Anyone who regularly follows education news would assume that it goes without saying that we simply must revolutionize the textbook. Apple's recently announced plans for the textbook space are founded on this assumption, as are new developments over the past few years by established companies like Amazon and Google and start-ups like Inkling and Chegg. Sometimes, though, consensus can run ahead of reality, or at least distort it. Today I will explore the question of whether it is really true that we must revolutionize the textbook. Why must we?
Contrary to what some people write, it's not because traditional textbooks are inadequate to prepare students for the modern world. There are many obvious counterexamples to this idea. To list just one, today's most radically innovative and successful companies in nearly every vertical are run by people who were largely educated using traditional textbooks. And it's not because traditional textbooks are out of synch with how education really works "in the trenches." On the contrary, textbooks are created almost without exception by highly accomplished instructors, people who work with real students every day and therefore understand well how to motivate and teach them. And it's not because students hate traditional textbooks. Though students are uniformly unhappy with the price and weight of most textbooks, they do tend to appreciate their quality and educational value.
One thing is clear: if textbooks need revolutionizing, it's not because there is something fundamentally wrong with them. It's because, given the state of today's technology, there are now ways to make the textbook much more right, to bring deeper and more lasting value to teachers and students. ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/vikramsavkar/2012/01/24/textbooks/?feed=rss_home
Contrary to what some people write, it's not because traditional textbooks are inadequate to prepare students for the modern world. There are many obvious counterexamples to this idea. To list just one, today's most radically innovative and successful companies in nearly every vertical are run by people who were largely educated using traditional textbooks. And it's not because traditional textbooks are out of synch with how education really works "in the trenches." On the contrary, textbooks are created almost without exception by highly accomplished instructors, people who work with real students every day and therefore understand well how to motivate and teach them. And it's not because students hate traditional textbooks. Though students are uniformly unhappy with the price and weight of most textbooks, they do tend to appreciate their quality and educational value.
One thing is clear: if textbooks need revolutionizing, it's not because there is something fundamentally wrong with them. It's because, given the state of today's technology, there are now ways to make the textbook much more right, to bring deeper and more lasting value to teachers and students. ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/vikramsavkar/2012/01/24/textbooks/?feed=rss_home
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