The Diamondback - Guest column: Online freedom
Guest column: Online freedom
By: Catherine Simpson
Posted: 2/19/09
Did you know the average student spends about $1,000 annually on textbooks alone? This massive expense is about half of the tuition of an average two-year institution, and all we get out of it are books that only six percent of us will ever read in their entirety.
The article in Tuesday's Diamondback, "Professors take aim at high book expenses," highlighted the issue of skyrocketing textbook prices. Textbook prices have increased roughly four times the rate of inflation, making affording college an even bigger issue. On top of budget cuts, tuition hikes and lack of resources, college is becoming too expensive for the average student and leaving millions in debt. Shouldn't we start to take control of our expenses?
Professors Allen Stairs and Sonya Michel proposed that faculty should come together to save students money and make use of the wide array of digital and textbook alternative resources available to faculty members right now. The university's chapter of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group is already working on organizing a forum to bring faculty members together this semester to discuss what options exist.
Open textbooks are the best alternative option. Professors and leading researchers can create an online textbook with free, open access to any interested person. Teachers can choose information from multiple sources and edit it for their needs, cutting out the excess information found in most textbooks that students have to pay for. Not only does this reduce the cost for students, it also allows flexibility for teachers to teach from many different sources instead of one fixed book.
While many may not be aware of this issue, the open textbook movement is making headway in many areas, and people are interested. A survey of faculty at 28 different colleges and universities across the country asked opinions on education resources such as open textbooks. An overwhelming 91 percent responded that they would be interested in using open textbooks, but only 34 percent knew there were resources to use.
Fields such as science, medicine and health have an overwhelming amount of open information available to them, and the social sciences have a wealth of opportunity in this field, as well. These books are of the same quality as current textbooks, and are written by leaders in these fields. Additionally, the resources already out there are already being used by peer institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology - MIT even has a digital databank of resources for almost every course at the school. The information is out there, it just needs to be used.
This university has an opportunity to be a leader in the evolution of textbooks and information resources. However, faculty members shouldn't have to go it alone to find these materials - the administration and departments should work with faculty members to assist them in making this transition.
And as students, we must take it upon ourselves to ask our teachers and administration what they can do to help make a better, innovative classroom experience.
Catherine Simpson is a senior criminology and criminal justice and sociology major. She can be reached at csimpso4@umd.edu.
© Copyright 2009 The Diamondback
No comments:
Post a Comment