I've taken a class from Allen and used his books. In the context of his classes they are very good and the short readings can be useful, but taken as a reference like many other textbooks are they don't do as much.
Textbook manifesto (2016)
51–60 of 166 posts
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#52Amen. This author's thesis sounds pretty darn good to me.
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a fellow European, my experience is similar (though our prices were higher but still substantially lower than the big-name commercial publishers.), but I suspect it would never fly in the US (communism, boo!).
At my US university the school had a (free) text book rental program. I never had to buy any books. edit: Obviously the initial cost of the books is paid for by tuition, but it's much less than the cost of each student buying their own book.
lucky you. California universities living largely on subsides just moved to Pearson's online homework. Requiring every single student (even the ones taking a extra language class for a single semester) to buy $300+ dollars text books just for the online access code for the lame online homework website.
you simply cannot pass any class without the $300+ ticket from that publisher. Oh yes and the actual books are old and full of misogynistic cultural commentary. The riches generated in this illegal scheme is definitely not going to improve or update the books.
Few student organizations from UCLA tried to fight it, the result was that some graduate students that did not sign the petition won all the TAships next year and that was it.
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a fellow European, my experience is similar (though our prices were higher but still substantially lower than the big-name commercial publishers.), but I suspect it would never fly in the US (communism, boo!).
Having been a US citizen for all of my 60 years, and often wondering "why things so f ked up?", I've come to understand or believe this about the US: If it makes money, it's good, regardless of whether it's good or bad for people or the environment. Once something is making money, it becomes a god-given right (cheap labor, insurance companies as health-care middlemen, etc). If you propose something that inhibits the…
Being opposed by elected officials is one thing. What truly baffles me is being opposed by the very people that are adversely affected.
Many policies are literally convincing poor families that it is in their best interests to help support the frail legacy of billionaires. How!?
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#55I agree that textbook costs are exorbitant, and I use open source, online, or very low cost books when teaching at the community college level. I've been using the interactive version of the "Think Like a Computer Scientist" book when teaching the introductory programming course. The students still don't read the material, at least not before the lecture.
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a fellow European, my experience is similar (though our prices were higher but still substantially lower than the big-name commercial publishers.), but I suspect it would never fly in the US (communism, boo!).
Having been a US citizen for all of my 60 years, and often wondering "why things so f ked up?", I've come to understand or believe this about the US: If it makes money, it's good, regardless of whether it's good or bad for people or the environment. Once something is making money, it becomes a god-given right (cheap labor, insurance companies as health-care middlemen, etc). If you propose something that inhibits the…
> If it makes money, it's good
Pretty much the broken window fallacy on a societal level, perpetuated by a system that commonly grants political influence on a per dollar, rather than per capita, basis.
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#57While I agree with the content of this in general, I find books to be burdensome and would not like a course centered around them. I think a series of well crafted video lectures are a better medium for some people, myself included. I also find that I can learn everything I need to in my Software Engineering program via a series of pointed google searches much quicker than reading a text. Most courses have 1 or more…
In contrast (because people have different learning styles) I get almost nothing out of video lectures, and vastly prefer having books. One of the things holding me back from learning Julia is the current dearth of quality books.
The language docs are pretty well written and accessible.
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#58I believe the earliest textbooks contained a gloss in the margin written by students which clarified the main text. It contained translations, notes, references, etc. This helped to circumvent the curse of knowledge whereby most authors have zero memory of their early misconceptions of the subject (a major reason why most textbooks are rubbish).
I think this ought to be reintroduced by major publishers -- new editions to contain copious annotations garnered from students who field-tested the previous edition, explaining how they conquered the parts that they found hard.
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#59"If you can’t find one, write one." What would be the best way to write a free book please? Any pointers? Experience?
The author of this article actually has a pretty good write up on how to do just that http://greenteapress.com/free_books.html
Re: Textbook manifesto (2016)
#60I agree with the main point that students should read and understand textbooks. But disagree with some assumptions and points. 1. Many textbooks are written to be understood, but they vary a lot by field and class level. Generally, I think lower level textbooks best meet Downey's standards. As you get into what is junior/senior (300-400 level) classes, there is not always a neat textbook available. 2. I disagree with…
I've had a teacher in high school and a couple in college that were in the process of writing their own textbooks. They would print out and hand out a half of a chapter or so every other week (probably ended up printing out and handing out about a third of the final book over the entire course).
They were amazingly good. I think that teachers who are passionate about what and how they teach, probably have ideas for what they want to see in a textbook. They're probably a bit too busy to have already finished the book, but they're probably working on it and checking its effectiveness on real students.
But I do generally agree with you that "most students" is not a good metric for what is reasonable today. "most students" put in an amount of effort that rounds to zero. This is not really their fault, they're just going through the system that's set up. The problem is how much pressure and reward there is for just going through the system. Classes where everyone really wants to be there just for interest in the material have a very different quality to them.