Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES

Using Technology to Reduce Textbook Prices David Fleming Oakland University

Author Note

This paper was prepared for WRT 160, Section 12635, taught by Professor Marilyn Borner.

Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES Abstract If textbook publishers dont reduce the prices of textbooks, students will find other ways to get the textbooks that they need through using technology or not, they will also look into what the government is doing about this. First, the different ways in which students will get textbooks is by using technology. By using technology they are getting EBooks weather if it is for a tablet or a laptop, buying the textbook online, renting it online from online rental programs, and from free online open content. Second, the different ways students are getting textbooks without using technology are by buying them from the bookstore at high prices, renting them from the bookstore, and by buying it off a friend who had the class. Next, the author will go over what students think about the prices of textbooks and if they would be willing to try new ways to access textbooks based off of the primary research that the author has done. Lastly, what the government is doing about regulating textbook prices.

Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES Using Technology to Reduce Textbook Prices With college already being extremely expensive many students are dreading the thought about buying the textbooks that they will need to acquire for the upcoming school year. Recently, a study was done by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance and they found that textbook prices have nearly tripled in the past 20 years (Dervarics, 2007, P.14). But as the times are changing there are becoming new ways through technology to acquire the textbooks. If publishers dont reduce the prices for their textbooks, students will try to find other ways to access the textbooks that they need by using the many different types of technologies that are out there, students will also try some ways to acquire them without using technology, what the students think about the textbook market based on primary research that was done by the author, and what students will find about what the government is doing about the prices of textbooks.

Literature Review The different types of ways to get textbooks through using technology are by EBooks, buying it online, online rental programs, and free online open content. E-books are becoming a very popular way to get textbooks now because you can buy or rent them from a website or an online college bookstore. The 2 most popular ways to get e-books are for tablets such as a Kindle or an IPad or getting them for a laptop. Secondly, buying the textbook online is a good way because you can surf around different websites looking for a textbook that fits the price range that you are willing to pay. The websites that some students use to find textbooks for a good price are EBay, BookCentral, Amazon, and some students get the textbooks illegally by downloading them for websites like

Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES ThePirateBay and other sites like that. Next, the online rental programs can save students a lot of money when they get textbooks, the reason is because you can choose how long you will use it for and then when youre done with it you can send it back. According to Charles Schmidt, National Association of College Stores director of public relations rental programs can save a student between 45 and 66 percent off the price of a new print textbook (Goral, 2012, P.34). This becomes very useful when the student that is looking to get textbooks doesnt have that much money to spend on them because it can save them a couple hundred dollars. In conclusion, free online open content is another very good way to save money when getting textbooks. In the article Digital books and online open content change textbook landscape, Flat World Knowledge contracts with authors to write new textbooks and publishes them for free under an open content license, allowing professors to edit the raw material and add their own contributions while giving students access to a Web-based HTML book (Gorski, 2010). Some ways in which students are getting textbooks without using technology are by buying the book from the campus bookstore, renting the book from the campus bookstore, by buying it off of a friend, and by getting it illegally. When you buy textbooks at the college bookstore they tend to be more expensive. The publishers tend to bundle different kinds of extra materials into the textbook, usually a book of practice problems or even a CD-ROM (Zhou, 2005). Another way students can get the textbook without using technology is by renting the textbook at the campus bookstore. According to the new Student Watch report from OnCampus research (a division of the NACS), students spent an average of $655 annually on course materials, down from $702 four years ago, partly due to the ready availability of rental books at bookstores

Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES (Goral, 2012). Also stated in this article is that textbook rentals from college bookstores are a more recent innovation, but it is one that has grown rapidly (Goral, 2012). Students are also buying books off of their friends or other students who have the book and they will tend to get it for an extremely low price because they know how big of a challenge it is to buy textbooks. Lastly, more recently students have been getting the textbooks illegally by the means of pirating them from websites or by making illegal copies. According to Chris Tabor the President of Canadian Campus Retail, we have also found pirated digital versions of some books. In this age of high-speed scanning, you can scan it and send it to your friend on the Web (Schmidt, 2003). The last way in which the textbook market is being affected is by the government stepping in and making changes to the laws and rules that the publishers have to follow. The new rules that the government has created, would require publishers to provide detailed price information to college faculty before they select books for their classes, they also restrict the practice of "bundling (Dervarics, 2010, P.6).

Method There are a couple methods that were used to compile this paper. Participants include 10 students who were interviewed on the Oakland University campus in Rochester, MI. The 10 students were asked a series of 4 questions dealing with e-books and textbooks. The 4 questions were yes or no, or multiple choice questions. The first question was would you use e-books if they were available for the class. This was asked in a yes or no format, in which the student picked the one that applies to them. The next question asked this same group of students on average how much do you spend on

Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES textbooks a semester. This was answered in a multiple choice format with the answers as less than $500 or more than $500. In the third question the same group of students was asked would you rather have the actual textbook or an e-book. This was answered in a multiple choice format like the previous question with the answers as actual book and ebook. The last question that was asked to this group was do you use the textbook that you got for your class. This was asked like the first question in a yes or no format. These four questions turned out to be very helpful when looking at the data.

Results These 4 questions were very effective in getting results to see that if students were actually purchasing textbooks. For the first question, 6 out of 10 students wouldnt want to use e-books if they were available to. They thought that if they acquired the e-book from a website they might get a computer virus from downloading the data of the e-book. In the second question, 6 out of 10 students said that they spent less than $500 on textbooks a semester, with the majority of the 6 students saying that they bought 1 or 2 of the books that they needed and didnt bother getting more than 2 books even if the textbook is needed in the course. In the third question, 7 out of 10 students said that they would prefer to use the actual textbook rather than an e-book. Lastly, in the fourth question, 7 out of 10 students said that they actually use the textbook that they have for their classes.

Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES Discussion Purchasing college textbooks by using technology or other means are becoming more popular all around the nation and even in other countries around the world as time continues to move forward. Like many other institutions of higher education nationwide, the students of Oakland University arent using the new technologies to find textbooks to their advantage. Oakland University and its bookstore should start to research and advertise these new methods in which students of higher education are acquiring their textbooks around the campus to show that they care about the students financial situations and want the best for them academically and financially. With more and more new ways to acquire college textbooks and also new restrictions that the government is putting on the publishers should result in an overall decrease in the price of textbooks.

Running head: USING TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE TEXTBOOK PRICES References Dervarics, C. (2007). College textbook prices focus of congressional advisory committee hearing. Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 23(24), 14-14. Retrieved from http://diverseeducation.com/ Dervarics, C. (2010). Students may see some gains through new textbook rules: rules provide greater transparency on pricing and restrict publishers from bundling books with supplemental materials. Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 27(11), 6. Retrieved from http://diverseeducation.com/ Goral, T. (2012, September). Getting a handle on textbook costs. University Business. Retrieved from http://www.universitybusiness.com/ Gorski, E. (2010). Digital books and online Open content change textbook landscape. Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 27(18), 34. Retrieved from http://diverseeducation.com/ Schmidt, S. (2003, October 23). Students rebel against high textbook prices::[Final Edition]. Edmonton Journal. Retrieved from http://www.edmontonjournal.com/index.html Zhou, D. (2005, September 19). College textbook prices are unfair and unnecessary. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/