The benefit of researching for this blog is that I run across some really good ideas and articles that in turn germinate some really intriguing ideas in my head. After reading through half of this article on Professors, publishers and some company called FlatWorld, I knew had to write about this in detail -
- Firstly, the fact that a huge number of students in the US come out of universities in debt is totally ridiculous. An educational system that due to its high costs is putting students in debt right from Day 1 of their professional/adult lives is just unfair.
- Secondly, education should be free to the highest extent possible. In particular, something like textbooks should be totally free except for manufacturing costs.
So here’s how I’d put together Open Source Textbooks -
- Identify the key set of textbooks that while representing only 20% of the titles available cover 80% of textbook sales.
- Send out invites to professors in the top 100-200 US universities (or perhaps based on Faculty/Department rankings) and figure out who would be willing to create free books and free online courses.
- Have volunteer students (course credits?) collate these books into Kindle format. Let the student community review/improve textbooks.
- Run through a few iterations until you cover 90% of the market with quality equal to or better than traditional textbooks.
I think the 5.5 billion textbook market is going to experience some seismic changes. I keep getting reminded of a case study of how Microsoft Encarta destroyed the Encyclopedia Britannica market by offering a much cheaper, convenient, electronic encycolpaedia. the Part 2 of that was how Wikipedia used a free open wiki to become the defacto encyclopaedia for the world.
One of two changes is going to happen -
- Either, The Kindle is simply going to cut the textbook market down in size by offering cheaper textbooks; Or, and this is the scenario that truly fascinates me
- A combination of Professors and Students are going to use the Kindle (and/or other platforms – although the kindle is the best option) to replace expensive textbooks with open source education.
And hopefully that means that instead of a $20,000 loan right out of college, millions of students are going to have just a $17,000 loan.
Filed under: extensions, kindle
You seem to want everything free or cheap. Sounds great except one problem… the platform. You are pushing the format to be on the Kindle which is neither free nor cheap.
Why not use a more open, cross platform, solution that the vast majority of user can use? Most college students have a computer or at least easy access to one, right?
Why not use for example Adobe Reader as the solution? It has versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Palm, Pocket PC and Symbian platforms.
Not only that but there is 3D image (rotate, scale, etc)support in Reader now. Rotate a molecule around in 3D is a cool thing to do in a Chem textbook. This is something that is a couple of evolutionary leaps above what Kindle can do.
Oh and did I mention that Reader is FREE for all those platforms?
Where platform can the Kindle azw format be read on? ONLY a Kindle. There is no PC or MAC app that can read a Kindle AZW right? Don’t you think that is too limiting and expensive?
You also forget that many subjects require color textbooks such as Biology, Chemistry, and of course… Art.
Don’t get me wrong I like my Kindle but your idea that it would be cheaper and better to put textbooks on a Kindle isn’t well thought out. The solution must be in color and cross platform as well as capable of being mobile.
Adobe Reader works but I imagine there may be better solutions out there.
textbooks dont write themselves, you know. i know people who have worked on textbooks, and make no mistake, it is WORK. there is a great deal of research, editing, fact-checking, and review that goes into textbook writing… writing a *high-quality* textbook with the design, organization, and features aimed at maximizing its usability and “ease of learning” is doubly difficult, and requires a great deal of experience.
i suppose the authors and their staff should just… what, donate their time?
no, i know! lets make a site called textforge, and let tons of people of dubious qualification write the books that will educate the generations of the future! thats a *great* plan.
generally speaking, you get what you pay for… and you get out of something what you put into it. that applies to education as much as anything. personally, i got a quality education and finished my degree without being a nickle in debt. was i rich? did my moneybags parents pay for it? did i rob banks or win the lottery? did i get charitable handouts or government grants? no, to all of the above. i paid my *own* way. i WORKED for it. *hard*
the american dream IS accessible to everyone. not “freely” accessible, nor should it be. it is accessible to any and everyone willing to put forth the effort to achieve it. “giving it away” isnt the answer. smashing the culture of entitlement and reinstilling the lost american work ethic comes a lot closer.
Switch11,
You just responded to my comment saying “all i’ll say at this point is that i don’t want everything cheap or free”
Your title however is “Why aren’t textbooks free?
You then go on to propose a solution based on “Open Source Textbooks” for the Kindle. Your number 2 action item says “create free books and free online courses.” The number 3 action item says “Have volunteer students (course credits?) collate these books into Kindle format. ”
Dude (or dudette), you most certainly are asking for FREE things here. Who are you kidding?
