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Saturday, November 5, 2011

postheadericon Washington State Guarantees Cheap And Open Courses & Courseware For Students

We talked about many times that the lack of market forces in the textbook market has allowed publishers to increase prices in bulk. That is why many textbooks can cost around $ 200, and students can spend more than $ 1,000 a year just to get the textbooks that are required to purchase for the school. DeOliveira Aaron shows us an interesting story involving the state of Washington are trying to stop these practices by creating a library of classes are open to the details of courses and materials much more affordable for students:


The aim of the Council of State of Washington for the community and technical colleges is to increase college completion rates by making higher education more affordable. The online library will present a collection of textbooks, readings, activities and other teaching materials for education of the 81 most popular of all courses and pre-university. Text is available under an open license to other higher education institutions and any other person who wants to access them.
The effort has the potential to save millions of dollars to students. The average community college student in Washington spends about $ 1,200 per year on textbooks, about one fourth of the total cost of full-time studies. Some classes still require students to purchase textbooks, but for the current Open Class Library, the cost can not exceed $ 30 per student. All other materials will be free.



is an excellent program and should make a big difference in terms of costs for students. In his presentation, Aaron asks if it is market forces or interference in the market. It's an interesting question, and I wonder if there might be a better solution. But first we must recognize that the market for textbooks and instructional materials is not an open and competitive market, as buyers - students - do not give them a choice at all. It

have

to buy what their teachers tell them to buy, mostly. Therefore, the State concerned to force down prices is certainly a reasonable response to this problem.
But I wonder if this solution creates other problems. Suddenly, courses and books chosen for this library are the only line that can be used, which could leave the other courses and sources that can be even better. This casts doubt as to who decides what books the library will be open. The library does not seem willing to allow other courses, provided it is published online with a Creative Commons license - maybe this problem is solved with this. The fact that this could encourage more creative courses and text to go to the Creative Commons or similar may be a useful secondary benefit.
However, in the end, education is an area where government involvement intelligent sense (although the "smart" part is often not evident in the education efforts are seen). And at first glance, this seems a good way to reduce costs and share information on education. And I guess the most damaging tools of education providers - such as globalization and the knowledge Khan Academy - to appreciate and work with Washington State in this effort, the benefit of all and to ensure that 'there really is a wide variety of options courses are free or very cheap prices

Find best price for : --State----Washington--

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