AcademicPub.

Peter Budd, formerly VP of Product and UI, has become President of SharedBook/AcademicPub, while David Brown, formerly VP of Operations, has been named Chief Operating Officer. "Peter and Dave have the experience and vision to take AcademicPub through its next phase of growth," said Vanderlip. "Together, they will guide SharedBook and AcademicPub day-to-day, as the platform becomes more integrated in the course material choices available to instructors at both public and private universities, on campus and in distance ed."

About AcademicPub

AcademicPub, SharedBook Inc.'s technology platform for higher education, assembles, composes, prices and delivers custom textbooks-in eBook and/or print format. AcademicPub allows for immediate creation and inclusion of copyright-cleared content from anywhere, such as web articles, self-generated lectures or from the AcademicPub Content Library. Digital or print distribution generates a fast and easy way for educators to provide an engaging educational experience, with lower prices and up-to-the-minute materials for students. More information and free registration for faculty is available at www.academicpub.com. Headquartered in New York since 2004, SharedBook Inc. is privately held and can be found at www.sharedbook.com.

CONTACT:
Caroline Vanderlip CEO
cvanderlip@sharedbook.com
(646) 442-8845


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Announcing a New MOOC: Project Management for All Careers

Nov. 9, 2013 (Press Release) - PM World, Open Doors Group, and Academic Pub today announced a Massive Open Online Course for Accidental Project Managers. Using the popular book, Project Management Skills for All Careers, the MOOC will cover key aspects of project management for people finding themselves in projects as leaders and members but with little project management knowledge or skills. The course will begin on November 18, 2013 and run through January 12, 2014.

To register for this free course, interested parties can visit the Canvas Network
https://www.canvas.net/courses/project-management-skills-...

The course is led by a team of experts in project management; AgileBill Krebs has over 20 years of experience as a developer, performance engineer, and consultant, including work at IBM, Davisbase, and in the healthcare field.

Carl Rand is an independent project management consultant and educator based in the San Francisco Bay area who has worked for major corporations, including CA Technologies, NetApp, Intuit, Nortel Networks, Visa International, and IBM.

Suganthi Alagumalai has over 18 years of international experience as a developer, tester, QA manager, project manager, and Scrum master, including work in India and the United States. She has a wide range of experience in networking, healthcare, and banking and has worked for companies, including Cisco, Humana, American Express, and Kaiser

John Donelan is a senior technology specialist with experience and expertise in data center management, software development, program/project management, budgeting and building/managing diverse teams.

Ali Daimee is a Senior Project / Program Management professional with track record in organizing and directing over 25 multi-discipline global teams implementing 50+ complex embedded systems, enterprise applications and consumer electronics projects with high success rate.

In addition to learning just what you need to manage a project, participants will benefit from the wide range of experiences from these talented individuals.

A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) allows participants to study an area without leaving the comfort of their homes or the convenience of their desks. If a participant is unable to catch a session as it occurs, the sessions are recorded so that they can be viewed them at a convenient time. This ability to access and review course material from highly qualified instructors means that participants also have the ability to go back and review a session if they need to clarify something for an assignment.

The book for the course, Project Management Skills for All Careers, is available as an e-book ($16.95) or bound copy (Black and White bound $30.91 or Color bound $44.75). It can be purchased at
http://www.collegeopentextbooks.org/opentextbookcontent/f...

This MOOC is sponsored by AcademicPub, Open Doors Group, and PM World.

Contact
Rekha Raman
rekha.raman@opendoorsgroup.org

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The Upper Level Course Challenge

High-level classes deserve high-quality learning materials, technology, and strategy.

Whether it is the reading materials, technology, or the course itself, there are many ways to keep an upper level course interesting, inspiring, and thought-provoking.

Finding the perfect materials to fit your course can be tedious, especially for graduate or other upper-level courses. The materials need to be challenging yet readable, detailed yet not overly wordy, modern yet traditional. Finding the right balance is a constant struggle for most instructors in their academic careers. More and more professors are choosing to mix and match content from many sources to create adequate materials. High-quality materials help keep the course itself fresh, stimulating, and unique.

There are many ways to teach difficult concepts to all types of learners in an upper level course to engage and deepen the understanding of content. Some professors hold discussion-based classes while others enact a flipped classroom, with projects and student collaboration occurring online or outside the physical classroom. Mini lectures at the beginning and end of each class can help students review prior concepts and encourages them to develop new ideas once class is dismissed.

No matter the challenges professors face regarding upper level courses, trying something new – like custom textbooks or flipped classrooms – can make a big difference!



Wednesday, November 6, 2013

We've Released a New Version of the AcademicPub iPad Reader

We're excited to announce a new version of the AP iOS Reader App!

This version has a cool new logo:

But it's not just all about looks.

We've made some UI improvements and all the great things you've always been able to do while reading your textbook in our app (bookmarking, adding notes, zooming and panning, quick navigation) are all even easier  now.

iPad Screenshot 2  iPad Screenshot 4

This version also include a patch that fixes reported connection issues on iOS 7 devices.

Check it out today.