We are excited to welcome everyone to the University of Illinois eText Unconference tomorrow!

All events will be hosted at the I Hotel.

Schedule:

• Thursday, June 28th
  12p-1p: Lunch
  1p-2p: Intro – What are the Issues?
  2p-2:45p: Breakout Session I
  2:45-3p: Break
  3p-3:45p Breakout Session II (previous groups, or re-group)
  4-4:30p: Reconvene — What are the initial findings?
• Friday, June 29th
  8a-9a: Breakfast
  9a-10a: What came out of yesterday?
  10a-10:45a: Dork Shorts (see note above to register)
  11a-11:45a: Breakout Session III
  12p-1p: Lunch
  1p-4p: Report out and conclusions

• Reading links:

  1. Ariel Diaz on the future of etextbooks http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/06/05/are-free-e-text-books-the-future-or-new-fashioned-copyright-infringement/?utm_campaign=forbespost

  2.   Compulsory purchases of etextbooks for students by Tom Malek of McGraw Hill  http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/05/18/should-college-students-be-forced-to-buy-e-books/3.       A different approach to etextbooks by Jeff Shelstad of Flat World Knowledge
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/06/15/can-e-textbooks-be-both-free-and-profitable-bertelsmann-seems-to-think-so/

  4.       Rob Reynolds posts on the future of etextbooks at Michael feldstein’s blog e-Literate http://mfeldstein.com/the-ultimate-hack-re-coding-textbooks-and-other-learning-content-intoduction/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter
  and at his own blog The Learning Lot http://thelearninglot.blogspot.com/
  

• Guide to Champaign-Urbana
• Champaign County VB has a fantastic website with lots of great resources: http://www.visitchampaigncounty.org/plan-your-trip
• Map – here is a map of Champaign with points of interest marked: http://goo.gl/maps/ezjc
• Getting around
• Cabs – We recommend Black Cab & Limo (217.693.2468).
• Call ahead to arrange a pick up at the airport. Takes credit cards
• I Hotel Shuttle
• If you are staying at the I Hotel, they have a shuttle that can pick you up at the airport. To set up, please call 217.819.5000 or email the concierge at concierge@stayatthei.com
• Bus — CUMTD. Scheduling is available through Google Maps.
• Get almost anywhere is town for $1! Take the 27 bus from the airport to the I Hotel (15 min), campus (20 min) or downtown (25 min). Multiple buses from I Hotel to downtown Champaign area.
• Restaurants (all are included on Google Map linked to above)
• An Entirely Personal and Idiosyncratic Restaurant List for Champaign-Urbana, by Glenda Morgan
  Carmon’s Bistro
  A charming bistro in downtown Champaign serving classic bistro and American fare. Current menu favorites include their shrimp and grits, softshell crab, pork rinds, butchers plate and catfish. They always have vegetarian options available and the cocktail list is great. Ask for their michelada and their punch of the week.
• Black Dog 
  A great BBQ spot in Urbana. Their pork belly, smoked chicken, pulled pork and hot smoked salmon are all to be recommended. They also have a great beer and bourbon selection. No reservations taken and there’s pretty much always a line, though it moves moderately quickly.
• Golden Harbor
  A really good Chinese restaurant close to downtown Champaign. Best enjoyed with a large group. The menu options are extensive and impressive. We especially enjoy the steamed pork buns. They don’t have a liquor license but you can byob. This is my personal favorite, but there are quite a few very good Chinese restaurants in CU. Check out the translated Chinese menu!
• Mas Amigos
  Decent Mexican is not impossible to find on the prairie. Reasonable prices and when they offer you a large beer, they’re not kidding. Great lengua tacos and chile rellenos. Also great vegetarian options
• Bacaro
  In downtown Champaign and owned by the same folks as Carmon’s but more upscale. I usually go with a couple of appetizers or an appetizer and a pasta. Few things disappoint. If you are a fan of cold soups, try theirs or Carmon’s, they are excellent representations of the genre. Their cocktails are also great.
• The Blind Pig & The Piglet 
  Both in downtown Champaign. The Pig has a stupendous beer selection and the Piglet brews its own very good beer on premises. Neither serve food.
• Farrens
  In downtown Champaign. Some very good burgers and a decent beer and wine list.
• Culvers
  For the non Midwesterners amongst us, this is a fast food chain at which you can buy a really pretty darn good burger or fish sandwich. And they serve custard, not ice cream, custard. As Our Maker intended.
• Jarlings Custard Cup
  A Champaign institution. Again, custard not ice cream.
• The Esquire
  A very basic but friendly bar serving good, inexpensive liquor and bar food. Home of the Friday night UIUC GSLIS Symposium
• The Ribeye
  As close as we’ve got in CU to a Wisconsin Supper Club. If you’ve never been to a Supper Club you should go to one soon.

June 28th and 29th, 2012
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Registration is now full! Please email Shawna (skenn@illinois.edu) to be put on the waiting list.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is pleased to host a gathering of interested parties to identify and discuss solutions to the challenge facing us with etextbooks and their adoption in higher education.

It is clear that etextbooks are going to be a huge part of the landscape in higher education over the short to medium term.  The potential benefits that they offer are many, and include the potential for lowering costs for students, increasing interactivity and improving learning. But etextbooks also pose a number of challenges to higher education faculty and administrators including how to promote adoption, how best to contain costs, which platform to choose and how to ensure accessibility. There are also any number of competing platforms and approaches and it is hard for many in higher education to make informed decisions about what approach to take and what their etextbook strategy should look like. To add to this confusion, all too often the various solutions or components of a strategy are presented in isolated fashion as a complete and exclusive approach rather than as a part of a broader strategy.

To begin the work of understanding and sorting through the many and varied approaches to etextbooks we are convening an Unconference on the topic this summer (for a more formal definition of Unconference see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference ).  The goal of the meeting will be to draw together a broad spectrum of participants exploring provision of etextbooks from a variety of perspectives, whether that be though open access textbooks, vendor-driven solutions or self-publishing. We also hope to attract participants who have not yet ventured into the etextbook realm but are interested in learning more.

As is typical of Unconferences there will not be a formal Call for Papers but instead we will structure a series of talks and discussions based on interest expressed at the opening session of the meeting. Among the topics we expect will be of interest and will be discussed are the following:

• Accessibility of extextbooks for students with disabilities and best practices in addressing these
• Models of university self-publishing of etextbooks
• Evaluating the adoption and impact of etextbooks at your institution
• Vendor-driven models of etextbook delivery
• Understanding the costs of etextbooks
• Open access etextbook solutions
• Technical considerations in offering or supporting etextbooks
• Policy considerations around etextbook solutions in higher education

The eTextbook Camp will be of interest to many different groups of people including

• Those working in information technology (IT) in higher education including CIO’s, Academic Technologists and Instructional Designers
• Library personnel working on providing  etexts and ebooks and  supporting their use.
• Faculty development personnel
• Accessibility specialists
• University Counsel and policy development officers
• University and College Registrars and their staff
• Vendors of etextbooks and etextbook platforms
• Technology personnel supporting or developing etext or etextbook platforms

The format of eTextbook Camp will be a 2 day meeting taking pace over 2 days in late June, starting mid-day on June 28^th and continuing through 4pm on June 29^th.. There will be no cost for the meeting apart from transportation to the meeting and accommodations. A block of rooms will be reserved at the iHotel http://stayatthei.com/ A code for receiving the Unconference rate of $130 will be sent to registrants via email.

Meals will be provided. Space is limited and registration will be limited at 75.