I say we take a casual, informal approach to the team progress report that is due at the end of this week. I need one report from each team, you can do it as an email if you like. You should give me a general rundown on 1) What work you've accomplished 2) What work you have left to do 3) Any problems you're having and your plans for resolving them 4) A preliminary rundown on the argument you want to make in your final recommendation report.
The more detail you have for #4 the better, because it means you've been talking to one another enough to have some sense of what you've got and where you're headed. If you don't have a lot of detail here, no big deal. You'll get there.
- Dr. Staggers (April 5 Daily Message)
To: Professor Julie Staggers
From: Kyle Anders, Nathan Douglas, Dawn Girard, Ana Patrnogich-arieli, Amnon Rosenberg
Subject: Progress Report – Sustainability Project
Date: April 11, 2010
Team 2 has been investigating the possibility of using electronic textbooks to replace traditional, printed textbooks for a recommendation report to the administration of the University of Nevada – Las Vegas. The recommendation report addresses a cost-efficient way of improving the institution’s sustainability.
1. Cost of E-text vs Hard Copy? - Dawn (costs of textbooks and e-text) and Nathan (technical requirements and costs for electronic devices)
2. Preventing Negative Environmental Impact of E-text vs. Hard Copy - Kyle
3. Students' Preference and Faculty Preference - Nathan / Ana / Amnon
Costs of textbooks used by UNLV to those of comparable information content have been analyzed. Dawn has found that numerous freshman-level textbooks are specially published for UNLV, giving a higher cost to the standard-edition.
Promoting the use of electronic devices ultimately increases harmful waste. The idea of having a refurbishing-program in place will help reduce the negative environmental impact. Costs of purchasing a refurbished electronic device is much lower than a new one. Promoting this when adopting E-text can be possible by giving students special discounts on the E-text with the proof of purchase of a refurbished device. Costs of refurbished devices are have been gathered.
Completing the survey of students and faculty is perhaps the most difficult of the task for our project. Nathan Douglas and Dawn Girard will contact certain department heads to see about distributing surveys to their students and staff in order to assess the acceptability and financial costs and benefits of electronic textbooks across the various fields of study. In addition, Amnon Rosenberg will be drafting sets of questions for the survey. If the information from the survey is not gathered fast enough, other avenues such as physical distribution of surveys will be undertaken such as using a site such as SurveyMonkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/) to collect and tabulate the information. This survey will contribute to Ana Patrnogich-arieli’s research in particular, but will be useful for the group as a whole.
Being aware of where our group is at in terms of research and productivity is very difficult in the online medium. A wiki page for our groups' workspace will be created to allow all members to more easily see what is done and what needs to be done.
Our recommendation helps, because it reduces costs of textbooks for students and UNLV. UNLV will spend less money in purchasing textbooks for students on a semester-basis for the bookstore. Students will also spend less for an electronic version of the e-text. The requirements for having an electronic device to be able to access the e-text is very low. Many students already have devices such as laptops and netbooks to be able to utilize the e-text. Promoting the e-text through the use of refurbished devices can also be enforced, as this will give students an incentive to purchase a more affordable electronic device while cutting down on the harmful waste of electronics.
Conclusion
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at:
Dawn Girard
Phone: (702) 743-9205
Email: dtgirard@cox.net
Kyle Anders
Phone: (702) 371-0959
Email: kanders@cox.net
Ana Patrnogich-arieli
Phone: (702) 498-3485
Email: anaarieli@yahoo.com
Nathan Douglas
Phone: (702) 493-3119
Email: mrnathandouglas@gmail.com
Amnon Rosenberg
Phone:
Email: