With The Advent Of The Web The Need For Textbooks Diminishes

In the world most of the faculty grew up in, education started with the textbook. The more innovative faculty used photocopies from other books, copies of articles, and their own notes to supplement their teaching. With the advent of the Web, faculty introduced Web links, usually posted on their Web pages, as supplementary materials, perhaps appropriate in a world with manageable amounts of information. With the fast pace of technology, and the accompanying need to stay up to date with the latest developments in our fields, today, the roles have flipped. Instead of the textbook being the primary tool used for learning with the lecture as a vehicle, and Web or hard copy references used as a supplementary source of knowledge; the Web is now the primary source of current and relevant knowledge and the book and the lecture becoming secondary. Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/guest-post-in-digital-era-lectures-and-textbooks-are-secondary/2011/12/13/gIQAhBWprO_blog.html?wprss=college-inc