But that wasn’t my point. I don’t care if you make “free” textbooks or not. Go for it if you think you can swing it.
What I am saying is that the Kindle is a POOR platform to deploy on… because as we all know the Kindle ISN’T cheap, right?
That was why I argued for a cross platform solution that was free… hence something like Adobe Reader.
Do you see my point? Why go to all the trouble making the books available for free or very cheap when you want to deploy it on a $359 platform? The Kindle defeats the purpose of making it affordable, right?
The other arguments was some textbooks MUST be in color, there is no way around that, period.
But the other cool thing I forgot to mention is something like PDF format would be great because if is very easy to create a mobipocket file from a PDF file, right? And that is the format the Kindle reads.
In other words the PDF would be a great FREE platform for all to use… even the Kindle users is necessary.
I rest my case…
by the way… sorry for the typos… watching Olympics from TIVO and I am not paying a bit of attention.
your comment needs more thought before i get into it. all i’ll say at this point is that i don’t want everything cheap or free – just the basics so that the american dream is freely accessible to everyone.
who do you think WRITES textbooks? They don’t write themselves, and why SHOULDN’T the authors get paid for their work? You get what you pay for. Much of the free content available is of poor quality. i’d rather pay, with the understanding that reputable authors (real researchers) create the content. The web is “free” and look at all the crap and misinformation that gets thrown out there?
Switch11,
The site isn’t up yet but they have a screenshot of what it will look like: http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/minisite/lb/P4Solomon.jpg
They will offer a PDF and a Kindle version but no matter what you have to pay something for it. If the PDF is not DRM’ed then it makes sense to buy the PDF and do a convert to Kindle using MobiPocket Creator
Anyway the problem with textbooks is that they are way too expensive and they are always ‘updated’ after 2 years so that the used version is obsolete. This makes sense in courses where things are always changing but for Calculus?? That is nonsense!
well – there’s actually a company putting its money where its/my mouth is – flat world knowledge.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1823395,00.html
i really like that people have been frank about not agreeing with me. i have to stick to my guns because i have a very different view of education – commercializing anything brings an inherent risk i.e.the focus becomes money and not the act itself.
so speaking about education in particular – putting in a financial incentive becomes dangerous as it gradually shifts towards becoming predominantly a financial enterprise and much less of an educational venture.
the us has the benefit of having the best students from all over the world coming here and that hides the fact that commercialization of universities is hurting the students.
[...] Why aren’t textbooks free? AKA How the Kindle could potentially put textbook publishers out of bus… – Kindle Reader Guide [...]
The cost of books is not what is driving college graduates into debt. It is the ridiculous amounts of low interest money available to students. This is similar to what caused the housing bust we are now witnessing. Way too much way too easy money sloshing around drives up prices – e.g., housing and college tuition. This has been happening in higher education for decades.
Tuitions keep rising because the customers (students) don’t have any meaningful way to measure the value of spending money on college (much less a particular college) AND they don’t really see the costs of tuition and room and board until after they graduate. And overly ambitious parents of these same students are encouraging their children to mimic behavior, i.e., going to the “best” schools, that worked when they were growing up.
If you are a high school student, unless you have a keen interest in learning some subject that requires 4 or more years of school beyond high school, you are probably better served by skipping collge and leanring a trade, like electrician, welder, or plumber..
- Identify the key set of textbooks that while representing only 20% of the titles available cover 80% of textbook sales.
- Send out invites to professors in the top 100-200 US universities (or perhaps based on Faculty/Department rankings) and figure out who would be willing to create free books and free online courses.
The first may be easy, the second not so easy. Because most authors of good textbooks have signed publication agreements that probably keep them from writing any competing works.
And who is going to do all this figuring out? And for little or no compensation? Textbooks are a bit like surgery or novels – cheapest is not necessarily the way to go.
The only thing worse than “commercializing” higher education is trying to isolate it from real world needs. How many English Lit PhDs are YOU willing to support? And how many should taxpayers be compelled to support?
Chug you said: “If you are a high school student, unless you have a keen interest in learning some subject that requires 4 or more years of school beyond high school, you are probably better served by skipping collge and leanring a trade, like electrician, welder, or plumber..”
I thought that was how it worked? People go to college to work in a particular field that required a degree. Those who are interested in learning a trade either did so through some education or learned on the job.
I know people go to school who have no idea why they are there… they normally either flunk out or become professors… but most of us go in, do what is required, and get out and get a job.