For those of you who did not see the comment to my Roy Is Right entry, here it is below. It is such a great question that it deserves a good answer.
"If you agree with this fact, why do your books still contain so much math and formulas? Why don't you WRITE what industry wants, so that we can TEACH what industry wants?"
A frustrated electronics instructor
There are actually a couple of answers to this question. And both are related to the textbook issues I have discussed here before. As an author, I am seriously concerned about what I write in my books. I want it to be what industry wants and needs but also something that the instructors will want to buy and teach. The main problem is there is a difference between the two.
Generally speaking, I do write about what instructors want. And they do seem to want all the theory, math, formulas and related technical stuff. Industry may not necessarily want it or need it, so do not reject it as long as we cover what they do want. When I write a book, guess who gets to review it? About a dozen instructors and potential adoptors of the book. They still seem to prefer the traditional engineering technician version of the material. So they tell the publisher to keep this, add that and do it this way. So the publisher does it.
Publishers are paranoid about their book contents. Their customers are not really the students who actualy pay for the books or the industry who employs the grads but the instructors who choose the books and buy them for their courses. So they give the instructors what they want or like. More often, what the instructors want is the status quo. They are comfortable with what they teach and they hate to change. Most instructors want new material and up to date coverage, but to include it, we must usually cut out something else so as not to exceed our page budget. In the past when I revise a book as I am doing now, I add the hot new interesting material but instructors scream when I take out the older dated material.....even if it is no longer used!! I am not making this up. I have literally had to cut out the newer relevant content for some older materials that the instructors like to teach regardless of its current application or relevance. So in order to keep my publisher happy and to sell some books that instructors want, I have to compromise the book.
Who can we blame? Not me, as I tried to update the material based on real research about what industry wants and what grads need to succeed. Not the publisher because they want to sell books. So put the blame where it belongs, on the instructors who insist on teaching the old stuff and not the new stuff.
In the past I have proposed a book or two that covers what industry wants and needs only to have them rejected by the publishers simply because their reviews by instructors are negative for the reasons given above. Yet, the instructors who have little if any recent industry experience do not truly know what is important, relevant or industry desired. The solution to this is to have publishers include industry representatives in their reviews. I have suggested this many times, but it has never happened.
So, the answer is, I do want to write what industry wants but it is rejected by the publishers and their college faculty reviewers who know less about what is needed. Thus the downward spiral of technological obsolesence in the texts continues.
There is some hope however. This downward trend in enrollments has really hurt publishers who sell far fewer books than before. I believe they recognize that part of the problem is dated courses, books, and curriculum. There is a hint that some publishers are taking a fresh look at content and producing books that are more on target. If one publisher sticks his or her neck out to update texts, and it is successful, the others will follow. That will eventually bring the books more into line with what industry wants and what students really need to know.
Does any one out there have any ideas about how to solve this perpetual problem?
Hope you all have a great Xmas weekend.
5 comments:
The success of CSI can also be credited to unique and strange cases encountered by the team of investigators. For instance in one of the episodes titled Wild Life, a casino guest is murdered after making love to a Drama Cool HD Video woman in his neighboring room. Strangely, the team focuses on a cat and a parrot to obtain evidence with relation to the dual murders.
Johnny Depp and Angelina did a wonderful job as in the movie . The film never delivered a Drama Cool Latest Video dull moment for the full two hours. The two superstars also displayed a couple of cute dialogue scenes.
Some well-known include the Godfather(19 72), Citizen Kane (1941) and Schindler's List' (1993). All these films have been able to create a deep impact on the mind of the viewers. They talk about an essential conflict that is highly required in such type of Drama Cool Tv Channel. This is the reason that these films are the most talked about among thousands of people even these days.
When the nominees are announced Thursday in Los Angeles, NBC's "This is Us" has a chance to show network dramas can still be Emmy Drama Cool New Vidoes.
Take a big step back from the drama of your divorce. Realize we are all co-creators of our Drama Cool HD Video. At some spiritual level, we signed onto this project. It is a co-production between ourselves and our former spouses.
Post a Comment