The Death of Textbooks

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Kizmet, Mar 8, 2015.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I've been reading presumptive obituaries for physical textbooks for years, and yet I just received my old-fashioned treeware textbook for my next course.
     
  3. lawrenceq

    lawrenceq Member

    I hope they can come up with something creative. One thing I'm not a fan of is staring at eTextbooks.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 8, 2015
  4. mattbrent

    mattbrent Well-Known Member

    I have mixed feelings. I don't like textbook prices. My US History course uses Alan Brinkley's "American History" for a textbook. We were using the 14th edition, but the publisher forced the bookstore into switching to the 15th edition at the end of the fall semester. It caused all sorts of headaches because we do use digital stuff with it. The bigger headache, however, is that the price jumped to $362 from about $260. OUCH!

    I have been using OER in my History of Western Civilization course, and it's been going well. I wish there were an OER textbook for the course, however, as it would make things a little easier for students to follow. (Perhaps I can write one some day!) What's interesting to me, however, is that we do offer eBook options. The problem I see, however, is that they really aren't eBooks like you would read on a kindle. Rather they're like mutant eBooks with special powers, like having questions pop up in the middle of reading sections to check for understanding. Some don't seem to work well with iPads, which causes additional problems. In our surveys that we've given to students, they like the idea that the eBooks cost less, but they STILL want a physical book in their hands. I can't blame them. I'm the same way.

    -Matt
     
  5. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I know what you mean Steve, I just bought one too, but saying that is like the politician who recently brought a snowball into Congress as a demonstration that there's no such thing as global warming.
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    LOL! Well, I don't mean to say that digital textbooks don't exist, clearly they do. But I think that predictions of the end of the paper textbook will continue to be found disagreeable to experience for quite some time to come.
     

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