At the college level, textbooks are generally forgotten in drafting a budget, yet according to Student Monitor’s Lifestyle & Media’s Spring 2011 report, the average student spent $534 for printed textbooks during the Fall 2010/Spring 2011 academic year. This is a hefty price to pay for learning materials; however, the cost can be comparative. That price is exactly 50 percent less than the $1,068 students spent on their mobile phones, 60 percent less than they spent on movie tickets and 27 percent less than what they spent for gasoline.
Buying textbooks at the college level can be costly, but there are many efficient and affordable options available. With more accessible electronic books and renting programs, students have more options and flexibility in deciding the most cost effective route when purchasing learning materials.
Rent to Save
Traditionally, the only choices offered in college bookstores were new versus used textbooks. More recently, another option has emerged on various campuses called Rent-A-Text. Students can rent a book for the semester (and have the freedom to write in it) as long as they return it back to the bookstore after finals, for no additional charge. Generally underclassmen greatly benefit from this program since most of them are taking a majority of general education classes with no reason to hold on to textbooks after the course ends. Renting instead of buying can save you more money on average up front, as opposed to having to wait until the end of the term to get cash back on returned books. Plus, book buyback cash is generally a fraction of what the original price was since most textbooks are updated every year, thus losing their value.
Chegg, the #1 source of college textbook rentals rated by the Student Monitor Lifestyle and Media Report in the spring of 2010, is an alternative program. Students not only can rent their books online and have them conveniently shipped to their address, but they also offer e-Textbooks and homework help. Along with this are features designed to allow students a more multifaceted way of organizing their academic life, including gaining access to information about their classes and professors at over 600 participating schools.
Digital Transformation
The antiquated overhead projectors and chalkboards are long gone but that doesn’t mean the world of publishing has to be. Jeremy Steffens, department director of communications higher education/school division at the Association of American Publishers (AAP) explains, “The publishing industry is often perceived as being obsolete or the Gutenberg way of the past, but when it comes down to it we are the developers of content. We are really the ones leading the way in the digital transformation whether it is print or electronic.” Regardless of the device, if it’s an online textbook or an interactive supplement material, it is ultimately the publishers who produce the content and design the layout.
Many professors are taking advantage of these innovative ideas to incorporate technology with the typical classroom experience. Most classes generally require a textbook to go along with the course material, but these textbooks may also provide supplemental materials such as an online resource center with videos, discussion boards, interactive graphics, and quizzes to enhance learning and studying. According to the National Center for Academic Transformation, when coupled with course redesigns, these new course technologies have resulted in an average 34 percent decrease in student dropout rates. This shows that taking advantage of such interactive methods and supplemental materials can help improve students’ academic performance.
Most recently, the popular Kindle has jumped on the bandwagon, offering a flexible and affordable way to read textbooks. For a minimum of 30 days, students can rent textbooks and save up to 80 percent off the print list price. Best of all, students can pay for any additional days they wish to extend on their rental in one day increments. The key feature the Kindle offers is the ability to keep the annotations and highlighting after the rental period ends. There are a few downsides such as the ambiguity in how many notes can be stored and the disruption of cognitive mapping, or the process students use to find and recall information by remembering where it is in the book and where it's positioned on the page. The technology textbook debate continues to carry on, but at least there are more options to take advantage of.
New Ways to Learn
“Who would have thought that the iPad would transform technology? It’s hard to predict the future in textbooks when things can change at any moment; the most exciting part of this industry is the growing supply of options,” claims Steffens. Inkling, a company providing textbooks downloadable exclusively on the iPad, combines the best content with interactivity and social collaboration. The best part is the option to pay as you read, selecting relevant chapters and ignoring the rest. There is also a feature that allows individuals to type in the margins, providing notes and collaborating among fellow classmates. It is a social network evolving into a learning network with the tap of a finger.
Still many students remain skeptical when it comes to tablets and electronic books. With a hard copy of a book, students have the ability to highlight and jot down notes, not to mention, avoiding possible computer glitches. However, this is already changing in sites such as coursesmart.com, an online source for eTextbooks. Coursesmart.com offers the capability to highlight and copy and paste passages and share margin notes with classmates. They also provide eResources which include a variety of digital content and tools such as links to associated websites relevant to the particular course, quizzes and exercises, simulations and step-by-step videos.
Adaptation
According to the Babson Survey Research Group and Pearson, 70 percent of faculty believe that video, podcasts, blogs, and wikis are valuable tools for teaching. By adding technology to courses, students have a better chance at retaining and absorbing information. In an electronic age, professors can really take advantage of these tools to make for a more enriching classroom experience. The demands of technology in the educational field will continue to grow but at least there are many options to fit everyone’s best needs. Textbooks shouldn’t be there to break the bank so take opportunity of alternative resources to ensure you get your moneys worth!
Written by Melinda Boisjolie
July 2011