Content of Choice — Path to Better Textbooks
This was a discussion from several years ago which was resurrected by a recent slew of events. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had deleted content across subject silos in a manner that doesn’t tell well of the institution and I had written about this. A comment on that post brought back that discussion. I develop it further and beyond what my memory recalls (it has been at least a dozen years since that happened).
I shall now lay down a few observations:
- Way back in my graduate days, I loved how Knuth boldly announced a reward for any mistakes found in his books. I thought that and only that should be the calibre and confidence of an author. Can we have textbooks with that stringent a quality control?
- Rarely has one single textbook satisfied on every topic. Even Resnick and Halliday or Thomas’ Calculus didn’t please me in every bit. Some of our teachers too would openly declare that for topic X, please refer to R1 and for Y, refer to R2. Is it possible that one could compose a textbook as a collection of different good portions?
- A great writer is made greater by a good re-writer. Often we appreciate the beauty or brilliance in the original piece because someone made it more accessible or tangible. The Indian scriptures would be the prime example of works which became accessible because of scholars like Sankara or Desikan or Abhinavagupta et al. Another fantastic example is Better Explained. What if re-writing was encouraged and recognised for its value?
- Often, we wish an illustration was paired well with a piece of text. Graphic organisers and sketchnotes are also good examples of items that bring text to life in a way one can benefit from. What if textbooks carried such aids?
- Finally, explanations in one textbook and practice questions and problems in another are very common. I.E.Irodov was one such text. S.L.Loney was another. The list is endless. What if one could compose a textbook by picking problems and questions from multiple sources?
Yes, there is the matter of copyright but surely, you are aware of Wikipedia and how it ousted all the published encyclopedias of the world.
If scholars contributed content of superlative quality, which gets upvoted for quality and clarity, then every usage of their content could be rewarded. Teachers can be privy to previews and reviewer comments to be able to decide which ones to pick. Books assembled by teachers can also be made available to those who aren’t sure how to go about it and prefer to subscribe to the composition that their mentor or reputed teacher put together.
As authors gain reputation for being consistently good, their entire book could be made available as a choice (vs paying per topic or paragraph). Similarly, every usage of an image, question, mindmap or sketchnote can be paid to the author while teachers benefit from being able to compose a book that they do not have to apologise for.
With more local authors publishing content relevant to the different regions of India, we can have highly localised content which has greater relevance and increases awareness of regional customs and traditions, flora and fauna, seasons and practices, etc.
Books can also be multilingual or even multi-format (like graphic novels + apps). If the repository of content fragments is widely published and easily accessible, students could vote for which versions helped them the most. Throw in videos, animations and much more and you can have a multimedia textbook.
Pricing is a simple problem to solve and I won’t deliberate on it. Pay per unit per usage or pick discounted bundles or entire books. With reviewers adding their feedback and rating, the best content wins. Why would we not want something like this?
