Alternatives needed to fight soaring price of textbooks

Kingsport Times-News

For Tennessee to succeed in an increasingly technological work world, its residents must seek out higher education no matter the cost. Unfortunately, that cost is high, even factoring in the state’s new lottery scholarships.

Tuition at Tennessee’s colleges and universities rose 7 percent just this year.
Northeast State Community College, with campuses in Blountville and Kingsport, is pioneering an innovative measure to save its students some money — teaching classes without textbooks.

The idea of textless college classes was first brought up at a spring Tennessee Board of Regents meeting. Northeast State President William Locke issued the challenge to faculty, and three so far have accepted.

Computer science instructor Dan Perry, English teacher Eric Fish and psychology instructor Lisa Poole are each teaching a class using material gleaned from sources such as trade journals, magazines and the Internet.

Perry said the experiment is especially good for the fast-changing world of computer science, where it isn’t unusual for textbooks to be out of date before they are printed.

Perry’s spring class on managing Web servers originally required two books that cost $70. But he found all the material available online.

Locke believes Northeast State is the only school in Tennessee to attempt holding classes without textbooks.

It’s a commendable and creative and endeavor — and one we hope other universities will emulate.