I have no idea what the total amount of teacher union dues is in this country. NEA and AFT have that info but I don’t know if they’d release it. Regarding the issue of whether or not the idea of teacher unions is one whose time has passed, I think I’ll be safe and just say that lots of people don’t think so. =)

I’m not claiming that my proposed structure represents a complete solution, just that this is an idea worth considering (with whatever adjustments are necessary). Maybe my numbers are low. Although I envisioned the teams including assessments as part of the textbook creation process, maybe we need another $1 million (or more) per team to create those assessments. I’m not sure what the numbers would be – I just threw out a back-of-the-envelope calculation – but whatever they would be, they still would be a pittance of the overall federal education budget.

In return for the relatively minimal federal investment I propose, however, we’d replace a significant expense for school districts across the country and thus free up a much greater amount of capital for other things (more teachers, laptops for students, whatever). This wouldn’t replace all expenses. For example, the training and support structure costs that you cite might still exist and could be picked up by textbook publishers, curricular organizations, or other entities. But the core would be free, openly accessible, and hopefully modifiable by local educators.

I guess I have more faith than you that a team of content experts, pedagogical experts, and computer programmers such as I describe could create a pretty powerful, multimedia-rich, engaging, standards-based online textbook that would be attractive to most states and school districts across the country.

I don’t think I’m seduced by the power of technology, as you say, and I definitely didn’t argue anywhere in my post against the importance and the magic of teacher-student interactions. In contrast, I can see the textbooks that I describe as being incredibly powerful resources because they would enable educators and students to access more engaging, rich learning materials than what currently passes for textbooks in most elementary and secondary classrooms. Moreover, these digital materials could be modified relatively easily to remain current, take advantage of new presentation / interactive technologies, etc.

I’d be interested in hearing more from you about whether (and why) you think that paper textbooks would be preferable to what I’m proposing. If you don’t believe that, why not support my proposal (with any needed modifications)?

All I have to say is are you looking for Canadians in this? I’d be happy to get involved in something like this – to break away from the notion that we need to follow the textbook. It would force the education system to move forward instead of hiding behind the “wait and see, this too shall pass” mantra that is so common. I agree that the real connection comes from teacher and student interactin but isn’t it about time we moved to connect with students where THEY are not where the teacher happens to be. After all, it is their education!

This is a truly intriguing plan. I think the synergy that could be created by bringing together the teams from around the country would be amazing. I hope that someone at the Department of Education will pick up the ball and move it up the queue. I think in the interim, we should all create more course work that could be rolled into a single project and used for proof of concept.

Just a thought?

Union dues = ~$1000 a year
The value of having legal representation with your employer without having to pay for it yourself = priceless

Sorry for the plug for the union label Scott, I couldn’t resist