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I teach mathematics at a community college and use free materials in my courses or use materials that I’ve created. I never use paid materials in my courses.
by skh 8y ago
I teach mathematics at a community college and use free materials in my courses or use materials that I’ve created. I never use paid materials in my courses. The reason I can do this is because math doesn’t change from year to year. I’m in a subject whose content is static. Even so most open textbooks are quite bad. I’ve only found a few that were really good.
Writing a good book even in a field whose content doesn’t change much is hard. There’s a need for publishers but just not a need for one that charges hundreds of dollars for a textbook. It might not be economically feasible to have a publisher put out quality textbooks for less money but I can’t justify forcing my students to spend $200 to $300 per semester on a math textbook.
- lolptdr 8y agoI couldn’t agree more. Perhaps we need a curated list with endorsements from those who use it in their own teaching curriculums and another list of users who endorse it.
- jimhefferon 8y agohttp://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/ http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/ is useful, I think.
- jdeisenberg 8y agoThere’s also this from California: http://cool4ed.org/findetextbooks.html http://cool4ed.org/findetextbooks.html
- krn 8y ago> Writing a good book even in a field whose content doesn’t change much is hard. There’s a need for publishers but just not a need for one that charges hundreds of dollars for a textbook. That's what Dover Books[1] and its series on Mathematics[2] are for. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Publications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Publications [2] http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-mathematics.html http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-mathematics.ht...
- HarryHirsch 8y agoThe OP is talking about teaching community college mathematics. That's not introductory university mathematics; if you are lucky it's Pythagoras' Theorem and quadratic equations. The purpose of community college is to provide the students with a degree certificate that they can use for another degree. My current institution's nursing school has a set text called "Calculate with Confidence", which teaches the kids to calculate concentrations, unit conversions, measurement uncertainty and similar things. Someone might say that these are essential skills in nursing, and they are, but the incoming students are supposed to have learned these things from their college science courses, from their degree that got them admitted into nursing school. Yet here it is again because all previous education didn't take. 60 % of incoming students at my institution must take remedial math, up from 50 % a few years ago. That's community college. If you think that's cynical or exaggerated you are insufficiently cynical.
- krn 8y ago> The OP is talking about teaching community college mathematics. That's not introductory university mathematics; if you are lucky it's Pythagoras' Theorem and quadratic equations. W. W. Sawyer's books, such as Mathematician's Delight[1] and Vision in Elementary Mathematics[2], seem to be exactly for this audience. [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486462404/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486462404/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/048642555X/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/048642555X/
- skh 8y agoI looked at the books. They seem really nice but are not feasible for use in the classroom for the courses that we teach.
- HarryHirsch 8y agoI would agree with that statement.
- keithpeter 8y ago
- RankingMember 8y agoI wish more teachers of subjects like this had your mindset. I wonder if other colleges have some sort of requirement that the teacher push the book.
- skh 8y agoEvery college/university I've taught at allows instructors to choose their own book or has a committee of faculty members in the department choose the book. Increasingly there is a movement in state legislatures that mandate that the university system push open source textbooks. There's definitely a desire amongst a lot of faculty to use an open text book but the book has to be good and that's the hard part. One thing to keep in mind is that publishers don't publish books to appeal to students. Their client are faculty members. So they include things like websites that handle grading online homework/quizzes. Faculty are going to use what makes their job easier. With pay not commensurate with level of education I understand why faculty have this mindset. Personally I think it's bad to use the online homework/quizzing systems out there.