<p>Son just registered for his spring semester (18 credits - all physics and engineering). I took a look at the textbook requirements and almost fell over because the total price, if purchased new at the school bookstore, is just over $1200! We've always scoured the web for good deals and I happened to come across one of the books with a retail of $141.00 being sold like new for only $14.50. The caveat is that it is an instructor edition. </p>
<p>Son's integrity is such that he feels guilty bringing his home-made study guides to exams even when a professor allows students to bring in 4 pages of notes.</p>
<p>I know that these editions are generally not available to the public but could using one be construed as cheating? What's so different about these editions? Thanks!</p>
<p>My instructor text books do not have any solutions in them. I get the answers on line from the publisher and there are ethical statments to check off on when you obtain them.</p>
<p>“Instructor’s Edition” could mean two things. It could mean extra stuff intended for the instructor–like extra problem sets, or extra applications, and possibly answers. In my experience, this type of “Instructor’s Edition” will usually have a different ISBN number than the “Student’s Edition.” The other possibility is that it means a review copy–a free copy provided to the instructor to look at and see if he/she wants to adopt it for his/her class. These will have the same ISBN number and will often have a stamp or sticker on the cover that says something like “review copy not for resale.” I would ask the seller to tell you in more detail what the difference is between the instructor copy and the student copy.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick replies! It was from bookbyte.com. I entered the ISBN and the search returned that one and others. The instructor edition definitely had a different ISBN, with the description: “Same as student edition with publisher markings. CD-ROM Included.” Beyond being such a great deal, it’s not always easy finding used books when you need the book and the CD that comes with it.</p>
<p>D used an instructor’s edition of a college history book for an AP course last year. We got it for $19, vs. almost $200 from the school book store. The content was identical to that in the student edition and there was no extra content for the instructor. The book had printed on the cover and over the pages of most of the first chapter “Instructor’s Edition - Not for Resale,” or something like that. You could still see what was behind that printing, although it didn’t matter to D because they started with Chapter 12 and never read the first chapter. My understanding is that the publishers send these instructor’s editions to teachers for free so they can review the book and decide if they want to use it for their classes. Some teachers then sell them.</p>
<p>I would just buy it - for $14.50, it’s a small risk and you’ll still have the CD even if you have to look for another used book! Every time we’ve had to buy the darn CD separately from the publisher it’s been at least $20!</p>
<p>In my opinion, both the professors who sell these books and the people who buy them are contributing to the rising cost of textbooks for the rest of us.</p>
<p>Given that publishers aren’t providing nearly as many review copies to professors these days, I’m not sure how the secondary market for professors contributes to rising prices. If purchasers are savvy, they are in fact able to acquire unneeded copies less expensively via this market. Some publishers used to send labels with such books asking professors to return unadopted copies, but I seriously doubt they got many returned copies. Even if the publishers had unadopted texts returned, I feel pretty confident that it wouldn’t have had any impact towards lowering prices.</p>
<p>Op,
Engineering books are expensive! I always buy mine used. I own two instructor editions. One is the same, but in the answers at the back of the book, it offers the even problem solutions as well as the odd. </p>
<p>Another book is the exact same, but has some little tips on the pages to help instructors teach the material. </p>
<p>When I taught I received a lot of sample textbooks. Sometimes they are instructor’s editions marked not for resale. I’m not sure what the legalities of it are. I occasionally gave those copies to students. There are what I call textbook scavengers that roam college campuses looking for used books. My standard reply was that I would rather burn the books that “sell” the sample copies that I received for free (and not for resale) to him/her. I personally think it’s unethical to be selling (or buying) copies that are clearly marked not for resale. It might not be illegal, but I wouldn’t do it.</p>
<p>That said, I think the textbook publishing industry is going to price itself out of business. I taught a foreign language. These books have always had workbooks and now CDs and even Web sites. I was asked to contribute cultural material (not readings or activities, just blurbs) to a 3-level series of textbooks. I was paid an obscene amount of money to do that. I can only imagine what the contributors of the other portions of the books and ancillary materials were paid. Unnecessarily, in my opinion, because the textbook was awful in the end and, if I could have, I would have asked that my name be removed. At least, I wasn’t listed as an author. In addition, to these costs, there is also the advertising and marketing budget which adds to the price. They also often provide test banks and such that basically do the teacher’s job for her.</p>
<p>By the end of my teaching career I was preparing my own materials and teaching without a textbook whenever I could. One useful suggestion for workbooks is to photocopy/scan the assigned workbook pages and turn those in. That way, the unblemished workshop can be resold.</p>
<p>When shopping for textbooks, I’ve found it helpful to start the process early. This way if I don’t see a book for a “good price,” I can wait it out for a bit. I think shopping for textbooks right now is hard because college students on the semester plan (and maybe on some quarter systems) are not ready to sell their textbooks because it’s still mid semester, yet this semester’s students already bought a lot of the used books out there.</p>
<p>When shopping for textbooks, I’ve found it helpful to start the process early. This way if I don’t see a book for a “good price,” I can wait it out for a bit. I think shopping for textbooks right now is hard because college students on the semester plan (and maybe on some quarter systems) are not ready to sell their textbooks because it’s still mid semester, yet this semester’s students already bought a lot of the used books out there.</p>
<p>Well, I did receive the book. It looks brand new. So much for the seller’s description: “Same as student edition with publisher markings. CD-ROM Included.” Right on the cover it says “Instructor’s Edition - All Answers Included”. </p>
<p>We will now purchase a used copy unless the prof does not assign homework from the textbook (at least we do have the CD). </p>
<p>I appreciate all the responses although when measuring some concerns I take issue with the suggestion that purchasing an Instructor’s Edition contributes to the rising costs of textbooks. I think the way publishers constantly update texts with very few (if any) substantive changes, and the fact that universities support this practice by usually requiring the most recent edition is extremely unfair and quite a racket for the publishers.</p>
<p>Why is it that International copies are priced so low in comparison to their US counterparts when the content is almost the same (except maybe for the problem sets which are required)? </p>
<p>While I would never participate actively in son cheating by having answers to homework, I will continue to look for deals on the web and if an Instructor’s edition is available for 10% of the regular price, I would buy it again and hope it is not like the one I just got.</p>
<p>The professors of many of the lower level science and math classes at college have the kids buy solution manuals. If the solution manuals only have the answers to odd exercises, they post the answers to the even ones. </p>
<p>Homework in college is a lot more than just answers–homework is used as a teaching tool. Having the right answers ahead of time is useful to the process so that a student can check to make sure he or she is on the right track.</p>
<p>What I am saying is that having answers to the exercises in the book may not be cheating.</p>
<p>I agree with ellemenope. D had a high school Chem Honors class last year that used a college text, and the teacher suggested to them that they get the solutions manual (answers to odd problems only). She only assigned odd numbered problems, so clearly she was not concerned that they had the answers. Getting to the answer was more important than the answer itself. I guess it depends what the instructor is using the homework for. If it’s graded based on completion, effort or the work shown, as opposed to just the correct answer, or if it’s not graded at all, I can’t imagine that having an instructor’s edition is a big deal. I’d probably ask the instructor if he cared before I ran out and bought another book. He might, but he might not.</p>