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A new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate seeks to tackle the rising cost of textbooks by giving states an incentive to experiment with open educational resources. The Affordable College Textbook Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Al Franken, Democrats of Illinois and Minnesota, respectively, would create a grant program that would fund the creation of new textbooks -- as long as they are made available for free online.

U.S Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), said some federal regulations on education are draining universities of time and resources. He proposed pruning back some of those regulations in a committee meeting Tuesday morning.

On Saturday U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) spoke at Podcamp East in Wilmington, Del. The fact that he is one of the few elected members of Congress that not only "has" social media but uses it made him the perfect candidate to talk to a completely engaged and social audience about the use of social media in the political and government sphere.

"But the online application for the job included a space in which to enter one's Facebook account. The Navy man, who deliberately didn't have a Facebook account, left the space blank - which seemed to puzzle the company. "They said, 'Well, get a Facebook (account) and we'll interview you,' " Boquist recalled in her public testimony before a Senate committee on Feb. 18. "He said, 'I'm not going to have one.' So he did not get the interview.""

"The Academic Senate is expected to vote on Monday on a proposed policy that would forbid the university to sign contracts with outside technology providers without the approval of tenured and tenure-track faculty members in whatever department would be affected."

The House education committee, led by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., released its reauthorization proposal over the summer in four smaller bills that respectively focus on simplifying the financial aid application process; increasing transparency by creating a centralized "College Dashboard" containing information on student outcomes; increasing financial awareness by providing counseling options for students and families; and promoting innovation through competency-based education pilot programs. All but the first bill have been passed in the chamber, but Democrats have criticized the House package for not doing enough to curb the high cost of college.

Today California (CA) Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (author of the CA open textbook legislation) announced that SB 520 will be amended to provide open, online college courses for credit. In short, the bill will allow CA students, enrolled in CA public colleges and universities, to take online courses from a pool of 50 high enrollment, introductory courses, offered by 3rd parties, in which CA students cannot currently gain access from their public CA university or community college.

To award grants to encourage State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and schools to utilize technology to improve student achievement and college and career readiness, the skills of teachers and school leaders, and the efficiency and productivity of education systems at all levels.

"Last month, State Governor Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54, which goes into effect on August 28, 2011 in the state of Missouri. The new law bans direct social networking contact between teachers and students in the hopes of setting more distinct boundaries on the relationships between the two."

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an international alliance of academic and research libraries, applauds Governor Pat Quinn for signing into law the Open Access to Research Articles Act. The bill, which was spearheaded by State Senator Daniel Biss, requires each Illinois public university to create an open access task force with the goal of making its research available to the public online and free of charge.

"The House joined the Senate in approving "Tennessee Promise," the plan Haslam laid out in February to cover the full cost of two-year college for every high school graduate starting in fall 2015. The plan also calls for reducing the amount of Hope scholarships for freshmen and sophomores at state universities to $3,500, a cut of $500 a year. Juniors and seniors would receive $4,500."

"In issuing this statement, the Faculty Senate affirms that shielding students from controversial material will deter them from becoming critical thinkers and responsible citizens. Helping them learn to process and evaluate such material fulfills one of the most important responsibilities of higher education.""

"The public is invited to join Senator Bryan Townsend, Delaware's 2015 Teacher of the Year Megan Dalfovo-Szabo, and DelaCORE leaders for a lively discussion and book signing with filmmaker and education advocate M. Night Shyamalan."

Presented by senators Walker Byrd and Justin Mathews, the proposal would provide students with free or inexpensive "open textbooks" through a nonprofit organization, OpenStax, based out of Rice University. "We as students should have purchasing power of the books we buy, but we don't," Byrd said. "The professors require a book and often times you have no control over how much that book is going to be."