I received an email from Boundless inviting me to check out their new selection. They now have chemistry available. I was forced to add a new class as I had used my original class to look at the AP bio book. To add the class, I had to log in to Facebook and agree to let Boundless post a blurb on my Facebook page. So now, my rather small number of Facebook friends will see an ad for Boundless. I'm not paying for Boundless and I assume that my Facebook friends will not have to pay either if they sign up for it. I'm assuming that the forced Facebook blurb has something to do with their business model and/or is an attempt to appeal to venture capital. I find all my stuff on blogs and from Google. I can't recall how I found out about Boundless except I'm 100% sure it wasn't Facebook or Twitter.
The annoyance of the forced advertising was compounded by the fact that Boundless does not have the SDUHSD adopted AP Chem text. This was not surprising to me since Ebbing and Gammon is much less popular than many other texts.
I went ahead and selected Zumdahl, I believe the 8th edition. There is a text available and additional resources. Two of the resources available are flashcards and chapter quizzes. The chapter quizzes are abysmal, being aligned to no standards. They are simply filler. I would not want my students spending any time on them at all because of the opportunity cost in learning or any other productive human activity. The flashcards are adequate definitions of terms. The text itself has 3 options, full text, smart notes, and sources. The full text is the full text, at least the sections that are present. The smart notes are a condensed version. The sources are mainly wikipedia, various wikibooks and other sources that come up in the first few pages of a Google search. I do note the absence of content farms which is welcome.
A significant omission is the end of chapter problems. Evidently, someone has figured out that these are the real value added of a textbook. I have written my own text for AP chem and I can say that a good set of problems is the hardest part of writing a book. Omitting this means Boundless is not one stop shopping for a teacher's textbook needs.
Overall, I recommend Boundless. A free online Zumdahl suitable for a PC or mobile is huge. AP Bio has Campbell available. A cursory search showed that both Giancoli and Serway were unavailable so I'll have to wait on physics.
I hope that there will be flexibility with the College Board and the district in terms of textbook adoption. A combination of Boundless and some quality problems available for free online could save the district huge money. Whether online texts will be accepted by the College Board when the revamped AP chem and physics course audits have to be submitted remains to be seen.
