Widely Used As Textbooks: Do We Have A Choice?

Posted on by David C. Brake

Given the chance, most any college student will lecture at length about the steep cost of education, including the price of textbooks and books widely used as textbooks.  The typical price of books for one college semester bought through the school store can easily reach $500, and in some cases much more.  This has led to the creation of an old college tradition – watching the jaws drop and the pale faces of the people in front of you in the bookstore line as they bend over and kiss their sweet cash goodbye.  It’s practically hazing, and you know your turn is coming up soon.

So Why Do Textbooks Cost So Much?

Here’s the dirty little secret.  The textbook marketplace in the US does not function using the usual supply-and-demand economic model that we are all familiar with.  Instead, it has been likened to the health insurance marketplace, in which the content (books) are prescribed by the professor or instructor (the doctor) to be used by the student (the patient).  In most cases, the books are paid for by parents or through a loan (the insurance company).  This leads to higher prices for books, because for students they are an essential service and the money must be provided to pay for them.  Think it’s not a fair analogy?  The 2005 report by the General Accounting Office stated that from 1986 to 2004, textbook prices rose an incredible 186 percent, compared to a 3 percent rise in prices in other areas.

So in 2006, The U.S. Education Department studied the college textbook situation and came up with five key reasons for high textbook prices:

  1. Students must buy certain books if they want to excel in the class.  What else could you do, refuse to buy it?  The professor will just have one less person to teach.
  2. As is the case with many industries now, the textbook publishing industry is dominated by just a few companies.  Due to high publishing costs, others just can’t compete with Thomson, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, and Houghton-Mifflin.
  3. College bookstores charge high retail prices and are often designed to make a profit for the university.
  4. Professors often receive copies of textbooks for free in the hopes that they will be used, and therefore may not know how much they cost.  (Some professors need all the price breaks they can get too.)
  5. Some professors who author textbooks might assign them to their classes to increase their royalties.  (You know they’re out there.)

In addition to all this, textbook publishers frequently “update” older books to a new edition, adding in a small section or pictures.  There is usually not much new information, but this means that students can be required to buy the latest edition for a premium price.

Quality yet Affordable Textbook Sources

As a reaction to the textbook pricing dilemma, the more recent trend is to look for alternative sources.  Yes, the internet is once again the great equalizer, and more people are opting to buy their textbooks used online instead of buying them new or through their school.  Books that are widely used as textbooks can be found online that are often of good quality, with a much better price than new books or those purchased through the university.  Thankfully, there are quite a few internet options for finding and buying textbooks.  Here are a few picks.

Amazon.com I know it is now cliché – sporting everything from swimming pools to tweezers, but it is still one of the best places to buy textbooks online because of the vast ability to search and choose from bookstores all around the world.  Some of their most popular books that have been widely used as textbooks are the 8th Edition of Mastering Biology, Biology: Concepts and Connections with myBiology, Managerial Accounting, Principles of Microeconomics, The Art of Public Speaking with Connect Lucas, and Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies.  The latest word at Amazon is that they even RENT textbooks now.  (Woohoo!)

Abebooks.com is another great place to find books that are widely used as textbooks.  Though usually more limited to the United States, this site sometimes finds books and stores that Amazon and other searches do not.  You can find new and used books here.  Half.com, associated with Ebay, is a good place to find cheap used books.  You can often get a great deal here because many of the sellers are individuals like you who are done with the book and would like to make anything they can off of it.

Bigwords.com and Chegg.com are also worth checking out.  BigWords is an interesting site because it will optimize the shipping of your books to get you the lowest price possible.  This site also allows you to sell back your books that are widely used as textbooks for a little extra cash at the end of the semester.  Chegg is good for college students looking for cheap books that they will only use temporarily.  Instead of buying the book, you only rent it for a semester or however long you may need it.  Free shipping is provided for the return of the book.

Another trend worth noting is that many people are now moving to e-books, many of which are widely used as textbooks.  There is some controversy over this though, because of the assumption that students will have plenty of internet access to make use of them.  Most often this is true, but not all students have this access, and some professors are still using them anyway.  They are much cheaper than physical textbooks though, and arguably (depending on who you talk to), this alternative does not take away from the educational value.

