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Textbook issues: Unwanted p-textbooks thrown in with E versions. Plus California plan to kill p-texts
June 10, 2009 | 9:19 am
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By David Rothman
When it comes to textbooks, are most schools in the U.S. and elsewhere stuck in the era shown in the photo?
“In effect,” notes the Dallas Morning News in Texas, “many publishers will not sell computer-based versions of their textbooks unless the state agrees to buy the paper version as well.” What to do with the unwanted p-editions?
But here’s even bigger textbook news of the moment. Personanondata points today to a Guardian piece on California Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plans to phrase out paper textbooks.
P-book use called ‘nonsensical’
"It’s nonsensical and expensive to look to traditional hard-bound books when information today is so readily available in electronic form," the newspaper quotes him. "Especially now, when our school districts are strapped for cash and our state budget deficit is forcing further cuts to classrooms, we must do everything we can to untie educators’ hands and free up dollars so that schools can do more with fewer resources."
A counterargument
That said, Personanondata correctly notes that e-readers come with their own share of costs, and that publishers still face the expenses of creating books.
As I myself see it, textbook costs are in fact outrageously high. But can Wikis and public domain material replace the current books?
Of course, one possibility would be to use the Wiki approach in many cases but hire specialists to keep the material clear and accurate—some of these experts might even come from the current textbook publishers.
That’s not the only issue. When it comes to the e-book format, there is the debate over the suitability of present interfaces for students.
About the image, circa 1950: CC-licensed from freeparking. "Muroc School was in California, next to Edwards Air Force Base. My grandfather worked on the base for several years. My uncle is in this shot, and looks to be around 10? That’d made this picture 1950 or so."
(Thanks to Marilyn Solarz for the pointer to the Dallas article, an old one from March 26, but unfortunately still relevant.)
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Comments:
I agree that textbook costs are high. In a couple of courses I teach I don’t have a required textbook because it is hard to see the value to students.
On the other hand, at the University level, the economics of e-books will get quite tricky. I am quite sure that college students (who are often broke) will have no problems with buying one copy of a book and sharing it throughout the class — unless the book has DRM. If the book does have DRM, we have two new problems. 1) How do student’s really “own” a professional book that they need later in their career if its tied to a single device? 2) What about used book sales? The p-book comparison is probably the new (or used) purchase price minus the resell price of the book. On the other hand, the e-book can not be resold.
Another issue is the cost of producing the text. Certainly, one solution is the public domain approach you advocate with wiki’s. However, the current model certainly has significant built-in costs, and in the case of more specialized courses/text these costs can only be spread across a small market. In terms of costs, realize that today’s modern text books are not simply about text. They must instruct today’s multi-media orientated students. They have graphics, summary callouts in the margins, embedded cases (in business texts), related videos, powerpoints, test banks, special exercises, web sites, and other support materials.
Sounds like a good reason to go with another publisher. How “educated” is thinking like that?
Let’s look at the math this way. Say a textbook is $50.00. Publisher sells one and takes in $50.00 (split with distributer, etc). Student sells book at end of year and next year’s student sells it at the end of his year. So, after 3 years, there was one sale at $50.00, from which publisher made money. Then, 2 re-sales and publisher got nothing (you can add to this chain as long as the book holds up and the professor uses the book).
Instead, now, the publisher sell the etextbook through Amazon for $35.00. Gets its profit on that. At end of year, student cannot re-sell the book because of DRM. Next year’s student buys it from Amaozn and pays $35.00 and the year after that, the same. So, after 3 years publisher sold $105.00 in books and NOT just $50.00. Sounds pretty profitable to me. So, why is there resistance to textbook ebooks? The math works.