Comments on: Constraining Innovation: Textbooks and Textbook Publishers

By: Steve Taffee

Steve Taffee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:46:34 +0000

Thanks for your comments, George. It is disheartening, but not surprising, that this problem affects more than the U.S. There are some positive signs of content opening up, especially amongst colleges and universities. I am sure it is happening in pockets with K-12 schools as well, but there’s little incentive or time for teachers to do this. And on the other side of the equation teachers want some assurance that the free and open materials that are available are of high quality. So until there’s a Wikipedia like source for vetting open materials, I’m afraid that things may stagnate for a bit. Watch for more about this in a future post.

steve

By: George

George — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:34:44 +0000

Thanks, Steve, for this really excellent summary of the text book situation in the US. It echoes what is the case in the UK and I am sure, elsewhere.
On a related theme, I have found it difficult to source digital learning objects – you know, the things that teachers might use in class to explain or explore some piece of learning, perhaps done on screen or digitally projected. These seem to be well hidden behind passwords and, like textbooks, well moneytized.
Will follow up on your open source text book links.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:53:06 +0000

Steve, you bring up some very good points, although I do think there may be a devaluing of authoring and editing in the idea that textbooks published digitally are virtually free. Most of my reflections on this topic are, of course, based only on what I know of my own discipline, history, so I will start by saying I certainly think it could be different in other areas. And I certainly agree there are big problems. We don’t think we need new editions all the time (especially in history where often only the last few pages change) but I am not so confident that strong readable prose will be valued in open source work at least for history. We have decent free options if all we want is too look things up one fact, name, or date at a time. That is not, however, what teachers want from a textbook, and I know it is not what students need. In many history classes, the textbook should be serving several purposes. It is a version of the material that forms a solid overview, a background of the information and the story that connects that information. It is also a fundamental tool for those who learn best by reading, rather than hearing. A good textbook is another voice, a second expert in the room, and perhaps a more concrete one for students. So while the method of delivery is a key issue, the question I keep coming back to is what can we do about setting a more reasonable way of selecting content. Length is as much the problem as anything else. I would love to see more options for shorter works, digital or not, and more options for different types of classrooms. But as you point out, there is almost no competition, and less creativity, and there is no political will to push in that direction. It is a mess.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:14:46 +0000

This post links up nicely with an issue I’m grappling with lately on my own blog–the question of how accountability further widens the participation gap at the college level. Specifically, I’m focusing on the rankings system as exemplified by the annual U.S. News and World Report “best colleges” rankings, which do a disservice to students and faculty alike. I know less about the textbook issue, though a friend worked in textbook publishing for a few years and left discouraged and cynical.

Ok, ok, I’ll just go ahead and plug my own blogpost here. It’s at http://tinyurl.com/kwl64v. I’d love for you to check it out….

By: Matt Montagne

Matt Montagne — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:27:55 +0000

Hey Steve-apropos in light of Seth Godin’s recent “Textbook Rant” post: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/06/textbook-rant.html In his post he talks not only about the form of traditional textbooks as being flawed, but like you, the inherent flaws of the model itself.

I’m in agreement with Godin that the solution is relatively simple. Make the production and publishing of free, openly accessible learning objects an integral part of what we do as learning guides and facilitators.

Ewan Mcintosh has an interesting take on Godin’s post as well: http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2009/06/seth-on-why-the-textbook-industry-deserves-to-die.html

I enjoyed your “Constraining Innovations” series, Steve!

~Matt