If you went to University or College before electronic textbooks were a reality, chances are you bought at least some of your textbooks second-hand – or, perhaps, sold the ones you were done with in order to buy new ones. Textbooks are hundreds of dollars!
One could understand that: with a small target audience, the printing setup costs would drive the prices of individual books sky high!
Electronic textbooks are an excellent way to make education more accessible. Everyone should be happy about that!!!
‘The result is less money for publishers, and fewer opportunities for professors like himself[Joseph Henry Vogel] to get published. With Vogel’s invention, however, this threat can be stopped.
The idea is simple. As part of a course, students will have to participate in a web-based discussion board, an activity which counts towards their final grade. To gain access to the board students need a special code, which they get by buying the associated textbook.
Students who don’t pay can’t participate in the course and therefore get a lower grade.’
In other words, when you register for the course, you only get access to part of it. To access the full course, you also have to buy the textbook. New.
Scum!!!