Saturday, August 27, 2011

Levelling the Learning Paying Field

Whenever it comes time to assign a textbook for a course, I get the jitters. It's the price tag that always gets to me! And if it gets to me, then surely it must result in gasps of disbelief from the students (and parents) who are affected by my choices.

Often, I can (and do) make sure that the one text I assign can be used for two back-to-back courses. Hopefully, that helps a bit.

However, the cost of textbooks can still be a sizeable burden. Then, when students go to re-sell their texts the following year, they discover that those pesky publishing houses have churned out new editions! Guess what that does to the re-sale value of last year's purchase?

Playing fields (or paying fields in this case) would be level if the world were flat. Right? Right! Ideally, flat and at a height of zero. Zero dollars! That's exactly what Flat World Knowledge is all about.