[MD] The Academy is Evil! Here's what I'd do instead...

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[John]
E-publishing!  The cost of textbooks is really a ridiculous profit mill. Make
it all downloadable and you'd save thousands per student.  My eldest daughter
in college says there is some movement in this direction already.

[Arlo]
She is right, there is a big push for this. There are problems though, that
amplify the dangers of "textbooks" in general. The foremost being that the
publishing content, rather than providing a book used in class, instead
provides an entire e-courseware area that the teacher has less and less control
over about following. In short, it has the potential to really make e-textbook
publishers the content-syllabus determiners for these classes.

There is also a risk that this masks the slow grabbing of e-publishing by the
same publishing companies that in a few years will simply charge the same
amount (or more) for its e-versions as it does now for paper. One thing I read
not too long ago was that e-variants would be charged to the university per
student registered, which would eliminate potential sharing or doubling-up on
materials. The Academy registers 25 students for History 101, then it pays the
e-cost and passes that cost to each student as an unavoidable part of their
tuition.

[John]
Yeah!  Just the man to get it done.  What about it Arlo?  E-publishing!

[Arlo]
I am cautious, but I think this is the way we will eventually go.