BlackCryptoKnight
July 6, 2004, 04:13 PM
Professor gives Cisco manual away for free
By Marguerite Reardon
CNET News.com
July 6, 2004, 4:00 AM PT
Computing instructor Matt Basham's suggestions for improving Cisco Systems' official training manuals fell on deaf ears for years. But he appears to have the networking giant's attention now.
Basham, a professor of information technology and IT security at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater, Fla., wrote his own 800-page Cisco networking textbook and last week made it available for download over the Internet free of charge.
More than 2,000 copies were downloaded around the world in the first few days of the book's online release, according to Lulu.com, an alternative textbook publisher that agreed to distribute it.
"Cisco's curriculum is fine, but we needed something different to get students ready for work in the real world," said Basham, who is also program director for the Cisco Certified Network Associate classes at the college. "About half the people in this program barely know how to turn on a computer, so we need to start with the very basics. The Cisco curriculum and texts assume a certain level of knowledge."
Basham's solution highlights powerful new publishing techniques that promise to shake up the textbook industry, offering cheaper alternatives to cash-strapped students.
Read full article here (http://zdnet.com.com/Professor+gives+Cisco+manual+away+for+free/2100-1103_2-5255083.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn)
By Marguerite Reardon
CNET News.com
July 6, 2004, 4:00 AM PT
Computing instructor Matt Basham's suggestions for improving Cisco Systems' official training manuals fell on deaf ears for years. But he appears to have the networking giant's attention now.
Basham, a professor of information technology and IT security at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater, Fla., wrote his own 800-page Cisco networking textbook and last week made it available for download over the Internet free of charge.
More than 2,000 copies were downloaded around the world in the first few days of the book's online release, according to Lulu.com, an alternative textbook publisher that agreed to distribute it.
"Cisco's curriculum is fine, but we needed something different to get students ready for work in the real world," said Basham, who is also program director for the Cisco Certified Network Associate classes at the college. "About half the people in this program barely know how to turn on a computer, so we need to start with the very basics. The Cisco curriculum and texts assume a certain level of knowledge."
Basham's solution highlights powerful new publishing techniques that promise to shake up the textbook industry, offering cheaper alternatives to cash-strapped students.
Read full article here (http://zdnet.com.com/Professor+gives+Cisco+manual+away+for+free/2100-1103_2-5255083.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn)