As a student who dreads checking out the cost of books at the beginning of each semester New Digital Tools Let Professors Tailor Their Own Textbooks for Under $20 in the Chronicle earlier this month caught my eye. The story talks about AcademicPub, a company started in April, that customizes textbooks for professors by using book chapters, case studies and journal articles from over 75 publishers. The site tracks royalty costs and charges students for the specifically-designed textbook accordingly. One example was from a marketing professor who designed a book that students could get for $14.95 digitally, $27 in paperback or $45 in hardcover.
Of course the benefits of AcademicPub are the lower cost to students in a time of ever-growing education costs. I would also imagine that a benefit to faculty would be getting to pick and choose materials from different areas without having duplicate books. On the other hand, the article states that the “big five” publishing companies do not have agreements with AcademicPub so their materials are not available. One also has to wonder about the reading materials being considered for use if the cost becomes the number one factor.
This is a newer concept in higher education, I believe partially driven by technology and what is available in academics. The article also mentions Connexions, an online database that shares educational material for free, and Flat World which “finds scholars willing to build peer-reviewed textbooks published under a Creative Commons license, which lets others edit and customize the books and allows students free online access to them.” Furthermore, there was an article in the Chronicle just yesterday about Steve Jobs having a plan to make textbooks free on the iPad. While his concepts were supposedly geared more for K-12 education, I believe it would only be a matter of time before the notion would spread to higher ed.
I’m curious to know what other people think about all of the concepts that these articles bring up: the use of technology that replaces the need for physical books, the lower costs to students, a professor’s ability to piecemeal a book together, the repercussions of the printing and publishing companies that no longer get the business, and what it means for the authors.
Beyond the loss of money, I have no idea what this means for authors and printing/publishing companies. I see the great benefit to students because of the cost of some books these days. On the other hand, I do think the disappearance of actual books is sad. It’s just a sign of the times I suppose. If the “big five” companies aren’t involved in AcademicPub, what does that say about the materials that do get used? Are they less credible? Contain lesser information? Will faculty members feel pressure to use books and materials they don’t necessarily favor because of the cost to their students? The thought of even books in today’s world going digital is a concept that is hard for me to wrap my head around. I’d love to hear what others think about some of the questions I have!
The idea of a ‘course-packs’ (that’s what spiral bound compilations of required readings were called at my undergraduate institution) is not new, so I like the idea of AcademicPub (or similar companies) making these available to students and faculty in different formats. In fact, one of the biggest challenges with the paper-based course-packs can be accessibility for blind, low-vision, or learning disabled students. I had a part time gig while in my MA program as a course pack reader- onto tape, since the issues with the Disability Services Office getting rights for electronic and/or audio versions of portions of books for course-packs was apparently particularly challenging. Even PDF electronic articles are typically not accessible, as most are not compatible with screen readers. It was surprising to me that AcademicPub does not immediately address accessibility in the FAQs on their website, but I’m hopeful that the electronic versions will be compatible with aps. that would allow students to access an audio version. I actually just wrote an email to AcademicPub’s customer service dept. inquiring about this—I’ll post their response here if/when I get it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThere are several people in my classes who have already purchased textbooks for their Kindle or other electronic reading device. For me, being in front of a computer all day and then reading all my homework on my laptop gives the concept of a headache new meaning. I need to step away and read an actual book occasionally, otherwise my eyes and brain cease to function. On the other hand, when I ordered 4 books for one class this semester only to learn in the third class period we’re not using 2 of them, I would much rather have had those other books electronically and not have spent as much money. Dana asks some good questions about who benefits from the printed materials versus the customized digital option. I particularly appreciate her pointing out the quality of the information could be compromised due to the source not being on board with the technology. If, say, Random House or HarperCollins publishing does not accept the terms of agreement with AcademicPub, where does that leave a good sized portion of the information? Would not having a “publishing” company cut out some of the middle management and be a direct link between researchers and audience?
ReplyDeleteAlso, consider how many textbooks are written. Could a shift towards electronic devices and shared material change how content is presented? Would researchers change how they write to be more medium-friendly? That could be a selling point for an author, to be able to prove their writing style is more efficient and effective when reading on an iPad. Personally, I’d like to think the age of writing to be published in a paper format is transforming to writing to be read, understood and applied.
The next generations of college students are going to be expecting to get their information immediately, not to wait for 7-10 days for their books to arrive and these students may already be learning more easily from online sources than from actual books.
Just a quick follow up that AcademicPub has not responded to my email inquiry. In fact, I did get the auto-reply "Your question has been received. We will respond by the close of the
ReplyDeletenext business day." but nothing since then. Hmmm... this makes me less inclined to want to use such a service. If they can't reply to a basic customer service inquiry, what does that say about their likely response if I was an actual customer with a problem or pressing concern?
UPDATE-- just got the following response from AcademicPub:
ReplyDeleteHello Braelin,
Thanks so much for your interest in AcademicPub.
At the present time, we have retained third party consultants to assess our level of accessibility for blind students and faculty.
If you require any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us at http://sharedbook.custhelp.com or call toll free at 888-212-3121.
Best Regards,
Jim Agostine,
Customer Service Director
AcademicPub
In short- I'm interpreting this as a "we haven't yet addressed this, but realize that we ought to..." response. My initial email to them read:
"Hello,
Are the digital versions of AcademicPub's custom books compatible with screen reader technology for blind/low vision students and/or is there an ap. that will easily allow allow the students to access an audio version for all AcademicPub books? I know that many PDFs do not work with screen readers. Please advise.
Thank you,
Braelin Pantel"
They haven't answered the question... but apparently have hired third party consultants to figure it out...
Like Janella, I also like to have a hard copy and a differing type of reading material. My job is mostly in front of computer, the papers and research for my papers for school are all on the computer, I read most of the article readings on the computer so it is a nice break to have my text book to read from. I can certainly see the advantage of having text books electronically and much of the additional reading material such as cost and ease of not having to carry around additional books. I would assume that being able to get the main publishers on board would be a major goal and a major feat!
ReplyDeleteI also had to wait for some of my books this semester because they were not available in the bookstore so having the convenience of retrieving the books online would be yet another advantage. Also, I would think that the younger students and upcoming generations will be more used to reading materials on the computer that the textbooks will see less and less use and sales.