Literature Review on "Large and Small Publishers of University Resources"

Literature Review 25 pages (8601 words) Sources: 35

[EXCERPT] . . . .

It also resulted in students co-authoring publications which help in building of resumes especially for graduate students who want to enter academia. Schwartz argues that while many graduate courses are designed in such a way to turn students into scholars in the intellectual sense, such courses are not always effective in preparing students to interact and professionally participate as academics (through teaching, presentation of papers at academic conferences, working collaboratively, publishing and doing service and committee work. By incorporating this group writing exercise into her course plan Schwartz utilized experiential leaning to provide or allow students to have ownership of what they were learning, to give them the encouragement to finish any task, and to equip them with skills that would help them beyond their course content (Schwartz, n.d).

Schwartz in her work cites Garcia who argued that publishing in journals was the finest way of finding "cutting edge" of one's discipline and to start having your opinion matter in defining it (Garcia, 2006 as cited in Schwartz, n.d). Schwartz was also of the opinion that graduate course content should be designed to progressively initiate students towards independent research (Schwartz, n.d). Graduate courses should guide students along the route of becoming independent researchers and scholars capable of conceiving new ideas, planning, conducting and effectively communicating their research (Schwartz, n.d).

Similarly, Mary Nell Trautner in her article "Teaching-infused Graduate Seminars: Incorporating Pedagogy into Substantive Courses" (2014), argues that it is the responsibility of graduate programs to provide students with basic professional skills such as teaching skills. As such she incorporates a teaching application for each of her classes. She argues that such applications enable students to learn of the many different ways that they can analyze and share their theory and research with others (Trautner, 2014).

2. What is the evidence that textbooks are still required or are we moving into an area that is more appropriate (other resources). Take the example of Pearson that reinvents book publishing

The cost of textbooks has been a concern to a variety of groups such as parents, students, school administrators and teachers. One of the solutions that has been proposed to solve the issue of textbook prices has been the adoption of electronic textbooks otherwise known as e-books, which are much cheaper to produce and ultimately distribute. Many e-books are offered via a subscription channel through which students buy access to such material for a set period of time, for example, for 6 months (Hacker, 2010). Electronic books are becoming more feasible and commonplace as computers and internet access are becoming cheaper and more widespread. Author Robinson (2011) reported that a study done among students in Malaysia revealed that students used e-books for several reasons including the fact that they were easily accessible, available online and more convenient to use. The study also revealed that reasons why students did not use e-books included preference for traditional paper books and that some of the students thought they were more difficult to browse and read compared to paper textbooks. The study reported that 81.5% of the 206 students surveyed favored reading paper textbooks; however of 80 respondents who had previous experience with electronic-books, 73.8% still favored print. This study implies that experience with electronic books enhances the opinion of the students with regards to e-books, even though print is still the most favored option. Similarly, author Robinson also reported another study conducted in 2007 revealed that 67% of the respondents stated that they would prefer reading text on paper instead of a computer screen, and given the chance 70% would buy printed textbooks instead of electronic books. Only a paltry 7% in the study stated that they would be somewhat comfortable reading long texts on computer screens rather than from paper textbooks. It is obvious from these recent studies that there is still a huge preference for reading printed books compared to electronic books. Over the long-term however, individuals may adopt new reading styles based on the prevalence of the computer-based content they read (Robinson, 2011).

The revolution in digital technology is transforming the communication, cultures, entertainment, information sharing and access, privacy, publishing and authorship. This revolution has also provided a whole new range of innovative teaching, education, practice and learning tools. In the year 2002, e-books attracted net revenues of about $15 billion and were responsible for about 20% of publishers' income. Sales in the trade books sector had increased by 8% and comprised about $2.3 billion (Tintinalli, 2014). Many individuals favor the physical experience of browsing and reading a paper book. When reading, humans build a mental picture of the location of that particular piece of data or information where that text appeared. However, we do not have the same kind of spatial landmarks when reading text on an e-book. Most e-reader screens only display a single virtual page, and perhaps the percentage of the book that the reader has gone through, and maybe the page number, but still there is no overall context of that particular chapter. However, despite these challenges in using e-books, advanced e-learning systems that are based on electronic books can greatly expand teaching and learning tools such as video lectures, curriculum foundations, procedural videos, figures and illustrations, chat rooms, interactive learning, and continuous credits for their use; thus creating an engaging learning atmosphere (Tintinalli, 2014).

A study done by the National Association of College Stores (NACS) was recently cited by the Book Industry Study Group's (BISG) 'Student Attitudes toward Content in Higher Education'; this particular survey conducted on behalf of NACS by On Campus Research reported that 74% of United States university students still favored printed textbooks. In its press release, BISG (2011) stated that students listed look, permanence, feel and the possibility of reselling as some of the main factors that influenced their preference for printed textbooks. The survey also reported that the prohibitive pricing of new paper textbooks drove students to look for more affordable options such as buying cheaper versions from third party online resellers or seeking textbook rental solutions. One of the main lessons that have lately emerged during implementations is the necessity of access platforms across different publishers. While a few of the big publishers have heavily invested content delivery options that were specific to their content, schools and other institutions continues to acquire textbooks from platforms that access content from different publishers (Book Industry Study Group, 2011).

Nowadays colleges and students have a wider variety of textbook options than in any other time in history. Technological advances have led to increased availability of newer and alternative modes of accessing content. Besides used and new printed books, students and lecturers have a choice of electronic books in several formats including file, online, and electronic versions with a printing option (Young, 2010a, 2010b). Smart phones, tablets and e-reader hardware manufacturers are increasingly paying attention to the growing e-book content market (Kolowich, 2012; Young, 2012), an act that is bound to increase the adoption of electronic books usage by students and colleges. Basing his study on industry projections, Reynolds (2011) predicted that the market share of electronic books will increase from the paltry 3% in the year 2011 to 35% by the end of 2016. The rising popularity of e-book options and the adoption of electronic books in some colleges and universities have raised the question; what will be the effects of using e-books on teaching, learning and higher education in general? (Chulkov & VanAlstine, 2013).

Several publishers have created their own digital offerings. Cengage, for instance bought SealedMedia digital technology to distribute its iChapters product, which enabled instructors and students to buy only the chapters that they required. Pearson publishing on the other hand, used the e-domain through their MyLab suite of digital offerings enabled access to online tools such as multiple media animations and active assessments to complement their printed textbooks. Similarly, other large publisher such as McGraw-Hill and John Wiley and Sons adopted Connect System and WileyPLUS respectively to complement their print textbooks. Elsevier's Student Consult and Evolve products complemented its digital and print textbook options in the field of health sciences. Each of these digital offerings is delivered in a unique manner with different pricing options. While large publishers continued to struggle with rights management issues, new technologies such as ultra-high speed printer and scanner technology almost made digital copying and printing a moot concern. Digital files of print textbooks could quickly be made by anyone with a scanner and just one print book, thus the heavy protection measures that were being put on digital copies by the publishers were fast becoming irrelevant. As computer and internet access has spread to a near 100% of the United States college student population, publishers have been, as a result, under more pressure to react to the demand by their consumers for materials that can be accessed on Smartphones, tablets and laptops. Publishers have also been forced to consider both their internal workflows and different third… READ MORE

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