Hauling them around is no longer a feat of strength, and in some cases they are available from any internet access point.  The method of viewing e-books is not perfect, however; some people would rather read a physical book than a computer screen.  Tablet computers and e-book readers are a good solution to this, but often students cannot afford these devices in addition to the cost of an ordinary laptop.

Speaking of new trends, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a big tip of the hat to some of the new open education platforms where all e-books and online learning materials are completely free:  Ck12.org (they call them “Flexbooks”), Saylor.org, and of course Khanacademy.org.  (Wave of the future perhaps…?  Don’t get me started!)

Primary & Secondary Education: What’s the Status in the Lower Grades?

In the lower grades, kindergarten through 12th grade, the textbook marketplace has very different yet equally devastating problems.  The students obviously do not buy their own textbooks – the schools do.    The issue here is not price, but content and quality.  It turns out that the lower grade textbooks used throughout the entire country are developed according to the standards of Texas in particular, and to a smaller extent, California and Florida.

This is because these three states are what is known as adoption states.  That means that they buy such a large percentage of the total textbooks needed for the country that publishers end up tailoring their content to suit the particular requirements of the adoption state, usually Texas for grades K-12.  The other states of the nation end up adopting and using the books that are approved by the adoption states.  Therefore, the Texas Board of Education composed of five Democrats and ten Republicans determines the content of the textbooks that the whole country will use.  This has led to some very controversial (and many would say incorrect) interpretations of both science and history, particularly concerning an attempt to omit Thomas Jefferson’s belief in separation of church and state in 2010.  https://truth-out.org/news/item/10188-bill-moyers-messing-with-texas-textbooks

Back to the Books

Anyway, while textbook content issues in the lower grades may have no easy end in sight, at least the issue of price is diminishing somewhat for many college students due to choices available today. There is no longer any reason to buy the most expensive new college textbooks through your university, when most of the books that are widely used as textbooks can be found at much lower prices through an online used bookseller.  If you are instructed to use the latest edition of a certain textbook, ask your professor if it would be OK to use an older edition which is typically much cheaper.  There may be a legitimate reason not to do this, but letting the professor know privately that it is a financial consideration might garner some acceptance.  Either way, it’s worth noting that a bit of shopping around can help save hundreds of dollars on a semester of books, and much more over the course of a college education.

Infinite Possibilities/One Idea

Posted on by David C. Brake

Albert Einstein

If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably noticed that it is attached to a website, and that the website is a collection of articles.  I know what you’re thinking.  Why would a website that is a collection of articles need a blog?  Why would anyone read the articles instead of the blog, or read the blog instead of the articles??  What are you trying to do here???  Why do you need so many question marks????  Well you deserve an explanation—so here it is.

In the 21st century, I believe the development of learning platforms and grids that help enable people to find any source of knowledge or skill and to connect with each other through learning paradigms is inevitable.  Furthermore, I believe that a unique focus on social learning solutions will eventually help to redefine the global education industry, the 2nd largest industry in the world.  The new technology-based social paradigm will appeal to the primary and supplemental needs of not just traditional teachers and learners, but to all people who seek assistance for knowledge and training in any situation to achieve their personal or professional goals.

For these purposes, the word “teacher” will mean not only instructors in classroom settings or with credentials of all levels and experience, but also “tutors,” “coaches,” and any individual with a skill, knowledge or training that they have acquired and would like to impart.  With the progression of technology that connects us all and increased access, I believe the ultimate scope and potential of this user base will continue to grow indefinitely.

The vision of LRNGO is to create a “learning market,” a wide open social learning space on the internet that allows any potential user to find another who can teach them anything they desire to learn.  Not just online, but face to face in the real world.  Education (meaning not just research learning or “teaching yourself,” but learning from others) will no longer be confined to learning in groups, classrooms, or institutions, from which many are excluded.  Anyone can find a source to learn anything they want or need at any time that is desirable, at any age or stage in their lives, wherever they are, and where cost may no longer be an issue.

