What’s the first shock about college?
Answer: the tuition bill.
So what’s the second shock?
Answer: the cost of college textbooks—and it may actually be a bigger shock than the tuition. Not because textbooks cost more, but because people don’t plan for that cost like they do tuition.
But most students and parents shrug their shoulders, feeling trapped in a system with few options. Until now—maybe.
The free online, encyclopedia Wikipedia has decided to step into the textbook business.
Wikipedia has initiated the Global Text Project, targeted at university students in developing nations. The first textbook is due in January 2007. And if it proves to be a success, Wiki plans to produce 1,000 titles in a whole range of subjects.
The project is being overseen by professors from all over the world and funded by corporate donations. The books can be updated on a regular basis, and volunteers will translate the textbooks into several languages.
There are obstacles to overcome, however. Poor countries don’t just lack access to textbooks; they often lack infrastructure, qualified instructors, and even the computers and Internet access to get to the books. Even so, it is a very interesting attempt to use technology to meet a need.
And there will be challenges. Wikipedia’s business model—a kind of open source philosophy of the world—prides itself on making information free. But encouraging outside individuals to add and edit information has led to numerous factual errors and editorializing.
If the textbook content is provided and controlled by experts and professors in their respective fields, Wiki could minimize its misinformation problems.
And it raises another possibility: Will U.S. and other high-income-country professors, tired of the textbook monopoly, also decide to take advantage of the free Wiki textbooks? And will that force the textbook manufacturers to rethink their pricing policies?
If so, enrolling in college may soon be loosing some of its shock factor.