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The end of Text Books – The End of School too?

by Rob Paterson

August 30, 2010 at 11:22 am · Filed under Books

It’s back to school. One of the worst things about being a student are text books. They cost a bomb. They are “New” every year but like many new cars new only in a minor way. They are Mandatory. They are often out of date – always boring and often wrong.

In the emerging web world – will Text Boks as we know them last?

Arguably the most expensive reference book – the English Oxford Dictionary – 21 years in the making for the next edition will never be printed! Why? Because it does not make any sense to print it. Web search is so much better than manual and the costs of a print edition are too high. (Telegraph) HT Johnnie Moore. Today most access the OED via subscription online – 2 million hits a month from subscribers who pay $500 a year. Web search and printing costs have killed the print side.

Academic Journals are also coming under attack for being too expensive.

The Text Book has its replacement in use already.

My favorite alternative is the Khan Academy. A free online site that has a math and science focus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY5VKiG_IXE

My son likes the MIT site.

So why pay $200 for a text book that is not as good as this?

Bigger question – does not this cause you to question how schools are set up now? Why if math is so poorly taught do most kids have to endure Miss Jones plodding her way along when they could use Khan?What might this do to schools?

Might this see a return to a university where the core structure was a network of teachers as they were in Padua and Oxford in the 14th century? And what about K-12? Could a one room school that had a small staff of coaches and access to the best teaching in the world knock the pants off a regular school?

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Sydney ShoreSeptember 2nd, 2010 at 9:03 pm

It’s kind of mind boggling how every year, it seems there’s a technological shift that affects our workplace, school mediums, and etc. I’m still quite jealous that kids these days can easily download and search for things without browsing musty old books.