Tuesday, November 21, 2000

STATE APPROVES FIRST ONLINE TEXTBOOK BY TEXAS PUBLISHER

(AUSTIN, Texas) -- The Texas State Board of Education has approved the first online textbook for use in classrooms statewide. While other textbook publishers have offered supplementary material, this marks the first time in Texas that a publishing firm has made available a full and complete online version of their printed textbook.

“There are other education products on the market that utilize the internet and other technology. I believe one thing the Texas State Board of Education realizes is that the Barrett Kendall online textbook has real content,” said Bob Blevins, CEO of Barrett Kendall.

The printed textbook, BK ENGLISH: Communication Skills in the New Millennium, and its online companion are products of the Austin-based Barrett Kendall Publishing Ltd.

“This is revolutionary,” said John Trimble, Ph.D, University Distinguished Teaching Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, and a senior consultant on the project. “With this online textbook, the world truly is just a mouse click away.”

“In architecture, form follows function -- in education, technology should follow content,” said Rebecca Rickly, Ph.D, from the Department of English at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. “That hasn’t always been the case and many schools have paid the price by purchasing computers without examining what content would be best served by the technology. As a result, they have computers, but nothing of educational value to put on them.”

While computers are becoming more common in the classroom, technology has been slow to hit the textbook publishing industry. The arrival of Barrett Kendall’s online product on the scene is likely to increase the challenge by Texas legislators to move in this direction. However, it could be years before the rest of the industry catches up because once chosen by a school district, textbook selection cannot be changed nor modified for a six-year period.

What really has teachers in a buzz is that the online product gives them the ability to instantly grade tests and mark the progress of their students. That means teachers can spend more time teaching in the classroom and less time grading papers. “Instant scoring is something educators have been dreaming of for years,” said Barrett Kendall CEO Bob Blevins. “This online product gives teachers the tools to instantly assess a student’s composition skills, language skills, vocabulary and spelling skills. It also allows the student to deliver their homework online to the teacher,” said Blevins.

Since the cost of textbooks is set by the state, Barrett Kendall’s online product offers added value to the taxpayer according to Blevins. “There is no additional cost for the online version, which is a duplicate of the printed textbook and unlike the traditional textbook, the online version can’t be lost or damaged,” added Blevins.

Although a relative newcomer to the textbook publishing community, the team at Barrett Kendall brings many years of textbook development and publishing experience to their products. They are currently in the development phase of an online Social Sciences textbook.

Barrett Kendall, publisher of the groundbreaking English textbook and online companion, has also received approval from the education boards of North Carolina, New Mexico, Florida and Louisiana. In addition to these states, Barrett Kendall is seeking approval for its online textbook from education boards in Utah and Illinois.