Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/28/textbook
An interesting article arrived in my email today. The article, “Student Research: Can Googling Replace $168 Intro to Psych Textbook?“, described a student research project that compared content found in a textbook with content found on the Internet. Among their findings was the discovery that summaries found on sites such as Wikipedia were “equal to or exceeded” those found in the textbooks that were included in the study. They also looked at free e-books and “lower-cost print materials,” ultimately determining that the use of both digital and print materials was the best option. I am assuming that “print materials” refers to the lower-cost option, as opposed to the $168 textbook.
First of all, I am not even going to get into a debate about the quality of Wikipedia. Whether you or a fan or not, anything you can find on Wikipedia can be found somewhere else on the Internet. So, if you don’t like Wikipedia, let’s just assume the information is being found on a more “reputable” site with which you are comfortable. I do believe that much (all?) textbook content can be found on the Internet. However, does this mean we should replace textbooks? I have my own thoughts on this, but I am curious to read your opinions. Please share!
