(Almost) free books on online learning

I did a big clear-out over the holiday period and found a whole batch of brand new printed copies of three of my books. One reason I moved to open publishing was because I ended up having to buy copies of my own books from the publishers to sell at conferences, and these are the unsold copies. Having already bought them, I am now more than happy to give them away, with a unique, signed dedication for each individual requesting a copy. 

But there is one catch: I’m not paying for the shipping costs which vary from US$10 to $50 depending on the country to which they are being shipped. However, since the printed copies cost over $50 each to buy from the publishers, plus their shipping and handling costs, it’s still a bargain if you or your institution wants traditional printed copies of the book.

Also in fairness I should add that you can probably buy second hand copies or e-text copies from Amazon or other online retailers that would be almost the same as my shipping costs, but I am offering something extra: a personally signed copy made out to the buyer!

And lastly, you will have to find a way to pay me for the shipping costs. I will take Canadian or US dollar cheques or bankers’ drafts or I can supply on request details for electronic payment. 

So if you are interested, send me an email to tony.bates@ubc.ca.

Books to be given away:

Bates, A. and Sangrà, A. (2011) Managing Technology in Higher Education San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 288 pp. 

Universities continue to struggle in their efforts to fully integrate information and communications technology within their activities. Based on examination of practices in technology integration at 25 universities worldwide, this book argues for a radical approach to the management of technology in higher education.   It offers recommendations for improving governance, strategic planning, integration of administrative and teaching services, management of digital resources, and training of technology managers and administrators.  The book is written for anyone wanting to ensure technology is integrated as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Although written in 2011, the issues are still as relevant today – indeed, more so. This should be required reading for any university or college administrator – get a copy and put it on their desk!

I have 29 copies available.

Bates, A. and Poole, G. (2003) Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 306 pp

This book is out of print and Teaching in a Digital Age is a more recent publication on this topic. Nevertheless this book goes into more detail than Teaching in a Digital Age on course design, development and delivery, and is even more relevant today than when I wrote it.

I have 12 copies available.

Do you speak Chinese? This is a Chinese translation of Teaching in a Digital Age done by the Beijing TV and Radio University. Again, you can download the Chinese version for free from the BCcampus Open Textbook site but if you would like a signed copy I will be pleased to send you one.    

Unfortunately I no longer have any printed copies of Teaching in a Digital Age. Print on demand copies can be ordered from docsol@sfu.ca. The full colour version costs C$56 (about US$40) and a grey scale version is C$17 (US$12). The main cost though is likely to be shipping charges and you will need to ask directly the printer about these costs.

Alternatively if you have print on demand facilities you can download the pdf version from the book’s website https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/ and print it locally (much cheaper!). This will also work for the various translations of the book.

Once again, if you are interested  in any of these printed copies, send an email to tony.bates@ubc.ca – and happy reading! And if not, perhaps you could bring this to the attention of your institutional library.