If information is free, then why are text books so expensive? Should they be replaced with free open-textbooks?
According to media theorist Neil
Postman , “The way to be liberated from the constraining effects of any medium is to develop a perspective on it — how it works and what it does.”
Media are evolving, morphing, and
converging in ways we once wouldn’t have imagined. Newspapers, books, radio,
and television all share one common trait: they only allow communication in a
single direction. There are exceptions to this rule; a radio program, for
instance, may allow its listeners to call in to the show. However, this method
of feedback is usually limited to a single person.
In more recent times, technology
has turned communications upside-down. Blogs,
vlogs, and social media have provided every consumer with a voice.
Communications is no longer one-directional, and it has progressed beyond
bi-directional. Discourse now spans the globe in a web of interactions which
challenge ideology and authority. There is, however, a notable exception: the traditional
textbook.
Since its inception in the
fifteenth century, the printing press
has been used to distribute educational texts. Although the first of these
texts were mainly religious in nature, rates of literacy rapidly increased. After
the technology was adopted by schools, students have been taught from a slowly
evolving, prescribed literary
cannon ever since.
The cost of textbooks has increased
by 812% in the last 30 years, which is even faster than the rapidly rising
cost of tuition fees. According to the British Columbia Federation of Students,
26% of BC students choose not to
enrol in college or university courses because of the high cost of literature.
Textbooks have dominated the
classroom for centuries; however, they are now being challenged by a recent
introduction: the open-textbook. Open textbooks are authored by educators in a
collaborative online environment and then peer reviewed. This allows the
material to be adjusted and refined when a consensus is met. Research carried
out in 2014 showed that faculty reviewers harboured a lack of trust in the
quality of textbooks that are produced by this method, but now that the
movement is gathering
momentum, statistics are beginning to prove otherwise. A 2017
study showed that faculty reviewers found that the quality of open
textbooks ranged between very high and exceptional; furthermore, students are finding
collaboratively written textbooks to be more relevant to their courses. The
students, therefore, are achieving better grades.
When delivered in digital formats, open
textbooks are free for students to use. Since 2012, open textbooks have saved students
in British Columbia over
$9 million. This reduction in student expenses provides a much-needed incentive
to get young people to stay in school and further their education.
Experiments
have shown that when students read from a digital medium, while they were able
to demonstrate a good conceptual understanding of the text, their ability to recall
specific details were diminished when compared to students who read from the
print version of the same text. Students who read from the digital edition thought
that they faired better than when they read from print. It is thought that this
is because a faster reading speed can be achieved when reading scrollable text
as opposed to turning pages. However, research about the effectiveness of digital
editions compared to print versions is limited, and usually compares texts
which have been written for print and subsequently released on digital form,
whereas open textbooks are written with digital release in mind.
It is argued that the “quality”
of open textbooks should be judged not by their production value, which
includes photos, illustrations, and of course, the text itself, but by the net
result of their use. Since results
have shown that students who learn from open textbooks perform just as well
as, if not better than those using traditional textbooks, this alone stands as
a testimony to their effectiveness. However, the fact that open textbooks make
education a viable option to those who would otherwise be unable to afford to
stay in school, should not be undervalued.
References.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11423-016-9434-9.pdf
I really like the topic you chose about open textbooks. Its really interesting to think that classes may have the option to have collaborative and cheaper options for education, rather than the overpriced and sometimes old fashioned textbooks currently in use. Are there any strategies you think we could utilize to further push open textbooks into the norm?
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