I am a 1st year professor. What most of us are missing, and which is very crucial, is the 'system' on the academic side. Professors are required at most schools to get published...not only to gain tenure, but to keep their jobs. The committees which review us give NO CREDIT for self-publication because it is not 'peer-reviewed' (approved, reviewed, and accepted by other 'experts' in the field). The mainstream publishing houses provide this peer review via other professors (we get credit for reviews also). Publishers know all this and exploit not only the students, but the authors as well (all of my mentors tell me there is no money in text publishing for the author...but we have to do it anyway). So, since I have to create content for my classes anyway, and I have to get published to keep my job, why not meld all the class materials into a text and knock out 2 birds w/ one stone? Speaking for myself, I would love to leave behind the antiquated status-quo.
Thank you for sharing/clarifying that information...very helpful. My situation is a smaller univ in the very deep south. The tenure review requirements are actually scored differently between the univ and the school (Technology). The program is the applied science of construction management (therefore the Tech). It is however, my perception that I can receive 30pts for a text published and 5pts for a peer reviewed journal. Six published journals however are equivalent in pts, but most likely much lower in effort required. Thanks again.
As a new Assistant Professor at a U.S. institution, I am required to perform Teaching, Research, Service, and publish scholarly publications in PEER REVIEWED journals, etc. If this is not done satisfactorily, I will be released within several years. In order for the writing of textbooks to contribute to my retention, the 'system' requires publication through a 'major' commercial publisher in your field of knowledge. This is a major reason, IMHO, that we do not see more offerings like the subject of this article. Most professors are lucky to make 10% profit on their text publishing and my discussions in this matter with the publishing houses reveals their near-future plans to offer electronic texts online...on a chapter-by-chapter basis. This would allow instructors to assemble their own 'custom assembled' texts for courses.
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I am a 1st year professor. What most of us are missing, and which is very crucial, is the 'system' on the academic side. Professors are required at most schools to get published...not only to gain tenure, but to keep their jobs. The committees which review us give NO CREDIT for self-publication because it is not 'peer-reviewed' (approved, reviewed, and accepted by other 'experts' in the field). The mainstream publishing houses provide this peer review via other professors (we get credit for reviews also). Publishers know all this and exploit not only the students, but the authors as well (all of my mentors tell me there is no money in text publishing for the author...but we have to do it anyway). So, since I have to create content for my classes anyway, and I have to get published to keep my job, why not meld all the class materials into a text and knock out 2 birds w/ one stone? Speaking for myself, I would love to leave behind the antiquated status-quo.
Thanks for the great link...
Thank you for sharing/clarifying that information...very helpful. My situation is a smaller univ in the very deep south. The tenure review requirements are actually scored differently between the univ and the school (Technology). The program is the applied science of construction management (therefore the Tech). It is however, my perception that I can receive 30pts for a text published and 5pts for a peer reviewed journal. Six published journals however are equivalent in pts, but most likely much lower in effort required. Thanks again.
As a new Assistant Professor at a U.S. institution, I am required to perform Teaching, Research, Service, and publish scholarly publications in PEER REVIEWED journals, etc. If this is not done satisfactorily, I will be released within several years. In order for the writing of textbooks to contribute to my retention, the 'system' requires publication through a 'major' commercial publisher in your field of knowledge. This is a major reason, IMHO, that we do not see more offerings like the subject of this article. Most professors are lucky to make 10% profit on their text publishing and my discussions in this matter with the publishing houses reveals their near-future plans to offer electronic texts online...on a chapter-by-chapter basis. This would allow instructors to assemble their own 'custom assembled' texts for courses.