TAA Announces 2024 Textbook Award Winners

Fifty-seven textbooks have been awarded 2024 Textbook Awards by the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA). Fourteen textbooks received William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Awards, 25 textbooks received Textbook Excellence Awards, and 18 textbooks received Most Promising New Textbook Awards.

The McGuffey Longevity Award recognizes textbooks and learning materials whose excellence has been demonstrated over time. The Textbook Excellence Award recognizes excellence in current textbooks and learning materials. The Most Promising New Textbook Award recognizes excellence in 1st edition textbooks and learning materials.

The awardees will be recognized during an awards ceremony on Friday, April 26, 2024, at 7:00 pm ET. Register to attend.

Industry News Roundup: November 2023

McGraw-Hill Hosting 11/30 Webinar on Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education.

McGraw-Hill is offering a free, 45-minute webinar on Thursday, November 30, at 12 PM ET, entitled, “AI EmpowerED: Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education.”

Panelists from McGraw Hill School Group, the University of Pennsylvania and Central Washington University will engage in a lively discussion of Generative AI’s potential to shape the way we learn, teach, and work, and how to address the challenges it poses in higher education. Topics include: What Generative AI is and how it’s different from traditional AI; The benefits and challenges associated with Generative AI; Strategies for using Generative AI cautiously and ethically; How Generative AI is shaping the skills we need and the importance of lifelong learning; and Effective ways to become more familiar with Generative AI and incorporate it into your teaching practices. Register

Textbook & Academic Authoring and Publishing Industry News Roundup: October 2023

Right-Wing Textbook Publisher Teaches ‘Stilted Version’ of Past

An October 12, 2023 article in TIME’s Made by History by Adam Laats, a Professor of Education and History at Binghamton University, “The Right-Wing Textbooks Shaping What Many Americans Know About History,” shares how conservative textbook publisher Abeka, whose textbooks are mainly used in private schools and homeschools, have influenced what some Americans know about American history and how those versions of history are “gaining steam.” Read More

One Textbook Author’s View on ChatGPT

In an October 23, 2023 article on Genetic Literacy Project, “Will AI make biology textbook authors redundant? Here’s one author’s view of CHatGPT,” by biology textbook author Ricki Lewis shares her experience using ChatGPT and whether it could replace her as a textbook author. Could ChatGPT write a textbook like hers, she doesn’t think so. Read More

Publishers sue Shopify for harboring book pirates

In December of last year, five major textbook publishers filed a lawsuit against Shopify in federal district court in the Eastern District of Virginia claiming that Shopify wrongfully facilitated infringement of their copyrighted textbooks and registered trademarks by maintaining an ecommerce platform it knew to be hosting repeat textbook pirates and frustrating the publishers’ attempts to get them taken down.

The publishers are Macmillan Learning, Cengage Learning, Elsevier, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson Education. Their complaint lists more than 3,400 copyrighted works and 20 registered trademarks that have been infringed and asks for an injunction barring Shopify from further facilitating the claimed infringements, statutory damages of more than half a billion dollars, and reimbursement of plaintiffs’ attorney fees.

Pearson files copyright infringement lawsuit against Chegg, Inc.

On September 13, in what will have a potentially serious impact on the academic publishing industry, specifically as it relates to online supplemental materials and study guides, Pearson Education filed a lawsuit against Chegg, Inc. for copyright infringement [Pearson sues former partner Chegg for copyright infringement (insidehighered.com)]. This suit [complaint.pdf (oandzlaw.com)] stems from the use of end of chapter and other materials from Pearson Education (one of the big three textbook publishers) textbooks as part of the Chegg Study website.