I just sent out the emails to my students in the relevant classes. By allowing them to purchase the previous editions of these books, they can save $90 in one class and $100 in the other class, if they choose. The savings I indicate are based on the best price I could find (not exhaustively researched) for the new edition compared to the old edition. Based on the price the bookstore is charging, I've given them the opportunity to save about $140 in each class. It will be interesting to see how many take advantage of the option.
I like some of the ideas being mentioned here: Using a minimal textbook and supplementing, telling the reps that you have had it with grotesque prices. I hope that flatworldknowledge creates a competitive and useful option. Other low cost publishers have produced books that I found startlingly poor in content (e.g., some from Atomic Dog). I hope flatworldknowledge does better. The arc of prices heading upward feels like the health care industry, and there is nobody who has a greater influence on the system than us. We pick the book. The student has little choice once picked, so they have no influence. The publishers know that many faculty don't pay a whit of attention to the price, and their motivation is exactly in opposition to lower prices. So, some of the solution, I think, needs to be educating faculty about the prices of the books they pick. I'd like to think that some would make greater efforts to lower the prices by making different selections and allowing options. Paul Paul C Bernhardt Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD, USA pcbernhardt[at]frostburg[d0t]edu On Aug 22, 2010, at 11:57 AM, Annette Taylor wrote: > I have talked about this in the past so most tipsters know where I stand on > this. As a mom of college students (I just graduated the last one! Yeah!) I > am hyperaware of textbook costs and nowhere is it more rampant than in > business classes. My accounting major son had to pay nearly $400 for a tax > accounting text! It had to be new each year to accommodate new tax laws and > could never be sold and was obsolete by the next year! > > I like using a bare bones book and supplement with readings that I like. > Since I like to focus on refuting misconceptions, my readings, about 2-4 per > chapter, are on eReserves for students to read or download, as they desire. > > I am using a different book right now because I'm doing research on intro > psych pedagogies and wanted a more 'mainstream' text; but (apologies to > author on this list), I will be going back to the bare bones book after the > study is done. It costs about $15. There are several out there but I use the > Barron book (Psychology the Easy Way) that is written by a tipster. > > Here is how I see it: Most texts have the stupidest pictures in them that > have NO pedagogical value; I mean, I love graphs and a picture that might > really illustrate a concept--which is rare. Most of the pictures in textbooks > are so generic that they could be illustrating any concept depending on where > you insert them into the text. That is a good part of what students pay for > with texts--all the copyright costs on all the fancy pictures that illustrate > nothing in particular. And I know from conversations with authors that they > don't always have a whole lot of say in which pictures are included. > > So, by picking a book that is complete in terms of the essential information, > devoid of pictures (leaving in some graphs as illustrations), and devoid of > that particular author's slant on what should be included in a chapter to > illustrate or provide more depth or breadth or both, based on THAT AUTHOR's > opinion of what is important to achieve this, is just not how I want to > teach. It may be good for beginning instructors...the Myers text for example, > very complete but with stuff that I don't see as quite that necessary or that > makes a point that I would like to make with the chapter. > > So my students only need to spend for the cheap text and after that it's > their call to print or not to print the supplemental primary readings--which > range from newspaper articles, to Newsweek type articles, to Scientific > American type articles to regular professional journal articles or book > chapters. > > Annette > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > Professor, Psychological Sciences > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > tay...@sandiego.edu > ________________________________________ > From: Paul C Bernhardt [pcbernha...@frostburg.edu] > Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 8:23 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] Warning: Rant: $180!!!!! > > Excuse this rant. I know it isn't news, but textbook prices are out of > control. > > Out of curiosity, I checked at the bookstore for how much my students will > have to pay for a copy of the text I've selected for one of my courses. > > $180.00 (new) > > That's not right. It is also about $50 more than I thought students would > suffer for it (which is still too much). > > They can get it for just under $140 on Amazon and Textbooks.com. I'm still > appalled. > > Looking at the books for the other classes I'm teaching.. $174.00 > > For another class in which I'm using trade paperbacks, $23 and $17 (two books > required, prices for new copies). No issue with those prices, of course. > > But, it puts the textbook prices in sharp contrast: is a textbook really > something that requires between 6 and 10 times the price? > > I think it is (past) time for faculty to assert the control we have over this > process. I am going to pick a new book for I/O for the Spring. I will make > sure that I specify that students can use previous editions of the book. I > know the publishers try to pull the old editions out of circulation, but they > are still out there and do cost a lot less. > > When I teach the class requiring the $174 book next fall I'm going to allow > the previous edition. You may recall my describing that I was not going to > allow the previous edition for this book a few months back. But, with > publishers selling individual chapters to students, they will spend much less > to buy a new copy of the previous edition and simply buy that chapter from > the publisher for an inflated price. > > For the stats class with the $180 book, same thing, but there is also a > possibility to use Wikibooks. A fully developed stats book sits there. > Whether it can be used for a behavior sciences stats course is another > question. Flatworldknowledge.com is another model by which students can get > free and greatly reduced price textbooks, though no stats book there, yet. > > How many of us check how much students get charged for the books we require? > What solutions are we seeking? What more can we do? > > Paul C. Bernhardt > Department of Psychology > Frostburg State University > Frostburg, Maryland > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: pcbernha...@frostburg.edu. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=4351 > or send a blank email to > leave-4351-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4352 or send a blank email to leave-4352-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
