I too think it is reasonable to consider differential fees for faculty from international schools who may lack the support typical in first world countries, and that is something we on the board will definitely discuss.
Regarding Bill's suggestion to gather revenue from our annual conference-- 2010 was our first "stand alone" conference meaning that we were not financially backed by any institution. We ( the members of the TBLC board) were quite anxious that we would "break even" since with the recession it was possible we could have lost money on the conference. We kept our registration fees as low as possible so that people who did not have financial backing would not be discouraged from attending because of the up front costs. We had 125 attendees and barely broke even on the event. This year we did a little better but we were still very anxious because if you don't make your room block numbers it is possible to lose thousands of dollars on a conference. We obsessed over every cent we spent on the conference to try and keep our fees for the attendees low and reduce our expenses. If you don't have an institution backing you up and you don't have much money in the bank that can be pretty scary.
Overall, while a conference might be a way of generating revenue, it can't be guaranteed. Furthermore, the risk of losing money from a conference is such the the organization really needs a "non-conference" reliable source of revenue.
Ruth Levine
University of TX Medical Branch, Galveston
President, TBLC
On Jun 21, 2011, at 8:56 PM, "Daniel Moraga Munoz" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Dear Kathy, I really appreciated your supporting words.
You are absolutelly right regarding the salary gaps and institutional support between USA and first world countries and third word countris for these kind of subscription.
Hoping that you kind of thinking coulb be more common, best regards,
Daniel Moraga
Coquimbo-Chile
2011/6/21 Kathryn McKnight <<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
As a Latin-Americanist, I belong to a number of organization that have either differential fees for members from countries where academic salaries do not match those of the US, or they hit up members for contributions to fund membership & travel for either student members or part-time instructors, or members from countries where salaries are lower than in the US. I would be happy to pay a higher membership fee to TBLC in order to provide either differential membership fees or scholarships.
Kathy McKnight
U. of New Mexico
Kathryn J. McKnight
Associate Professor of Spanish
Associate Director for Academic Programs
Latin American & Iberian Institute
MSC 02 1690
801 Yale Blvd NE
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
<http://laii.unm.edu/>http://laii.unm.edu/
>>> Daniel Moraga <<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> 06/21/11 2:04 PM >>>
Thanks Bill for the e-mail.
I just want to said that I am concern because I cannot access to TBLC because don´t have funding to the pay for membership.
Sadly to say, that I feel discriminated because I don't have money to access to that collaborative site.
The hidden message here is: spend money with us and have better access to TBL. Bad and Sad.
Daniel Moraga
Dr. Daniel Moraga Ph.D.
Director Oficina de Educación Médica
Facultad de Medicina, UCN
Larrondo 1281
Coquimbo-Chile
Fono 51-209864
Celular: 82349426
E-mail: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Web: <http://oem.sede.ucn.cl/> http://oem.sede.ucn.cl/
-----Mensaje original-----
De: Team-Based Learning [mailto:<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] En nombre de Bill Goffe
Enviado el: martes, 21 de junio de 2011 12:23
Para: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Asunto: Re: TBLC Website update
I'm very sympathetic to funding issues for academic Internet endeavors.
Some 14 years ago (of course ancient in Internet time) I started
<http://rfe.org>http://rfe.org . After some years I found a sponsor, the American Economic
Association, and one requirement I had was that it be open to all. I'm
also involved in <http://repec.org> http://repec.org , which is entirely based on volunteer
efforts and all its content is freely available. It is very widely used in
my discipline; in a typical month there are 2,500,000 abstract views. One
of its servers, <http://nep.repec.org/> http://nep.repec.org/ , is hosted on my campus and I help
administer it. I've even written on this issue in “The Future Information
Infrastructure in Economics,” (with Robert P. Parks) The Journal of
Economic Perspectives; vol. 11, no. 3, 1997, pp. 75-94 (it is a well-known
journal in my discipline with an impact factor of 3.5).
Ruth said:
> I would like to echo what Michael has said. I appreciate that it can
> be frustrating when you come to a website and you run into a "$60
> paywall". But please trust us that we in the TBLC are not trying to
> enrich ourselves, we are only trying to survive as an organization.
Understood, but keep in mind that many of use don't have a mechanism to
charge something like this to our department -- we'd be paying out of our
own pocket. Such a payment is 100% foreign to my discipline. At the recent
"AEA Conference on Teaching Economics and Research in Economic Education"
I and three other economists (Molly Espy, Paul Hettler, and Jennifer
Imazeki) did a two hour workshop on TBL. Many would have been startled to
hear of a $60 charge for materials. For someone looking at adopting TBL
outside professional schools this could be a significant negative factor.
Also, perhaps <http://www.teambasedlearning.org/benefits> http://www.teambasedlearning.org/benefits might echo these
points? To my ear, as-is, this page very much has the ring of a commercial
venture. Why not explicitly say here what my money is going for?
> The $60 dues help pay not only for administrative support, they also
> provide support of our annual meeting, business expenses such as mail
> and fedexing of supplies, a presence at conferences such as the AAMC and
> IAMSE, brochures and A-E cards for workshop leaders, teleconference
> support for our many committee meetings, and a variety of other uses.
Two thoughts here:
- Maybe have the medical and or professional material behind a paywall
and other material not? As someone not used to paying for such, and
likely having it come out of my own pocket, I'm not sure about
subsidizing a presence at AAMC or IAMSE (I had to Google what they
were) when they're used to paying for such materials.
- Perhaps have the annual meeting subsidize the website and other
expenses and not the other way around? Just about everyone is used to
paying for conferences. In the conferences I've been associated with
(I'm the Secretary-Treasurer of <http://comp-econ.org> http://comp-econ.org ) we've found
that if we have more participants than we budgeted for, we do well
financially.
> We do not get support from any university or other organization for the
> TBLC. Like Michael said, many of us have spent a considerable amount of
> our own time and money contributing to the organization. We are not
> trying to make a profit. We are anxious for the organization to be
> valuable to its members, and are working hard so that it may be that
> way. We debate every decision regarding what to keep inside and outside
> the "paywall," so we are sensitive to your feedback. I hope you can
> appreciate our perspective as well.
I do understand and as above I've indeed been in the very same boat.
Again, at least might <http://www.teambasedlearning.org/benefits> http://www.teambasedlearning.org/benefits say this?
The only time I've seen "Premium Membership" is at commercial sites, not
academic ones (I'm fine with that at commercial sites). Second, as above,
perhaps the annual conference might help fund the website and other
expenses and not vice-versa.
Thanks for your time,
Bill
--
Bill Goffe
Department of Economics
SUNY Oswego, 416 Mahar Hall
Oswego, NY 13126
315-312-3444(v), 315-312-5444(f)
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
<http://cook.rfe.org>http://cook.rfe.org
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