Professors Gone Paperless
In recent years, I have gravitated towards using a collection of brief, specialized texts, including online resources wherever possible, rather than one big textbook that's so thick I either feel like I have to assign extra chapters out of guilt (after all, the students paid for the whole book).1998 was the last time that John Gallaugher, an associate professor of information systems at Boston College's Carroll School of Management, used a traditional print textbook. He assigned it to his graduate-level introductory course in information systems. The book cost about $150. He also assigned supplemental reading -- trade press articles, online case studies and the like. Student feedback was clear: The textbook cost was too high, and they valued the supplemental material more.
He agreed on the price complaint, calling some versions "oppressively expensive." So Gallaugher stopped assigning the textbook and began developing syllabuses from existing online materials, including his own. He's posted PowerPoint slides and podcasts of his lectures online ever since.
Of course, often I want the students to study a specific living author, or a 20thC author whose works are still under copyright. But buying the author's own book is different from buying a behemoth that includes a few pages about the author's work.
Recent Related Entries
New AP Stylebook Cuts the 'Malarkey,' Brings in the 'WMD'Editor and Publisher:The newest version of the Associated Press Stylebook is available, and if you follow it, "WMD," "iPhone" and "anti-virus" are in, while "barmaid," "blue blood" and "malarkey" are out. Those are just some of the changes to its...
Inside Google Book Search: U.S. copyright renewal records available for download
Inside Google Book SearchFor U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963, the rights holder needed to submit a form to the U.S. Copyright Office renewing the copyright 28 years after publication. In most cases, books that were never renewed are...
2008 Kids & Family Reading Report
From Scholastic, a report that shows books still appeal to kids. Does this mean that mouse-clicking adults will think of books as childish?A new study released today finds that 75% of kids age 5-17 agree with the statement, "No matter...
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Nicholas Carr, in The Atlantic:As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the...
Pong Ported to the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Platform
Thanks for the suggestion, Matt....
Leave a comment