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It's a nice start, but this isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. This will be a difficult problem with certain majors. I've taken several economics classes, an

by jmtame 18y ago

It's a nice start, but this isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. This will be a difficult problem with certain majors. I've taken several economics classes, and you have to purchase a new book for the semester in order to get a key card inside of the book. This will let you activate an online account, which will open up Flash-based homework. This is all linked into the school's grading system. Many classes _require_ the student to go through this registration process, or you could be dropped from the class entirely. And economics is just one example. I had the same setup in several business, psychology, and engineering classes. I'm sure this may work for some of the books, but I wouldn't really look at this as the end of expensive textbooks.

rms 18y ago
I remember that from an economics class. That is definitely a way of adapting the model to prevent piracy -- kind of like how desktop software is easy to pirate, but SaaS isn't. The electronic component needs to be actually useful to be adopted by teachers. I've bought other books with some kind of electronic component (chemistry, physics), but I never scratched off the keycode to maintain the resale value of the book. Economics is the only class I've had where the software component was required to complete the homework. Damn capitalists. The biggest barrier to book piracy being useful is new editions. Often older editions (and older solutions manuals!) are available online, but in engineering, at least, they change the order of the problems to deprecate the old editions.
vaksel 18y ago
Most teachers side with the students when it comes to books costing an outrageous amount. So most of them avoid feeding publisher's pocket books. i.e. When I was in college most teachers just uploaded copies of homework problems on blackboard, and never used any of that published based info. + all of the problems were based on material discussed in class, so you never had to buy the book in the first place. There are obvious exceptions, usually when the teacher is the one who wrote the book, and wants to profit off his students. i.e. I had one class where the guy had us buy 3 books, 2 of which we never even used. Surprise, surprise they all had the teacher's name on the cover.
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  When I went to college (2005 grad), almost all my textbooks were optional. A couple friends and I usually pooled our money and bought one to share, which was great for Midterms/Finals, since we studied together anyway. The books I actually kept were things like SICP, which were cheaper to begin with. I wonder at what point the online editions of these books become so detailed that they compete with the University course itself. A lot of them already do all the grunt work for the Professor (giving quizzes/hw and grading them). All you have to do at that point is get accredited and make some kind of exam system and you have a substitute for the actual class. $209 seems awfully pricey for a book, but not too bad for an intro course in Biology. And frankly, your intro courses are ripe to be taken over the net, because they are already given in anonymous lecture halls with 1000 people in them. Imagine some student showing up in the Dean's office with her transcript from Prentice Hall, showing off her 4.0 in online courses and ready to dive into her major as a Junior.
  - silencio 18y ago
    I'm looking into transferring to a university to finish my BSc in computer science (dropped out of HS, went to a community college), and all the ones I've looked into usually had some sort of cap on the number and type of online classes you were allowed to take. Unfortunately. I would not mind taking nothing but online classes for most intro classes where hands-on stuff was either not necessary (like..CS?) or where you only had to actually show up to class for a lab (like chem, bio, anatomy..). That being said, I took online classes because it let me slack off and then still get an A in the class, but it actually took more effort to get the A because of the extra work to prove I wasn't just showing up to take exams. But the timing was more convenient for me. Sooo..
silencio 18y ago
I've had that happen with econ, math and some other classes...and usually instead of buying the book to get the code you had the option of just paying for the online access. Like, the book would be $90 with the code, but the code itself would be $20 you can pay with a credit card (i.e. if you bought the book used for, say, $40, and you wanted just the online access). I actually haven't had a class where the book was the only way you could get access to that.
noonespecial 18y ago
Keycard? Seriously? http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html Here we come.

by jmtame 18y ago

rms 18y ago

I remember that from an economics class. That is definitely a way of adapting the model to prevent piracy -- kind of like how desktop software is easy to pirate, but SaaS isn't. The electronic component needs to be actually useful to be adopted by teachers. I've bought other books with some kind of electronic component (chemistry, physics), but I never scratched off the keycode to maintain the resale value of the book. Economics is the only class I've had where the software component was required to complete the homework. Damn capitalists. The biggest barrier to book piracy being useful is new editions. Often older editions (and older solutions manuals!) are available online, but in engineering, at least, they change the order of the problems to deprecate the old editions.

vaksel 18y ago

Most teachers side with the students when it comes to books costing an outrageous amount. So most of them avoid feeding publisher's pocket books. i.e. When I was in college most teachers just uploaded copies of homework problems on blackboard, and never used any of that published based info. + all of the problems were based on material discussed in class, so you never had to buy the book in the first place. There are obvious exceptions, usually when the teacher is the one who wrote the book, and wants to profit off his students. i.e. I had one class where the guy had us buy 3 books, 2 of which we never even used. Surprise, surprise they all had the teacher's name on the cover.

Xichekolas 18y ago
When I went to college (2005 grad), almost all my textbooks were optional. A couple friends and I usually pooled our money and bought one to share, which was great for Midterms/Finals, since we studied together anyway. The books I actually kept were things like SICP, which were cheaper to begin with. I wonder at what point the online editions of these books become so detailed that they compete with the University course itself. A lot of them already do all the grunt work for the Professor (giving quizzes/hw and grading them). All you have to do at that point is get accredited and make some kind of exam system and you have a substitute for the actual class. $209 seems awfully pricey for a book, but not too bad for an intro course in Biology. And frankly, your intro courses are ripe to be taken over the net, because they are already given in anonymous lecture halls with 1000 people in them. Imagine some student showing up in the Dean's office with her transcript from Prentice Hall, showing off her 4.0 in online courses and ready to dive into her major as a Junior.
- silencio 18y ago
  I'm looking into transferring to a university to finish my BSc in computer science (dropped out of HS, went to a community college), and all the ones I've looked into usually had some sort of cap on the number and type of online classes you were allowed to take. Unfortunately. I would not mind taking nothing but online classes for most intro classes where hands-on stuff was either not necessary (like..CS?) or where you only had to actually show up to class for a lab (like chem, bio, anatomy..). That being said, I took online classes because it let me slack off and then still get an A in the class, but it actually took more effort to get the A because of the extra work to prove I wasn't just showing up to take exams. But the timing was more convenient for me. Sooo..

silencio 18y ago

I've had that happen with econ, math and some other classes...and usually instead of buying the book to get the code you had the option of just paying for the online access. Like, the book would be $90 with the code, but the code itself would be $20 you can pay with a credit card (i.e. if you bought the book used for, say, $40, and you wanted just the online access). I actually haven't had a class where the book was the only way you could get access to that.

noonespecial 18y ago

Keycard? Seriously? http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html Here we come.