Are college textbooks still needed? Yes. Possibly more than ever.
When I was a student in the 1970s, college bookstores were full of books. I recently visited the same college bookstore where I purchased my books so long ago, and there were very few for sale. Sweatshirts and other college gear had taken their place.
Are textbooks a thing of the past? Are they still relevant today?
In this week’s post, we will explore reasons behind the declining sales of textbooks and discuss why textbooks are still relevant and important today.
Why are fewer textbooks sold today?
The rising cost of textbooks is a widely cited reason. Alternative, lower-cost options are replacing textbooks, including digital books, educator-created learning modules, and various online resources.
Educators frequently make physical textbooks optional. Even when textbooks are required, many surveys indicate more students don’t purchase them than do.
I realized this when I was a guest speaker in a course using my textbook. I gave the students a reading assignment and expected them to apply what they read in class. It quickly became obvious that almost no one was prepared. Students were used to all course content being delivered in class. So disappointing!
Another significant reason students opt out of buying textbooks is a rising aversion to reading. Students prefer to consume information via videos and other media formats.
As we put the finishing touches on the second edition of the book, I am motivated to make the case that textbooks are still needed, possibly now more than ever.
Why are textbooks still relevant and important?
Even with alternative resources readily and economically available, textbooks, especially physical books, deserve a permanent place in a student’s learning arsenal. Here are just a few reasons…
Reading makes us better scholars
Reading is fundamentally how we learn, and books will remain a primary source. When we seek the answer to a question online, we may get a decent answer, but it will lack the breadth and depth of a well-researched book. We may not even know what else to ask.
A textbook encourages higher-level thinking and greater application of learning than most other resources, especially random internet searches.
Students who read learn how to learn. They build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. They become more articulate and better at skills like writing and speaking.
Books are more reliable sources of information
Without a structured information source like a textbook to return to for answers, interrelationships between concepts are generally missing, and unless we print off previous answers, we will have to seek them over and over.
For example, if you’ve ever located information online and didn’t save the URL and later wanted to find it, you realize the benefit of knowing where in a trusted book the information you are looking for can be found. A book becomes a reliable resource.
In subjects where the core principles remain unchanged, textbooks are especially useful. This is true with communication principles. Even if technology ushers in new channels of communication, concepts such as being audience-centered are timeless.
Textbooks are peer-reviewed and written by experts in a field. Online sources may be less consistently valid or reliable.
Textbooks help structure instruction
Communicating Nutrition is the book I wish I’d had when I was teaching. It provides comprehensive content about nutrition communication in one organized location.
In many courses I taught, the textbook served as a useful tool for determining course content. Students at different universities using the same text benefit from a shared common resource. A textbook can level the playing field.
When instructors prefer students to come to class ready for application of learning, as I do, common in the flipped classroom model, textbooks prepare students better than most other options.
Last, but not least… when the power goes out, or the internet is not available, a physical book can still be used.
Other posts about writing Communicating Nutrition:
“If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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