Utilium

Named after the Latin word for useful, Utilium was founded by three professors who thought that there must be a better way to organize and deliver course materials. Students today spend about $900 a year on course materials (i.e., 26% of tuition at 4-year public universities).1 The cost of materials increases by about 6% each and every year. Despite this significant cost, the vast majority of students quickly sell or discard their course materials soon after class is finished because they ascribe little value to the materials.2 In fact, an increasing numbers of students indicate that traditional course materials are neither interesting nor relevant to their life.3,4 And it shows in the classroom, as more and more students are coming unprepared and tuning out using applications like Facebook on their personal laptops.4

At Utilium our core purpose is to enable instructors to organize and deliver course materials that truly resonate with today’s students. This means the materials should be emotionally engaging, affordable, and easy to use. The materials should incorporate sound pedagogical principles and, at the same time, fit the learning styles and preferences of today’s students. The materials should serve as critical learning resources, not only during students’ college or university experience, but also after graduation.

In line with our core purpose, Utilium has developed a set of content and tools to enable instructors to quickly deliver course materials that resonate with today’s students. First, we have a collection of ready-made Study Packs. A Study Pack is a substitute for a traditional textbook or course pack, and is an organized collection of learning resources drawn from a range of trusted online sources. Each Study Pack contains timely articles, videos, cases, and exercises, which have been integrated using important pedagogical elements such as learning objectives and thought exercises. Second, for an instructor who has a vision for new course materials, we have developed authoring tools that enable an instructor to efficiently develop a new Study Pack and share it with his/her colleagues and students. To assist instructors in tailoring a ready-made Study Pack or authoring a Study Pack from scratch, we have a growing library of learning resources categorized by discipline and topic.

1. United States Government Accountability Office (2005, July). College textbooks: Enhanced offerings appear to drive recent price increases. GAO-05-806. Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05806.pdf.
2. National Association of College Stores (2006, April). Student Watch: Campus market research presentation. Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://www.nacs.org/webcasts/StudentWatchPresentation.pdf.
3. Hartman J, Moskal P, Dziuban C. (2005). Preparing the academy of today for the learner of tomorrow. Educating the net generation. Ed. DG Oblinger JL Oblinger. 6.1 – 6.14. Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7101.pdf.
4. Wesch, M. (2007). A vision of students today. Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://mediatedcultures.net/mediatedculture.htm.

Michael J. Fern, PhD (mfern(at)utilium.com)

Michael Fern is a co-founder of Utilium and currently teaches entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic management at the University of Victoria. He received his PhD in strategic management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Cosmo Howard, PhD (choward(at)utilium.com)

Cosmo Howard is a co-founder of Utilium and teaches public administration and political science at the University of Victoria. He received his PhD in public policy from the Australian National University.

A.R. Elangovan, PhD (arelango(at)utilium.com)

Elango Elangovan is a co-founder of Utilium and teaches organizational behavior at the University of Victoria. He received his PhD in organizational behavior from the University of Toronto.

Eric Jordan

Eric Jordan currently operates his own consulting practice, Starfish Ventures. Before consulting, he was the co-founder and CEO of PureEdge, an electronic forms company, which was acquired by IBM in 2005. At the time of the acquisition, PureEdge had over 70 employees, 5 million users, and had sold its products to customers such as the US SEC, US Air Force, and the US FTC.

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is a founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm with investments in various technology firms. Prior to this position at Garage, he was a Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of eight books, including the Art of the Start and Rules for Revolutionaries. He is the founder of several high profile properties on the Internet, including the “How to Change the World” Blog, Truemors.com, and Alltop.com.

John J. Regazzi, PhD

John J. Regazzi, currently a professor of information and computer science at Long Island University, is the former CEO of Elesevier Inc., the US division of Elsevier. Elsevier is the world’s largest publisher of scientific, technical, and health information. At Elsevier, John developed the Engineering Village, the first online community for engineers; Scirus, the first search engine for science and scientific inquiry; and Science Direct, the largest and most used full-text article database for scientists and researchers in all fields.

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