5 ms·

I think the largest tech monopoly platform in education is the text book publishing racket. They have moved on from trying to come out with "new" versions every

I think the largest tech monopoly platform in education is the text book publishing racket. They have moved on from trying to come out with "new" versions every couple years to selling "ebook" platforms that are, of course, drmed and proprietary and students can only access for a limited time. So even if you wanted to keep your books you can't. To make things worse, at least in my field, the only "interactive" platforms are pretty pointless and consist of watching a video and answering questions about it. I was using a creative commons book but I was "asked" to use the same book as others so it wouldn't be confusing for the bookstore (which is owned by Barnes and Noble who run tons of college bookstores)

judge2020 6y ago
This. Cengage is the one I've had to use - your take tests within cengage's website, which is only accessible by buying the book, and the grades are reported back to the school's online course platform (blackboard for me). I didn't ask, but I would be surprised if the instructor offered any alternative to taking those tests and hands-on labs.
- jccalhoun 6y ago
  Yes, I didn't even mention that these "ebook" and "interactive platforms" are really just ways to eliminate the used book market so that students can't buy used books or use older editions that are 90% the same.
  - dehrmann 6y ago
    In a way, I'd prefer books that are licensed to just me and 50% cheaper just so I don't have to deal with selling books back at 40% of their purchase price.
    - p1necone 6y ago
      They're only 50% cheaper because they want to make them more attractive than physical copies. If they ever kill the physical publishing they will charge whatever the hell they want for DRM'd digital copies again. The actual printing/shipping costs are a rather small percentage of the full cost of textbooks.
      - seg_lol 6y ago
        States and State College systems should fund an org to create standard open text books for everyone to use. The content can be refined and tweaked with updated pedagogical techniques and knowledge as they develop. The ebooks don't need to be bound by regular page numbers and the print books can be compact guides and references.
- tomcam 6y ago
  I am old enough to remember when you used books that could last for years and teachers wrote their own tests.
merely-unlikely 6y ago
In college my classes in the business school would hand out binders containing the PowerPoint decks for the whole semester and would usually make them available online as well (some were even accessible to the public). Classes were also recorded for later viewing. The arts & sciences classes required textbooks. The professors were often co-authors of those books too. I don’t think it is a coincidence that the quality of education was vastly superior at the business school. For more reasons than just using textbooks vs slide decks but that was a factor.
dehrmann 6y ago
For something like K-12 math that doesn't change much over decades and should be easy to avoid politically charged issues in, you'd think states would band together to fund a public domain text book.
- smogcutter 6y ago
  Part of the problem is that while the math doesn’t change, the approach to teaching it does. Every decade or so there’s a new broom as the new administration fumbles to “fix” education. Recently it’s been NCLB followed by ESSA. Meanwhile there are also trends and fads in education research, which trickle down to the classroom through teacher prep programs and administrators who need to look innovative in order to keep their jobs. Not all of this is bad! If your old methods aren’t working (they’re not), it’s worth trying new ones. But it does mean that even in math you’re never going to get an “ultimate” textbook.
- jccalhoun 6y ago
  In education they use the acronym OER (Open Educational Resource) and there are a number of textbooks that are released as OER. I was using one but was "asked" to use the same one as everyone else.
  - seg_lol 6y ago
    I am a big fan of https://greenteapress.com/wp/ https://greenteapress.com/wp/ for CS and Math related subjects. What OER sites and books would you recommend for your domains?
dayvid 6y ago
I taught English in a Japanese Junior high and elementary school. The government makes the textbooks with input from senior teachers and they're all inexpensive paperbacks. It makes much more sense when I consider the gigantic expensive hardcover textbooks I would get as a kid. They were quickly outdated and occasionally filled with obscene writing from previous students.

judge2020 6y ago

This. Cengage is the one I've had to use - your take tests within cengage's website, which is only accessible by buying the book, and the grades are reported back to the school's online course platform (blackboard for me). I didn't ask, but I would be surprised if the instructor offered any alternative to taking those tests and hands-on labs.

jccalhoun 6y ago
Yes, I didn't even mention that these "ebook" and "interactive platforms" are really just ways to eliminate the used book market so that students can't buy used books or use older editions that are 90% the same.
- dehrmann 6y ago
  In a way, I'd prefer books that are licensed to just me and 50% cheaper just so I don't have to deal with selling books back at 40% of their purchase price.
  - p1necone 6y ago
    They're only 50% cheaper because they want to make them more attractive than physical copies. If they ever kill the physical publishing they will charge whatever the hell they want for DRM'd digital copies again. The actual printing/shipping costs are a rather small percentage of the full cost of textbooks.
    - seg_lol 6y ago
      States and State College systems should fund an org to create standard open text books for everyone to use. The content can be refined and tweaked with updated pedagogical techniques and knowledge as they develop. The ebooks don't need to be bound by regular page numbers and the print books can be compact guides and references.
tomcam 6y ago
I am old enough to remember when you used books that could last for years and teachers wrote their own tests.

merely-unlikely 6y ago

In college my classes in the business school would hand out binders containing the PowerPoint decks for the whole semester and would usually make them available online as well (some were even accessible to the public). Classes were also recorded for later viewing. The arts & sciences classes required textbooks. The professors were often co-authors of those books too. I don’t think it is a coincidence that the quality of education was vastly superior at the business school. For more reasons than just using textbooks vs slide decks but that was a factor.

dehrmann 6y ago

For something like K-12 math that doesn't change much over decades and should be easy to avoid politically charged issues in, you'd think states would band together to fund a public domain text book.

smogcutter 6y ago
Part of the problem is that while the math doesn’t change, the approach to teaching it does. Every decade or so there’s a new broom as the new administration fumbles to “fix” education. Recently it’s been NCLB followed by ESSA. Meanwhile there are also trends and fads in education research, which trickle down to the classroom through teacher prep programs and administrators who need to look innovative in order to keep their jobs. Not all of this is bad! If your old methods aren’t working (they’re not), it’s worth trying new ones. But it does mean that even in math you’re never going to get an “ultimate” textbook.
jccalhoun 6y ago
In education they use the acronym OER (Open Educational Resource) and there are a number of textbooks that are released as OER. I was using one but was "asked" to use the same one as everyone else.
- seg_lol 6y ago
  I am a big fan of https://greenteapress.com/wp/ https://greenteapress.com/wp/ for CS and Math related subjects. What OER sites and books would you recommend for your domains?

dayvid 6y ago

I taught English in a Japanese Junior high and elementary school. The government makes the textbooks with input from senior teachers and they're all inexpensive paperbacks. It makes much more sense when I consider the gigantic expensive hardcover textbooks I would get as a kid. They were quickly outdated and occasionally filled with obscene writing from previous students.