Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ What's behind the soaring cost of college textbooks

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Digital technologies have made just about everything cheaper and more accessible, but textbook publihers have managed to use it to make education more expensive for students. That's the overarching message in this news report from the United States. "The main culprit? Textbooks bundled with 'access codes' that expire at the end of the semester. These access codes largely force students to buy books at retail prices at campus bookstores and render the texts worthless in the resale market." You might think this is an advantage for open educational resources. "With open educational resources, there are no access codes, and students never lose access to their core content," said Nicole Finkbeiner, associate director of institutional relations for OpenStax. But let's not forget about the bundling of OERs with software students have to pay for - and to which, just like textbooks, they lose access to after a year or two.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 04:58 a.m.

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