Textbooks Are Failing Students (and Other Dangerous Ideas) Higher Listenings podcast

Textbooks Are Failing Students (and Other Dangerous Ideas)

3d ago 29:46

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Textbooks are the flip phones of higher ed: clunky, outdated, and yet somehow the model persists. The reality is, students aren’t buying them. And increasingly, faculty are asking: why am I still assigning something that isn’t delivering value?

In this episode, Donna Battista and Bradley Cohen join us to explore a provocative new vision for course content, one that’s not just digital, but dynamic. Drawing on dozens of faculty and student interviews, they share insights into what’s broken, what’s possible, and why it’s time to move beyond static, one-size-fits-all materials. Because if the textbook is already on life support… what comes next?

Guest Bio

Donna Battista has spent more than 20 years leading content and product development in higher education. As the Managing Director of Learning Solutions at Top Hat, she is responsible for the strategy and development of our growing catalog of high-quality, interactive digital learning experiences, custom content delivery and content services.

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Chapters

1. The Textbook Problem Framed (00:00:00)

2. Student Habits And Misaligned Materials (00:01:06)

3. Cost Versus Value In Course Content (00:03:13)

4. Alignment, Relevance, And Model Failure (00:05:12)

5. Personalization Beyond Extra Practice (00:08:17)

6. Integrating Lecture, Study, And Feedback (00:10:24)

7. Motivation And Making Gen Ed Relevant (00:12:29)

8. Multimodal Content And Just-Enough Design (00:15:22)

9. Adaptive Diagnostics And Metacognition (00:17:29)

10. Trust, Authority, And Faculty Control (00:20:16)

11. Actionable Insights And Data For Teaching (00:23:16)

12. Breaking Incrementalism In EdTech (00:25:15)

13. Near-Term Moves Faculty Can Make (00:27:05)

14. Five-Year Vision For Connected Learning (00:28:22)

15. Sponsor Message And Closing (00:29:40)

18 episodes