This idea is based on two premises. First, that at any given time in a person’s life, there is a skill that he or she would like to develop or improve upon, as well as knowledge that he or she has that can be taught.  Second, as individuals increasingly see opportunities through new business models, individuals in both learning and teaching roles (teachers and students) will start thinking about learning in terms of transactions and realize that knowledge is a commodity, and “everything is negotiable.”

The move to social learning space can be expedited in part by a geographically searchable “mega-directory” website of all individuals who wish to be included, showing their skills and all level and knowledge of subjects that is completely open to the public, but is NOT limited to online learning.  The learning space will be a “marketplace” that is divided into 3 basic tiers, and each of the 3 tiers can be seen as a time/cost trade-off.

At the top tier, there would be an optional service for those who don’t have time to find someone to teach what they need, but prefer to spend money to hire someone or a trusted brand/entity to facilitate the entire process for them to take care of any learning needs they may have.   They can pay a concierge service or person to help make the right match with the right teacher at the right time and place of their choosing, and schedule any education or instruction program around their own valuable time.  (Of course, there are many services already doing this, and it’s not irrelevant that the global private tutoring market is projected by GIA to exceed $100 billion in the next five years.)

The middle tier is a listing of everyone in the world who wants to teach what they know.  Everyone is free to publicly browse and search this directory, and users will be quickly and conveniently searchable both by subject and location.  Users will create a public profile listing with as much or as little information as they are comfortable with showing, and will be able to be contacted directly through or outside of the website (they can choose whether anonymously or not).

Finally, where money is less of an option, there is a barter or trade system.  For those who don’t want to spend or don’t have money (such as college students), the idea is to “trade” an expertise of theirs in exchange for help or instruction in another subject.  This can be thought of loosely as a time bank barter system.

Revenue can be generated through…ah what the heck–let’s make it free.  🙂

In the next two years, the social learning market will be at the forefront of a new systemic movement toward open education.  Stick around.  This caterpillar website is about to turn into a butterfly.

(Supporting documents: “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age” by George Siemens, Hacking Education Conference Transcript 3/6/2009, “Google U” by Jeff Jarvis, “DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education” by Anya Kamenetz)

Knowledge is a Commodity

Posted on by David C. Brake

So I started thinking about how to explain what brought me to the conclusion that knowledge is a commodity and how LRNGO.com was going to implement a platform for this, and I realized that it has actually been a common theme throughout my life.  Of course, the purpose of this blog is not to bore you with my life story, but…well, too bad I’m going to bore you with my life story.  🙂

It all started with music. Like a lot of kids, I gravitated towards what I was good at.  In my case, when I was growing up and heard songs I liked on the radio, I could usually play & sing them by hearing them.  It was just something I did and enjoyed without very much difficulty.  When I “learned,” it was because I was either learning through private instruction, or performing with others who were older and better than me.  Research was practicing, learning from an instructor was training, but playing for and with others actually “doing it” was social and learning at the same time.  That’s what provided the benchmarks, as well as the impetus for me to research and train harder.

This early experience eventually led me to write a thesis called “All the World is a Stage: the Dynamics of One on One Training vs Group Immersion.”  The idea is that you train more intensely one on one so you can interact at a higher level when you are in a social group, and the larger the group (or “stage” so to speak – expandable up to the whole world), the more competition, and therefore the more intensely you train.  I hypothesized that one could apply this to all forms of learning; everything from the Olympics to languages (ie: if you are in France, you will not only learn French quicker because you are there “doing it,” but also because you will try harder to learn when you are training).

Whether or not the idea that effort or assimilation is directly proportionate to competition and size of a group is flawed, what I found interesting was the extent to which these dynamics feed off of each other and how they are inter-related, and the percentages of learning that take place in social group or immersion settings vs one on one training vs research/practice.  At the time though, I didn’t acknowledge the extent to which one on one learning is also social–which brings me back to…that’s right, my boring life story.  🙂  (Stay with me here, it will all make sense.)

