For the first time since I started college, several of my professors decided not to require textbooks for their courses. With textbooks being the prime expense at the start of each semester, this was welcome — if not surprising — news. Two of the three professors cited price as the main reason for deciding against a required text. With tuition increasing, catching a break on textbooks certainly makes courses more accessible. It also gives both students and professors much more flexibility in the course.
In the past few years, the website Blackboard has become a more widely used and necessary tool for college courses. It enables professors to share and incorporate many sources for their courses at no additional expense to students. As a student, I get much more out of the course if the professor is able to provide a variety of sources because it creates a more dynamic and holistic learning experience.
It is interesting that textbook costs are just now being considered when the burden these prices pose is nothing new to the college experience. As technology is integrated more and more into courses, for the first time, there is a sustainable alternative to the textbook-dominated norm. By creating their own virtual textbooks, professors have inadvertently created a much more autonomous learning domain. By scanning selected readings and uploading them, the physical barrier to sharing information is deconstructed, allowing knowledge to flow freely, which is the whole point of education.
Knowledge is never fixed because we are continuously reevaluating what we think and know. So why should our textbooks be fixed? It is time that we reflect the way we learn more clearly and continue to phase out textbooks in favor of online alternatives for information sharing. Because it takes time to print and circulate something, using virtual information sharing means knowledge can be distributed faster and easier. Physical textbooks limit the way you can share knowledge in fixed print. Moving that information online instantly opens up options to audio, visual and other mixed media formats.
There is so much potential growth for sharing knowledge when textbooks are eliminated from the picture. Online portals such as Blackboard are some of the most efficient ways to integrate virtual knowledge sources because they are an extremely organized way to access everything. The more organized everything is, the better it gets used.
Plus, often in the humanities, textbooks do not serve as adequate learning tools for upper-level courses. Online information sharing is much more conducive to discussing issues such as the anthropological dimensions of environmental conservation. As you progress in earning a degree, the courses become more specialized and a textbook is not where professors turn to explore concepts.
I hope more professors decide against using textbooks in the future so that we have the chance to foster greater virtual innovation when it comes to sharing academic knowledge. Not only is it far cheaper for students and environmentally responsible, but by making knowledge more accessible, a more open and free academic environment is slowly cultivated.
Grace Goode is a junior anthropology major. She can be reached at goode at umdbk dot com.
