Textbooks represent an 11 billion dollar industry, up from $8 billion in 2014. Textbook publisher Pearson is the largest publisher -- of any kind -- in the world.
It costs about $1 million to create a new textbook. A freshman textbook will have dozens of contributors, from subject-matter experts through graphic and layout artists to expert reviewers and classroom testers. Textbook publishers connect professors, instructors and students in ways that alternatives, such as open e-textbooks and open educational resources, simply do not. This connection happens not only by means of collaborative development, review and testing, but also at conferences where faculty regularly decide on their textbooks and curricula for the coming year.
It is true that textbook publishers have recently reported losses, largely due to students renting or buying used print textbooks. But this can be chalked up to the excessively high cost of their books -- which has increased over 1,000 percent since 1977. A restructuring of the textbook industry may well be in order. But this does not mean the end of the textbook itself.
While they may not be as dynamic as an iPad, textbooks are not passive or lifeless. For example, over the centuries, they have simulated (模拟) dialogues in a number of ways. From 1800 to the present day, textbooks have done this by posing questions for students to answer inductively (归纳性地). That means students are asked to use their individual experience to come up with answers to general questions. Today's psychology texts, for example, ask: "How much of your personality do you think you inherited?" while ones in physics say: "How can you predict where the ball you tossed will land?"
Experts observe that "textbooks come in layers, something like an onion." For an active learner, engaging with a textbook can be an interactive experience. Readers proceed at their own pace. They "customize" their books by engaging with different layers and linkages. Highlighting, Post-It notes, dog-ears and other techniques allow for further customization that students value in print books over digital forms of books.
正确答案及解析
正确答案
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解析
教科书代表着110亿美元的产业，高于2014年的80亿美元。教科书出版商皮尔逊是世界上最大的出版商——任何类型的出版商。
创建一本新教科书的成本约为 100 万美元。一本新生教科书将有数十名贡献者，从主题专家到图形和布局艺术家，再到专家评审员和课堂测试员。教科书出版商以开放电子教科书和开放教育资源等替代品无法做到的方式将教授、教师和学生联系起来。这种联系不仅通过协作开发、审查和测试来实现，而且还通过教师定期决定来年教科书和课程的会议来实现。
的确，教科书出版商最近报告了亏损，主要是由于学生租用或购买使用过的印刷教科书。但这可以归结为他们的书籍成本过高——自 1977 年以来已经增加了 1,000% 以上。教科书行业的重组很可能是有序的。但这并不意味着教科书本身的终结。
虽然它们可能不像 iPad 那样充满活力，但教科书并不是被动的或毫无生气的。例如，几个世纪以来，他们以多种方式模拟对话。从1800年到现在，教科书都是通过提问归纳性地回答学生的。这意味着要求学生利用他们的个人经验来回答一般问题。例如，今天的心理学课文会问：“你认为你继承了多少个性？”而物理学中的人说：“你怎么能预测你扔的球会落在哪里？”
专家观察到“教科书层层叠叠，就像洋葱一样”。对于积极的学习者来说，阅读教科书可以是一种互动体验。读者按照自己的节奏进行。他们通过接触不同的层次和联系来“定制”他们的书籍。突出显示、便利贴、狗耳朵和其他技术允许进一步定制，学生更重视印刷书籍而不是数字形式的书籍。
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