Computers Put Textbooks On The Fast Track

MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS
Division of University Relations
403 Olds Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1047

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Don Weinshank, (517) 353-0831
Mark Urban-Lurain, (517) 353-0682
Sue Nichols, (517) 355-2281

9/2/97

COMPUTERS PUT TEXTBOOKS ON THE FAST TRACK

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Until now, the classroom has been an ugly showdown between the blink-and-you-miss-it world of computers and the sedate pace of textbooks.

Michigan State University's computer science department has become the first in the nation to use texts produced by a new printing method that not only keeps computer textbooks current to the month classes start, but also allows instructors to customize text selections down to the sentence.

The books roll off the presses and on to bookstore shelves barely three weeks before classes begin.

"It is important to us to have the most up-to-date, most relevant information as possible available to the students, and with computers that means a matter of months, not the years that textbooks traditionally require," said Don Weinshank, professor of computer science. "This gives a whole new meaning to the term 'hot off the press'."

Nearly 1,700 students have enrolled in CPS 101, filling all sections. The course itself is innovative - using a unique combination of collaborative learning and hands-on problem solving to learn basic computer usage, such as e-mail, surfing the net and basic programs like word processing and spreadsheets.

The paperback textbook eliminates the need for additional packets and most handouts throughout the year, creating one-stop learning. Priced at $50, it also has MSU-specific passages.

"Rather than buying six textbooks and using a fraction of each, students will just get one book that has only what's relevant," said Mark Urban-Lurain, one of the instructors who created the course.

Urban-Lurain and Weinshank haggled with several national publishing companies on the concept, settling with Harcourt Brace to publish Computing Concepts and Competencies. Hamco/Netpub of Poughkeepsie, NY, provides the printing technology. Weinshank and Urban-Lurain traded information and page proofs in electronic files over the Internet, making it a paperless project.

"The first time the paper appears in this process is when the press rolls," Weinshank said. "It was more efficient to move electrons than trees."

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