Textbooks online?

Textbooks are expensive. I know, I know--so what's new? My daughter, a first-year student at VCSU, spent $287 and some change for two books. Thank heavens she has a mom in academia who was able to let her borrow her desk copies for English and for Speech. And thank heavens she was able to test out of her computer class.

Why do we, as instructors, do this to our students?

And why do publishers do this to the students?

Well, when an author signs a contract to write a textbook, they are signing their life away.

Okay, that may be an exaggeration.

But often the authors promise to update the books every two years. This means a new edition to the books every two years. And yes, this means that used books become obsolete every two years.

Why?

Well, publishers are for-profit businesses. Used books don't provide any income for the publishers. New books, do.

So do the authors get rich? No, for each book sold, they get about 10% of the cost of that book. Do bookstores get rich? No, they get about 30% of the cost of that book.

That means 60% goes to the publisher. But remembr that part of that goes to editors, printers, binding, promotional materials, reviewers, and other expenses.

As the world becomes more digital, though, online textbooks are becoming more popular.

E-textbooks, which can be read online or on such devices as Kindle, are accessed for a short while, but then access can be limited after a specific amount of time. The benefit to textbook companies is that the books are not sold back to the bookstore--thus there are no used books in circulation. Publishers will make money with every "book" sold.

E-books. Hmmmm... There's something about the feel of paper between my hands. There's something about the feel of a cover, the size of the letters, the tangible touching of a book. For textbooks, I write in them! I react! I underline and highlight! I circle and cross-reference.

I am used to reading text on a screen. I have become quite adept to it in the ten years I have been teaching classes online. But again, there is nothing like having that paper in my hands.

Will I be making the switch? I have learned that when it comes to technology, never to say "never."

And right now I feel like my mom probably felt when she was my age and I was trying to teach her how to program her VCR.

But for now, give me paper. Give me ink. I'll continue to "pay the price" in purchasing books...

...well, at least for this year....

Let the student choose what to read????

"'Classic': A book which people praise and don't read." --Mark Twain

In a former life, I was a high school English teacher. I chose English because I loved to read. Yeah, I liked to write, and writing came easy to me, but I was a book nerd. When I was in elementary, jr. high, and sr. high school, I was the kid that always carried a book with her to read. I read on the bus. I read at night rather than watch TV. When I finished homework, I read my book. On the two hour ride down and back to the lake, I read. Babysitting? When the kids were in bed, I read.

I read classics, such as To Kill a Mockingbird or All Quiet on the Western Front. I read short stories by Poe, Hawthorne, and Twain. I enjoyed historical fiction, historical non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, and pop culture, such as the VC Andrews Flowers in the Attic series or Steven King books.

In college I became introduced to the wonders of American and British lit. Yes, in high school we read Shakespeare, but in college, we READ Shakespeare. I loved it! I got it! It spoke to me, as dd Cotton Mather, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Virginia Woolf, Chaucer, e.e. cummings, George Elliot, the Bronte sisters, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and many more. Oh, the wonder of these writers and the stories they wove! the symbolism! the allegories! the drama!

So when I became a high school teacher, I vowed to introduce the students to the classics. I crafted book lists that the students could choose from to read a book a month. On this list were a combination of classics and Newberry winners.

One parent asked me why I didn't let the student choose the book. Well, what did they know??? I went to college! I saw (or was taught) the marvels of The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, The Scarlet Letter, Hamlet (though secretly, I HATED The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath).

Unfortunately, the students didn't. And rather than encouraging students to become avid readers, I think I turned them off.

But these were classics and the students needed to read them. Why? Because they were classics... And the students needed to read them.

Today schools are beginning to move away from this trend. Teachers recognize that there are too many distractoins to keep students from reading. Students game. They IM and Facebook each other. They surf the web, tweet, download music, and watch tv shows and movies. The bookworm nerd is a think of the past.

So a shift in education is happening. Harry Potter is replacing the Little House books as favorites. The Twilight series replaces Romeo and Juliet's tale of star-crossed lovers. Manga and Anime, or comic books in book form, such as those by Neil Gaimon hold the interest of both male and female teens.

So is letting students choose their own books valuable? The question is what is the purpose for the students reading? Are we trying to create a situation of life-long learning? Expose the students to broader themes of humanity and culture?

I'm not sure. The thought that now one will ever read Atticus Finch telling Scout "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view" saddens me. That students will never see the humor in biting one's thumb, or the double meaning as Young Goodman Brown laments his Faith is gone saddens me.

But I also have a 20 year old son and 20 year old niece who both hate to read. Perhaps if they had more leverage to choose what to read, the may not be "anti-reading."

Besides, at one time, Macbeth, Moby Dick, and Silas Marner were popular texts.

Are schools ready?

Last spring was a trying time for VCSU. Storms held people captive in their dorms, apartments, and houses. The Sheyenne River began rising with the quick melt of the snow, students, faculty, staff, and administration put many hours helping sandbag.

Then,while the students were away for Easter break, the dikes came in, the dikes began to fail, and the decision for the students to say home and classes to all go up online came about.

It was quite the semester! Some courses had great difficulty going online, such as band and chemistry lab. Some teachers were not as "in-tuned" to using Blackboard, so they completed their classes via e-mail. But most "rose to the occassion." After the initial shock of "WHAT? HOW CAN WE POSSIBLE DO THAT???" set in, faculty members stepped forward and did what had to be done to complete the semester.

Our efforts were noticed nationally. In fact, our efforts have been studied as a possiblity of an alternative for schools with large outbreaks of the H1N1 virus.

Is this a viable alternative? Should schools be planning ahead? What will schools do if the virus manifests itself as an epidemic?

Unfortunately, only 1/2 of schools actually plan for disasters. That's unacceptable. While I am not suggesting we run crying that the sky is falling, we know that the H1N1 virus is real and we know that it can take 5-10 days to recover. So why would schools sit back and wait for it to happen?

We were told at a forum yesterday that it may be until November until students can get a vaccine for this strain. Yet it is here in North Dakota. Two sets of youth groups who went to a national Lutheran youth gathering in New Orleans came back with the H1N1 virus. Take a bunch of students and place them in a contained place. It doesn't matter how much you try to encourage them to use hand sanitizer, wash their hands, stay home if sick... The virus can still do its damage.

So is putting courses online during an epidemic the direction to go? When is the decision made? When 5% of the student body is sick?10%? 15%? Do we continue with courses for those who are well and create second courses that reach those who are sick? For example, if ten students are out with the Swine Flu for Public Speaking, do we continue the f2f course for the fifteen that are not sick?

And what about other schools? Some news reports state that the high schools and elementary schools that closed last spring due to an outbreak should not have closed. Are teachers in these education systems expected to prepare make-up assignments for students?

Similar to what VCSU went through, computers may provide the answer. Various programs allow parents to see what homework is expected for the students. But are their places to submit completed homework online? Are teachers able to capture their day's activities and place it online in video form for the students who are ill? AND, do all students have computer access at home to get their assignments?

These are questions schools are and should be wrestling with.

Meanwhile, H1N1 or o H1N1, VCSU is prepared...