Textbooks? We don't need no stinking textbooks!

Ok, so I'm not really against using textbooks. I just don't like using them as a bible of sorts. I mean really, there are so many other resources available out there on the net, and it seems like not six months go by and there are key bits of information in my tech ed books that are already heading for the 'old news' category! I'd rather scour the web and rely on my network of fellow Web 2.0 educators to come up with new and exciting ways to educate and engage my students using information that is as up to date as possible. Wouldn't you?

One more reason to branch out and limit one's reliance on textbooks:

Um...Cost! It's not like we're growing money trees in our school courtyards. If you are, please notify me so I can get you my school mailing address! Our FFA instructor will be most pleased. Seriously, money for books is perhaps one of the biggest obstacles facing schools today. The beauty of Creative Commons licensing is that teachers and students can open up their creative work for use by others using limited copyright restraints. We all learned how to share as kids, right? Good. Allowing academic research to be shared openly using the Open Educational Resources (OER) concept means that once created, work can be modified, built upon, remixed, and easily disseminated via the web. Need ideas or content related to biotechnology but don't have the money for new books or courseware on the subject? Work published via the OER standard can help...with no additional dollars required! This will make your Principal very happy! Check out the ccLearn project to see how Creative Commons is trying to facilitate the OER standardization process. I personally came across the ccLearn project by way of David Warlick's 2 Cents Worth blog. The image he uses in his article discussing the project's ramifications in regards to textbook publishers is just awesome! I've included a copy of it here for you to see.

Is this great or what? As an adjunct professor of Humanities at a local community college, as well as a former college student/current lifelong learner - I can really relate to the rising costs of textbooks for personal use.
I mean, you get your class list, head to the campus bookstore, and check the shelf for your required text(s). Then the wallet shock sets in. Ouch! All the used copies are gone, and you're left with a "new edition" that has an extra page or two of updated information in it if you're lucky. And the let down you feel when you're handed the $8.75 should choose to sell the book back at the end of the term...can you even buy a pizza for that these days? Not only can ccLearn's efforts with OER help keep some extra cash in your pocket, it can also provide a constant stream of current information that textbook publishers are at present unable to match. And publishers should be ware, as the days of holding teachers and students hostage with static groupings of information are numbered. Warlick's statement below really sums up this point:

"if the Textbook industry does not work really fast to reinvent itself in the image of a more participatory, reader directed, and people connecting information environment, then it’s going to happen without them."