I earned money to go to college by gigging in professional bands the summer before and the summer after my first year of college.  Without getting into how much I learned performing vs how much I learned in school (almost equal but very different), at that time, I chose to continue to play professionally rather than complete my degree.  However, a few years later as a professional, I found myself having to compete with better players on larger stages, and felt like I would have also greatly benefited from a strong university program.  Unfortunately, the choices at that point weren’t good for a working musician.  To stop working full-time and go into debt for school was not a viable option on a musician’s salary.

Looking back now, the situation reminds me of a story I heard.  There was this guy who wanted to go to MIT (skip ahead if you’ve heard this one before) but couldn’t get in and didn’t have the money.  He borrowed a small amount to attend a nearby Art Institute and learned how to create a very realistic school ID.  He used his skills to manufacture one for MIT and attended their classes, and although he never got credentials on paper, once he started working in the real world no one cared.  He took his studies seriously, and became a good enough software engineer that he always had work.  He had no money, learned, and ultimately beat the system.  (I wouldn’t have tried this myself, because with my luck I would have just ended up in the slammer owing a lot of money to MIT!)

So I didn’t plan anything near as devious, but I did contact the professor at my target university who was the head of the department directly.  I explained the situation to see if he would teach me privately, and he did.  I learned the curriculum directly from him (a credit to both his goodwill and teaching ability), and reaped the benefits in less than one third the time at a small fraction of the cost.  What I didn’t realize at the time, was that I had also accidentally learned how to teach the curriculum that he taught me.  I found this out later, and then began teaching what I knew to others through private lessons.

From that experience, the questions eventually started pouring into my head.  How closely are learning something and learning how to teach it related?  Was it just me, or can anyone transfer one to the other? (Still an ongoing question BTW.)  If I learn “how to teach”, can I then teach anything I learn?  For me it stood to reason the answer was yes, but I wanted to find out.  I did, and eventually became a full-time instructor.

At one point I may have gone a bit far in my experiments, and I began teaching in classrooms when I had little (ok no) credentials for this.  I did know the subject, but had no classroom experience or training, so I decided to do some preliminary consulting with the best classroom teachers I could find to learn a thing or two before going in.  After a couple weeks, I quickly found a job where they had been through three teachers in the past 18 months (it turned out none of them could keep the class engaged – baptism by fire!), and I just started “doing it.”  Sure I made mistakes in the beginning, but I made sure to document everything and keep track of what was working and why.  In the end, I turned out to be the first teacher for that subject and in that school location they had ever considered successful, and I continued at the school for two years.

As another side note (can I do that?  Where is the blog handbook…): I have to say IMHO other than knowing the subject matter, a short stint in comedy turned out to be the best training possible for me as an uninitiated teacher going into a first time classroom setting.  Not to entertain or even to keep attention of the class, but because it constantly makes one hyper-sensitive to gauging audience reaction and instantly knowing if they are “with you” and “getting” what you’re saying.  In comedy, if the audience doesn’t understand or “get” something, seconds seem like hours, so you learn to redirect them and communicate very quickly in a different way that makes you understood or else you “die.”  If I had one bit of out of the box thinking advice to universities, I would encourage experimenting with limited standup comedy training in education curriculums and then measuring results.  (I’d be very interested to know if anyone is actually out there doing that!)

Anyway, all that is to say, my own private instruction experiences ultimately weren’t just social because I was interacting with another person when learning, but because there was also a paying it forward aspect from teaching others in turn.

And so it went: from martial arts to business accounting to running a record label, I always felt like given time and money limitations, I got more bang for my buck by just doing things and paying an expert of my choosing to teach me how.  This, in turn, also helped the individual instructor to supplement their income at a time and location that was convenient for them, and eventually enabled me to pass on to others what I had learned in the new role of instructor.  No, it shouldn’t be the only way—but it should be a choice everyone has—whether used to supplement their classroom experience, or to learn a new skill on the side.  It is the future, and the future of education will be about choices.