|
|
What Is Flat World Knowledge?A new approach to college textbooks. Finally.We preserve the best of the old - books by leading experts that are rigorously reviewed and developed to the highest standards. Then we flip it all on its head. Our books are free online. We offer convenient, low-cost choices for students – print, audio, by-the-chapter, and more. Our books are open for instructors to mix, mash, and make their own. Our books are the hub of a social learning network where students learn from the book and each other. Flat World Knowledge. Because great minds are evenly distributed. Great textbooks are not. Until now... Want to Know More? Flat World Knowledge Is… Free Textbooks. Online. Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone.
Our books might feel like your current book – for a minute. They are written by leading experts, and are peer- reviewed, edited,
and highly developed. They are supported by test banks, .ppt notes, instructor manuals, print desk copies, and knowledgeable service representatives.
There the similarity ends.
Instead of $100 plus, our books are FREE online. We don't even require registration! Students just enter the URL they're given by their instructor and start reading. It's that easy. No tricks. No popup ads. No "a premium subscription is needed for that". In fact, our free books go beyond what standard print editions provide with integrated audio, video, and interactive features, powerful search capabilities, and more.. Even better – read our books where you are! If you are a student in Facebook, then read our book using our Facebook app. Still free. If you are an instructor using an LMS like Blackboard, you can integrate our book into your LMS. Yep. Still free. It is what it is. Just great books, by great authors, at a great price – zero. Don't want to read online? Don't. Read on to learn about our other convenient and affordable choices. Nice segue. screenshot of a book screenshot of key terms tool Convenient Choices. Instructors adopt the book. Students adopt the format.
Some will read online. Some won't. Some want portable books. Some don't. We're not smart enough to
figure it out. So we won't. Now there's a novel idea. Let instructors adopt the best book for their class. Let students
adopt the best format and price for them.
Kayo doesn't read books online. She orders the black and white softcover for about $25 bucks. It shows up in a few days. Too bland for her friend Sam - he orders the color edition. Not Sharon. She commutes everyday, so nothing but the audio book on her iPod will do. Then there's Chaz. He's indecisive. He decides, well, not to decide. He'll download the ready-to-print chapters when he needs them for .99 cents each. Cool. And don't forget Tessa. She never has enough time. She'll cut to the chase with our podcast study guides, mobile phone flash cards, and online practice tests with feedback. That's convenient. That's choices. That's Flat World Knowledge. screenshot of book purchase option #1 screenshot of book purchase option #2 screenshot of study aids purchasing options Open Textbooks. It's your course. Now make it your book. Your call.
Use our books “off-the-shelf”. After all, they're crafted to meet market needs. But when was the last time you thought of yourself as “the market?” We thought so. So go nuts. Use our “build-a-book” platform. Drag-and-drop chapters into a new table of
contents that suits your syllabus. Don't cover the last chapter? Trash it with a click. Replace our example with one of yours. Add a paragraph on your pet
research topic. You can edit Flat World open textbooks down to the sentence level. When you're done, click “adopt” and we'll give you a special URL for your
students. If they buy a print version, it'll be of your unique book. Thank you print-on-demand technology! And thank you, Creative Commons. That's our open license
that allows you to do everything above and more, without any special permissions.
There's another benefit of our open textbooks we ought to mention - no more being forced to switch to new editions. Ever. Whether you make changes or use our book as is, with Flat World Knowledge, you move to new editions when you have time and when you see merit. Not when we do. Now that's sweet. screenshot of the instructor tools screenshot of book builder screenshot of book editor learn about our Creative Commons license Social Learning. It happens already. We just make it easier.
Our books are social learning tools. It is 11:30 p.m. A student in Florida is reading online. She doesn't understand something.
She clicks “Q&A” to see if that question has been asked and answered already. Yes? Great. No? She posts her question.. It is 11:47. An answer arrives from
California. Thanks. Social learning at work. Students can chat live with other readers, take and
share digital notes, set up study groups, and even find partners for cross border projects.
They can do all of this at our site or tap into the collaborative features of Facebook using our Facebook app for this.
They are part of a global community of learners.
Or not. Their call.
screenshot of the community tools screenshot of the note-taking tool An Open Marketplace. Because we don't have a monopoly on good ideas.
Hey, student – do your friends always come to borrow your notes? Is your middle name “flashcard”? Hey, professor –
remember that animated walkthrough of the balance sheet your students flipped over? How about that mid-term prep guide? Yeah. We know we haven't
cornered the market on great study aids. That's why we created the Marketplace.
Anybody can post an A-maker to the Marketplace. They upload it, describe it, tie it to keywords and/or books and chapters in the Flat World catalog, and name their price (or give it away if they like). Other users of Flat World Knowledge will find it. They'll see how often it's been downloaded, and what users have to say about it. If it's good, it'll rise to the top. If it's not, well, it won't. Every time something is purchased from the Marketplace, we'll share the revenue with the contributor. Contributors can check their “MyFlatworld” for up-to-the-minute reporting on downloads and sales. Hello holiday money. screenshot of contribution tool A Smarter Way to Do Business. So what’s the catch?
Are you reading this feeling a bit jaded? Something must be coming – some advertising, spam, a charge
after a trial period, lock-in to a product, something. Breathe. Relax. It’s just not coming.
Our business model eliminates the catch. We're giving away great textbooks and making them open because it solves real problems for students and instructors. In so doing, we are creating a large market for our product. We then turn around and sell things of value to that large market – more convenient ways to consume our free book (print, audio, PDF) and efficient ways to study (study aids). Sure, we’ll make less money per student than the big guys. But that’s okay. We’ll be selling to a lot more of them, and we’ll be doing it for a lot less money (thanks to technology like web-hosted services, XML, print-on-demand, and more). Like we said… just a smarter way to do business. For all of us. screenshot! |
