still serving their intended purpose
really college textbooks imagine an
academic learning environment a
classroom imagine a fresh approach to
learning imagine an innovative
interactive creative and critical
thinking learning experience imagine
there are no textbooks required sounds
pretty interesting right that’s my
vision of a 21st century academic
learning environment Terada of college
careers all of us have been required to
buy an inordinate amount of really
expensive textbooks yes I repeat really
expensive textbooks and then we face the
daunting task of reading these technical
theory based factual and at times
extremely difficult narrative let’s be
honest most textbooks are very boring
and filled with mind-numbing
throws now I do understand that the
publishers and the Authors have federal
mandates for content standards that they
need to abide by but the end result if
10 puts 10-pound tomes delivering the
material quite superficially and
unrealistically now I want to preface
that by saying it’s not true for all
college textbooks but it is true for the
vast majority let me share a personal
story with you I am a chronic reader I
love to read it’s my favorite pastime
when I have a choice it goes something
so I’m returning back to college as a
non-traditional student and I’m pretty
excited because now I’m gonna embark on
some new reading because I love to read
some academic reading new solely from
the perspective that I had not picked up
a college textbook in at least two
decades so I got my college textbook
list and I headed to the bookstore I was
in for two rude awakenings the first
rude awakening
was the cost of my college textbooks I
was taking four classes twelve credits
there were total of eight required
textbooks for those courses so I went on
up to the register and I was
flabbergasted when I got the cost of
those textbooks 814 . 53 cents yes I
have the receipt to prove it see what it
says really expensive college textbooks
the second rude awakening was when I
started to read the materials and the
content that was so dry non relatable
and actually uninspiring prose that I
had to read you know the readability
formula on college textbooks are left to
be desired what we get are authors
presenting ideas to us didactically that
we are just supposed to accept as
discrete facts as opposed to giving us
the information as clues to these
concept fairies and principles that we
can discover and further explore I was
not impressed I have got to say I was
not impressed with the college textbooks
and so the knowledge transfer that I had
anticipated to occur did not occur I do
not remember anything at all to be
honest with you from any of those
college textbooks those years ago let me
fast forward a few years I become a
facilitator for university Wilmington
University and unknowingly I had
come and anthropologists and I was
affecting students in my classrooms what
I noticed was a common trend still a
disturbing yet common trend students
coming to class without their college
textbooks so I did an informal poll in
one of my business courses I just posed
a general question to the students
general yet open-ended this is what I
said to them how do you feel about
college textbook these were the
responses the names have been changed to
protect the innocent and they’re not so
innocent in my classroom jason declares
textbooks are boring really Jason
you don’t say Kathy stated it would be
awesome if we did not actually need a
textbook for this class why asked she
says well I could never really
understand the point anyway you always
shared a PowerPoint slide you give us
great information and resources in your
weekly contents and resources folder
that seems enough you give us handouts
and relatable material and then the
course has a lecture face to face
meetings so what’s the point
Ryan proclaims he said I believe that
true learning begins with small lectures
which is often supplemented by the text
the materials you give us and your
discussions of real-life experiences
even faded clearly stop the madness with
the college textbook but overall I’ve
got to tell you most of the students
were relatively frustrated with the cost
of college textbooks in that one
particular course where I pulled the
students that textbook is two hundred
and fifteen dollars for a core business
course that’s required by all the
businesses among majors another case in
point this is for a one semester twelve
four classes
twelve credits look at the price one
textbook two hundred and eighty dollars
and 67 cents the next one two hundred
and seventy four dollars and eighty
cents this one two hundred and fifty
five dollars and ninety three cents and
this one two hundred and eighty 4.15
for a grand total of one thousand and
twenty three dollars and 55 cents so
students were saying to me first of all
I know this excuse me students were
showing up without the college textbooks
one they either didn’t buy it – they
bought it they didn’t read it three they
bought it read it and had a hard time
relating to the dry factual content
inside the textbook that was my
experience number three having a hard
time truly relating to the textbooks so
I made a decision I said I am gonna
further discuss with these students to
gain a deeper understanding from them
let’s take a look at this according to
publisher that our data reveal revealed
in the United States over 75% of
students decide not to buy the textbooks
their classes require in large part
because they find textbooks too
expensive and are discouraged by the
simple fact that quite often a few
chapters from the books were needed for
study that’s all I thought this slide
was really cute it says so how often are
we going to use our $400 textbook and me
as a professor said oh we just need it
for that paragraph on page 12 so based
on that data the recent trend and my
personal observation this is a critical
issue in college it truly is it is an
academic dilemma in every walk of life
when we have a problem we try to find a
quick solution to resolve that situation
however not in academia
not in higher learning that is so
riddled with dogma and long-standing
traditions instead what we do is we put
our heads under wings or underneath the
fan and pretend that the problem does
not exist so here is my call to action
let’s abandon the traditional lecture
and textbook format why it’s an archaic
methodology that does not encourage our
students to think critically it’s a
passive way of learning we keep telling
them think critically think deeply let
this be a confidence it’s a competency
based learning experience how can we how
can they when we don’t equip them with
the tools so what are we going to do
with this call to action we are going to
give our students case studies to learn
by a new completely innovative framework
why case studies or real-life situation
real-life organizations
facing threats opportunities problems
issues risks and what it does is it put
our students figures hurt
figuratively in the in a decision-making
mode they have to make decisions they
have to take actions and they have to
also defend those actions and those
decisions that they make in that role
what are we going to offer we are going
to offer Harvard Business Review or Ivy
publishing course paths these are the
cost savings for students for the
Harvard Business Review and I read
course but the prices are pretty
comparable for the Ivy for the Harvard
Business Review for an electronic course
pack it’s $2 for the printable and
downloadable version its 395 so saying
an undergraduate college course we
decided that we are going to use 10
course packs for that course you see the
cost saving for the students for the
e-version
it’s $20 for the printable and
downloadable version it’s 3995 compared
to the average cost of a college
textbook which is about $200 so Wow
think about that we’re actually
encourage our students or students to
think critically to think deeply to
think intensively and isn’t that what
education is all about we are supposed
to teach them the think creatively think
deeply think about real-life situations
that’s competency-based learning so as
leaders of Education yes it’s our
commitment yes it’s our obligation yes
it’s our fiduciary responsibility to our
students we’re required to take charge
and implement change let’s be innovative
creative and inspiring
let’s break away from academic dogma and
tradition let’s be agents of change and
challenge the status quo let’s fulfill
our obligation to our student a student
imagine an academic environment a
classroom imagine a fresh approach to
learning imagine an innovative inspiring
creative and critical thinking learning
environment imagine there are no
textbooks required imagine I’m actually
going to learn after all Albert Einstein
states education is not the learning of
facts but the training of the mind to think thank you