Paper delivered at a Textbook writing seminar held at Dhakka on 25-26th February 2010 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics King Fahad Faculty of Medicine Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
1.0 BACKGROUND
1.1 The crisis of duality in education and its intellectual and practical consequences
1.2 Integrating Islamic values and concepts in all disciplines of learning
1.3 Epistemology and curriculum reform for knowledge renaissance
1.4 Education reform as the basis for social reform, islah & tajdid
2.0 REVIEW OF PAST ACHIEVEMENTS
2.1 Epistemology and curriculum reform seminars
2.2 Discipline specific working groups
2.3 Reformed course outlines with an Islamic input
2.4 The need for textbooks
3.0 STAGES OF IMPLEMENTATION
3.1 Course descriptions, course outlines, and references (subscription to international book and journal data bases and translations of academic material in the Cairo and Amman offices)
3.2 Title, units / sections, chapters (a chapter is one classroom session), and eventual size of the text book
3.3 Structure of the chapter: learning objectives, detailed outlines, key words, Islamic input, glossary, index, case studies, texts from Islamic sources (Qur’an, sunnat, other books), illustrations, chapter summary, review (questions, tests, exercises), assignments
3.4 Designation of editors, assistant editors, chapter writers, reviewers, advisors, consultants
3.4 Allocation of chapters to writers with scheduled deadlines for completion
3.5 Regular workshops to review written material
3.6 Using written material as classroom notes for students
3.7 Evaluation and adoption of the final versions
3.8 Editing, proof reading
3.9 Publication and distribution
4.0 DESIRED FEATURES OF THE TEXT BOOK
4.1 Scope: one text book for each course
4.2 Size: 150-200 pages; paper size ?
4.3 Cover: soft vs hard
4.4 Fonts, colors, boxes
4.5 Price: USD5-15
4.6 Accompanying CD / DVD and web based resources
5.0 BUSINESS ASPECTS
5.1 Copy right held by IIIT/BIIT
5.2 Editing, reviewing, printing, and distribution costs by IIIT/BIIT
5.3 Royalties for authors 8% of cover price.
5.4 New editions every 2-3 years