Member Spotlight: Kevin Patton

TAA member Kevin Patton is a professor and textbook author in the human anatomy & physiology discipline.

The 10th edition of his textbook, Anatomy & Physiology, will be released in February 2018. This two-semester textbook for health professions training recently won a Texty award (2016). He also has several one-semester books: Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology, Structure & Function of the Body, and The Human Body in Health & Disease. Besides some lab manuals, he has also authored the reference book Mosby’s Handbook of Anatomy & Physiology and student manual Survival Guide for Anatomy & Physiology.

Member Spotlight: Cheryl Poth

TAA Member Cheryl Poth is an Associate Professor of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Methods at the University of Alberta and both a textbook and academic author in the education discipline.

Her most recent publication is the 4th edition of Qualitative inquiry & research design published by Sage.

TAA members share their mentoring experiences and advice

What is a mentor? Merriam-Webster defines a mentor as “a trusted counselor or guide”. As writers, much of our efforts are completed individually, and even when contributing to a larger body of work, the relationships are more often collaborative in nature than one of a mentoring type, but few successful authors have reached that level of success without the guidance of one or more who came before them and guided their efforts. We asked several TAA members about their experiences, either as a mentor or a mentee. Five of the responses received are below.

Subject matter experts wanted to review virtual reality modules

An EdTech company is seeking subject matter experts in biology, physics, chemistry, and math to review content for virtual reality modules. Qualifications include: experience writing content, reviewing textbooks, designing curriculum, or developmental editing.

The scripts for these virtual reality modules need to be reviewed for pedagogy, accuracy, and general writing style. There are two phases to the review process: a Preflight, which requires an evaluation of an outline, and a Blueprint, which requires reviewing a complete script. Each preflight requires about 2 hours; each blueprint 4-5 hours. The turnaround time is 2 days.

The most useful textbook & academic posts of the week: January 12, 2018

“Most writing doesn’t take place on the page; it takes place in your head.” says Susan Orlean. This week’s collection of articles is full of resources to improve those internal processes that move your writing forward. Beginning with advice on how to improve your writing practices, considering what types of case studies get published, new approaches by textbook companies, and tips for promoting self-published book series, we open ourselves up to new ideas in the writing industry. With that open mind, we continue to see trends in Open Access, the need for new approaches to style guides, the impact of libraries on the adoption of OER, and the future of the OA megajournal. Finally, we close our list this week with an invitation to an open house hosted by SAGE Research Methods in February and early March.

As you approach your writing this week, open yourself up to new ideas, new practices, and new ways of thinking and be sure to get some of that writing out of your head and onto the page as well.

Member Spotlight: Michael R. Solomon

TAA member Michael R. Solomon is a Professor of Marketing in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University and is a textbook and academic author in the marketing discipline.

He has published approximately 30 textbooks (including international adaptations) and over 60 journal articles. His most recent textbook is Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having and Being 12th ed., published by Pearson Education.