Comment Re:A more reasonable proposition (Score 1) 419
I'm a college mathematics and computer science professor, and this is EXACTLY what I'm doing.
I'm teaching an "Introduction to Computational Mathematics" course (basically a numerical analysis lite) and the only choice I had for texts was a $150+ numerical analysis text, which we would only use 1/8 of, at best. So I just wrote my own little 100 page text and gave it to the students for free, instead making them buy MATLAB for their personal computers, which will be something they'll use through numerous other mathematics/CS courses. This text, after some lessons learning this semester, will be published freely online.
I think the majority of professor who still care about their students would love to collaborate on free textbooks. I know the NSF has some programs for this, but they are heavily underused. I'm quite sure the textbook publishers would do everything in their power to prevent this though!
I'm teaching an "Introduction to Computational Mathematics" course (basically a numerical analysis lite) and the only choice I had for texts was a $150+ numerical analysis text, which we would only use 1/8 of, at best. So I just wrote my own little 100 page text and gave it to the students for free, instead making them buy MATLAB for their personal computers, which will be something they'll use through numerous other mathematics/CS courses. This text, after some lessons learning this semester, will be published freely online.
I think the majority of professor who still care about their students would love to collaborate on free textbooks. I know the NSF has some programs for this, but they are heavily underused. I'm quite sure the textbook publishers would do everything in their power to prevent this though!