Verbatim Prediction from 2000 Applies in 2011: Shifting Relations Among Courses, Textbooks, Web, Money, Libraries #vwwt2000

The economics of higher education are [STILL!] shifting in unpredictable ways.   


The clear old line between students’ paying tuition for courses and paying fees for course-related learning materials (books, etc.) is  [STILL!] rapidly blurring.  


 [STILL!] More faculty members are assigning instructional materials that students can find on the Web, more students resist buying required textbooks, and more students are comfortable going to the Web instead of to the library for reserved readings.  


Consequently, new financial relationships are  [STILL!] developing among students, faculty, publishers, bookstores, libraries, and colleges.  The publishers and bookstore managers are  [STILL!] especially eager to understand or create viable new business models.  Some of these might give a more significant role to faculty members who develop course-related “online” materials and find new ways of collecting fees from students or their colleges/universities.


- from Observations Section of "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article
Image:  "schematic illustration of the Lewis overthrust fault in northern Montana, USA and Southern Alberta, Canada." 1978, National Park Service 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Lewis_overthrust_fault_nh10f.jpg

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/natural/10/images/nh10f.jpg - used in the online edition of the book "MANY-STORIED MOUNTAINS - The Life of Glacier National Park" by Greg Beaumont, first published 1978 and online at http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/natural/10/nh10b1.htm