Tell Students Why Their Textbook Has Value

Perhaps we don't do a good job of promoting the value of textbooks. Some students seem willing pay a hefty price to purchase term papers and Cliff notes, but turn around and complain about the price of a textbook. Other students have to make sacrifices in their life style to afford textbooks. To either group of students, we should be able to explain why textbooks are a good investment.

Yes, students could use the Internet to find free information equivalent to what is in a textbook, but they would spend many many hours hunting for it. Once found, they would spend even more time verifying that the information is presented by a reliable source and that it is up to date. 

Students might spend even more time sorting through the free information to determine what is relevant and what is not. Of course, this process of searching can become a learning experience, but considering that a student's time might be worth minimum wage, then 15 hours or so dredging up material (hardly enough time spent to find all the material they would need for a course) would pay for the cost of the textbook.

Textbooks also save time because they are, in effect, a contract between students and instructors, representing the scope of material that students are expected to master. Using a textbook helps students focus on the course objectives, rather than expending time and effort on material that is not the focus of the course.

Looked at his way, a $100 textbook is a bargain, but there are additional cost benefits. Students would rarely find any assessment opportunities with the free material they find, certainly nothing like the end-of-chapter activities provided by most textbooks. So an important value that is added to textbooks is this assessment, which helps students pass the course and can also serve to improve their grades; both important for successful job hunting.

Looked at an even different way, the cost of textbooks can be as high as 1/4 of tuition costs, but organizations such as College Parent Central recommend that students spend 2-3 hours studying for every hour of class time. Even if the ratio of textbook time to class time is 1:1, textbooks provide good value; their cost per hour of use is much less than the cost of class time.

I realize that there are additional factors related to textbook pricing; it is an issue with many facets and maybe there has been a rush to judgement with an emphasis on costs and a disregard for benefits. I hope that we can balance the discussion with more advocacy and understanding about the value of textbooks, not just for providing instructional material, but for making the learning process more efficient and cost effective.

How Do You Do That????

There are several tools for creating and publishing multimedia books. I happen to use BookOnPublish. Here's a short video presentation that shows how it works.

Multimedia Digital Pedagogy

Whether you're an author or an instructor, multimedia textbooks offer opportunities not available in print books. What are the possibilities? Here's a short overview of multimedia elements, such as video, animation, audio, links, pop-ups, chirps, annotations, and assessment.

The NP eBook Backstory

New Perspectives on Computer Concepts was one of the very first multimedia digital textbooks. First published in 1997, it contained features that are yet a glimmer in most publishers' eyes. What's the story behind that first edition of NP? Here's a short video of a Keynote presentation:

Windows 8: The Missing Start Button

Did you get the Windows 8 Consumer Preview? I installed it the day it was available and now, weeks later, I finally got the hang of it. So much for intuitive user interfaces! Here's what you need to know:

FORGET YOUR MOUSE. Don't look for anything like the start button. It is gone, and there is nothing "hidden" to take its place. Mousing around the screen is fruitless. Have a look at the video Windows 8 Fails the "Dad Test."  Ha ha! Been there, done that.

USE THE WINDOWS KEY. Yes, on the keyboard. That brings you to the Start screen. Okay, the Start screen doesn't look promising. You don't want the Store or the Xbox, but think of this screen as if it was the old Windows 7 Start menu with a HIDDEN SEARCH BOX.

JUST START TYPING. From the Start screen, you can just type the name of any app, files, or Control Panel module. For example, type "Word" if you want to start Microsoft Word. Type "CS101 Syllabus" if you want to open that file. Or type "Devices" if you want to change your default printer. THERE IS ONE CATCH (see Step 4).

The SEARCH DEFAULTS TO APPS. So if you want to find a file or Control Panel module, you have to take one more step. On the Search panel that slides in from the right, click Settings to search for control Panel Apps, or click Files to search for a file. You've already entered the thing you're looking for, so you don't have to type it again.

The screenshot shows what appears after you:
1. Press the Windows key
2. Type "Devices"
3. Click the Settings option

Free culture or not?

The U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows public domain content to be removed from the public domain is troubling. Content creators now have an additional burden when trying to sort out rights and obtain permission to use images, music, and other elements critical to effective learning materials. For example, some music that was previously in the public domain, is now back under copyright, however, the material does not necessarily come with a notice to that effect. Compositions that were once free to play in concerts, now require permission and may entail paying royalties. Supreme Court justices have set a nasty precedent here.


The original intent of copyright law, it seems, was to provide protection to authors and artists for a limited period, after which works would be available to the public. Over time, the period of copyright protection has lengthened, and with the possibility of renewals, copyright protection can become interminable.


I came across a thought-provoking quotation from U.S. copyright lawyer Lawrence Lessig that I wanted to share:


... we come from a tradition of ‘free culture’ – not ‘free’ as in ‘free beer’ (to borrow a phrase from the founder of the free-software movement – but ‘free’; as in ‘free speech’, ‘free markets’, ‘free trade’, ‘free enterprise’, ‘free will’ and ‘free elections’. A free culture supports and protects creators and innovators. It does this directly by granting intellectual property rights. But it does so indirectly by limiting the reach of those rights to guarantee that follow-on creators and innovators remain as free as possible from the control of the past. A free culture is not a culture without property, just as a free market is not a market in which everything is free. The opposite of a free culture is a ‘permission culture’ - a culture in which creators get to create only with the permission of the powerful, or of creators from the past. (Lessig 2004) 


Our 'free culture' is increasingly becoming a 'permission culture.' As an author, I appreciate the copyright protection afforded to me by law, but I understand that eventually I have to let go of it. The opportunity to eventually make my work available in the public domain is an honor, not a burden. I suspect that many authors agree, but corporate interests might not. I'm thinking of Disney, TimeWarner, and similar corporations. The are the "powerful" referred to Mr. Lessing.


In the digital age, intellectual property takes on more complex nuances. To become knowledgable consumers and informed citizens, students should become familiar with copyright concepts. Instructors can initiate this discussion in conjunction with the issue in Chapter 8: What Happened to Fair Use? and extend it to the controversy surrounding the Supreme court decision Golan v. Holder, No. 10-545 in which the court set a precent for pulling works out of the public domain and reinstating their copyright.