[Athen] Academic Outcomes and Electronic Text

[Berkowitz, Daniel J]

Darren,
 
The silence you heard in response to your request was partially due to the lack of a subject line, partially due to a number of your ATHEN colleagues being at the Accessing Higher Ground conference, but mostly due to the fact that what you are seeking simply does not exist!
 
I am presently working towards a terminal degree in education (Ed.D.) and have found this very subject area to be almost completely untapped in terms of outcomes and efficacy studies. I have searched high and low and come up if not empty handed at least with a much lighter catch than I would have liked time and time again. 
 
I am not surprised the NIH reviewers are questioning your suppositions. It is there job to ask "how do you know such and such will do this and that?" You should be able to provide research that indicates the results others have obtained from similar studies leading to yours. The problem, of course, is that such studies simply don't exist. On the bright side, it makes writing the Lit Review much less time consuming <ha, ha>
 
It is actually quite the Catch-22. Here we have a subject that most definitely needs studying and yet the very lack of studies jeopardizes our ability to study it. NIMAS coming on December 4th - but do we really know if this stuff will work?
 

>From a dissertation point of view - this is a good thing as I have an untapped area of interest. But also from a dissertation point of view I am not asking a Federal agency to provide funding. The chances that I will get a go-head from my committee are far more likely than the chances you will get a go-ahead from Uncle Sam (but do not give up!!) Same area of interest yet different perspectives. 

 
Best of luck and let us know how it goes --- Dann
 
 
========================= 
Daniel Berkowitz - Assistant Director 
Boston University Office of Disability Services 
19 Deerfield Street, 2nd floor 
Boston, MA 02215 
  
(617) 353-3658 (office) 
(617) 353-9646 (fax) 
djbrky at bu.edu <mailto:djbrky at bu.edu>  (eMail) 
www.bu.edu/disability 

________________________________

From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org on behalf of Gabbert, Darren L.
Sent: Fri 11/10/2006 2:21 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: [Athen] Academic Outcomes and Electronic Text


Let's try this with a subject line...

________________________________

From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Gabbert, Darren L.
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 6:19 PM
To: Athen at athenpro.org
Subject: [Athen] (no subject)



Can anyone point me to some credible (perhaps even compelling) research on academic outcomes for students receiving textbooks converted to electronic formats?  There are some NIH grant reviewers who in all fairness took issue with our supposition that such outcomes would be positive.  Any direction here would be appreciated.

Darren Gabbert, Grants & Contracts Administrator 
Adaptive Computing Technology Center 
Information & Access Technology Services 
University of Missouri-Columbia 
Darren at Missouri.edu