New technologies may change textbooks’ future

The textbook industry may be on the verge of a major transformation if students, faculty and publishers embrace potentially game-changing new technology that a professor at this university has already begun to use.

Because in-state students will likely face a 3 percent tuition increase next year, innovative ways of saving money on textbooks are more relevant than ever, and professors and student groups are taking steps to solve the issue of affordability.

Like many of his colleagues, psychology professor Charles Stangor recently authored a textbook on material he has researched and taught in his classrooms. But unlike traditional books, Stangor's work, Introduction to Psychology, is available online free of charge.

The textbook was published last November by the open-license company Flat World Knowledge, a leader in the evolving industry's advancements. The Flat World publishing model allows students free access to course books online and also gives them the option of purchasing the textbook itself or downloading it for digital devices for a fee, said Flat World president and co-founder Eric Frank.

"It's really great for students. It's very flexible in a lot of ways," Stangor said. "You can print it, get a hard copy of the book, download it for your Kindle. There are a lot of different ways you can get the content."

There are 32 textbooks available on Flat World's website, and Frank said the company hopes to have at least 120 published in the next three years.

The open-licensing format gives instructors the option of modifying the content to suit their particular curriculum. They can take out practice problems, add in web links or move around chapters.

At the same time, the publisher can update the books' material to reflect recent changes without having to print expensive new editions, a common student complaint.

"New studies come out, things change, the book is revised," Stangor said. "If I find a mistake or I left something out, I just send [Flat World] an e-mail, and they fix it."

Frank said this feature also allows the online versions to reflect current events. For example, Frank said Stangor could add a section about the psychology of protest to the original text, using the recent conflicts in Egypt and Tunisia as a platform to discuss the subject.

Stangor's book, which is geared toward undergraduate introductory psychology courses, isn't being used at this university because those classes are taught by other professors who may have other preferences, he said. He is also working on another open textbook about social psychology that's on track for publication sometime this year, he added.

Frank said he believes the open-textbook market is just beginning to flourish.

"I think there's no question — it's here, it's inevitable, it's going to be a significant part of the market," Frank said. "But I don't think it'll ever get to the point where traditional publishers disappear."

Because traditionally published books can pose financial problems for students, student groups such as the lobbying organization MaryPIRG are working to acquire more used books in addition to advocating for open textbooks.

Although professors are required to submit the ISBN numbers of their textbooks well before the start of classes, those deadlines often don't give the bookstores time to stock many used books, said freshman Arabic studies and government and politics major Cat Tappert.

Tappert, who leads MaryPIRG's textbooks campaign, said requisition forms for textbooks, filled out by professors several months before the end of a semester, would allow students to save money by purchasing used books.

"We're working on textbooks because the rising cost of higher education is becoming a burden to students," she said. "A $900 average [spent on textbooks per year] is becoming a real barrier to higher education. We're trying to mitigate those costs."

kirkwood at umdbk dot com