ATTACKING THE TEXTBOOK PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

The rapid evolution of a new academic discipline like Construction is a wonderful event in which to participate, but it also has its drawbacks. Most construction educators would agree that a major problem is the lack of a strong pool of good text books. If construction education is to continue its growth toward academic maturity, this pool must be developed.

As clearly seen in the ASC Survey of Construction Texts, many of our current texts are old, and the variety of texts available to choose from is meager.

Many professors are not even using a regular text for their courses. Instead, they are using industry developed manuals or instructor notes. Construction education is in dire need of high quality, current, well focused text books.

The solution to this problem lies solely in the construction educator. No one is going to write our books for us. No one else  write our books for us. No one has more interest in doing so than we, ourselves. No one has more time to write the books than we do. There is no other solution: The task is outs.

If we accept this responsibility, how then do we proceed? Most of us have never written a text, though we know people who have. We are perceptive enough to recognize that authoring a text is a time consuming and frustrating endeavor. How then can we accomplish the task?

This paper highlights the great need for good construction texts and places the responsibility for producing those texts squarely upon the shoulders of the construction educator. It identifies the benefits associated with becoming an author including getting the texts that we need, gaining recognition among colleagues (which is part of achieving "academic credit" to support promotion and tenure), gaining a modest monetary return and most of all, gaining a sense of pride in being published and in contributing to the advancement of our profession.

The paper concludes with a description of the process of authoring a book, emphasizing how to begin. A brief review is given of the role of the publisher and ways in which the publisher supports the efforts of the author.

THE NEED

As construction educators, we have the wonderful opportunity to be participating in the evolution of a new and distinct academic discipline. Most of us have come from traditional academic backgrounds in Business, Engineering and Architecture, though some have experienced construction education as undergraduate or Master's students. Most have gained their construction training through industry practice rather than formal education. An understanding of construction scheduling, or estimating, or contracts has come from "doing it", not from sitting in a classroom and learning as a student. When we entered the classroom as construction educators, we did not look back to the traditional courses we took, with their traditional texts, because we had not experienced these. Instead, we simply developed the course based upon our experience.

Resources for teaching the new construction courses, in addition to our experience, sometimes included notes from the previous instructor, or possibly from a friend teaching in another institution. But mostly, our principal resource was our own experience. In looking for text books, we found a few which are now considered classics such as those by Peurifoy and Oglesby. As the academic discipline of construction matures, these classic texts are less and less able to meet the needs of more tailored and focused construction education. As a result, many courses are taught with little reference to texts.

Several years ago, the Associated Schools of Construction carried out a survey of member schools to identify the texts being used in courses. A review of the results of that survey revealed that the variety of texts used was not great. In some courses, the dominant genre of books being used fell into the category of industry developed manuals, such as Walker's Handbook or Dodge or Means pricing manuals for Estimating and the Caterpillar handbook for courses in Equipment. In many instances, the respondent would simply declare "Notes" or "No Text".

As educators, we are visited from time to time by representatives from the various publishing houses. In discussing potential texts with them, we find that the number and variety of texts in construction is small. Most publishers of technical books have some texts in construction, but few have very many. In looking at the catalogues of the major publishers, one is struck by the pages and pages listing literally hundreds of text books for traditional disciplines of engineering, architecture and business, while one or two pages describe ten or twenty texts for the entire discipline of construction.

In attending professional meetings, one is again struck by the greed diversity of texts on display for both broad and narrow topics in other disciplines, but ask to see construction texts and one is lucky to be presented with half a dozen. In talking with the publisher representatives, it turns out that the problem is not lack of interest from their end, it is simply that they do not have the texts. In fact, in virtually all cases, the representative will ask "Would you like to write a text? We would love to carry it if you would write it."

It is easy to build the case for the need for an expanded pool of high quality construction texts. In talking with many of my colleagues over the last few years, they have expressed the same frustrations as I have experienced in finding a great scarcity of high quality, well focused construction texts. As the academic discipline supporting the evolving profession of Construction matures, the diversity of courses is increasing, the content of courses is becoming more tailored to meet specific needs, and the body of knowledge in construction is expanding and evolving at a rapid rate. The pool of text books must expand if the profession is to continue its evolution without being stunted.

THE RESPONSIBILITY

Who, then, is to write the books? The responsibility must fall to the construction educator. Not only isthe need ours, but we are the only ones who embrace that rare blend of mastery of content, communication skills, and pedagogical skills required to produce an excellent textbook. Moreover, we are the ones with the incentive, and yes, even the time. The bottom line is that there is simply no one else to write our texts.

The practitioner has neither the time, the skills, the interest, nor the background to write good textbooks. Some who are particularly dedicated, or who have retired and want to return to the industry a bit of what the industry has given to them will write books. A few of these will be good texts, though most will not have those unique characteristics required of a high quality text. On the other hand, practitioners make a wonderful source of co-authors, though the primary responsibility is ours.

Those in traditional academic disciplines write the text books relevant to their fields of interest. Construction education represents a new discipline comprising a blend of the technical fields of engineering, business and architecture, with a sprinkling of law, human relations, and many other fields. Many of the construction books we now use and complain about as being "inadequate, but all there is" were written by well respected scholars in traditional academic areas related to construction, but without the unique blend of the professional Constructor. Others were written by practitioners without the strong academic background required to produce a textbook of excellence. Books from both these sources have served well for many years, but as construction education evolves, they become less and less adequate. The problem is that they can not and will not be replaced by more appropriate books until we construction educators write their replacements.

THE REASONS

There are many reasons for writing a textbook, three of which will be addressed here. To be sure, there is a great need for good construction texts. There are also many rewards for writing a book. Finally, there is professional responsibility for the construction educator to document and expand the body of knowledge in our professional discipline.

Need

The most obvious reason to write a text is need. The need has been addressed above, but one aspect of need was not covered. It is one thing to discuss in general terms the need for high quality texts in the emerging discipline of construction education, but the need becomes personal when term after term, the professor goes into the classroom with stacks of notes, and duplicated handouts for the students and apologizes for not having a "real" text for the course. Years of this personal need will drive even the most reluctant educator to begin considering authoring a text

Rewards

There are many rewards for writing a text, one of the least of which is monetary. Others include professional recognition, academic achievement, and personal fulfillment.

Monetary Rewards   Monetary rewards are generally not great in authoring a text This is especially true in the field of construction. Though growing, our academic discipline is still small and the potential consumer base is not extensive. A four year construction program with 200 students would, in theory, have 1 /8 of its students in any given class in any given semester, or 25 students. At 50 students per year, 20 programs would have to adopt the text to sell 1000 copies. If the author received $5.00 per copy, a total income of $5,000 per year might be gained. With a 5 year shelf life, a total income for the book might be $25,000. When this somewhat optimistic scenario is weighed against the time required to author a text and the potential of what could he earned through consulting, the monetary rewards are not great.

Professional Recognition   A greater incentive, in many cases, is the opportunity to become recognized professionally as an authority in ones own field. Educators, students and practitioners tend to refer to books by their authors, rather than by their proper titles. One gains both recognition and respect from colleagues by having achieved publication of a book.

Academic Achievement   Academic faculty are expected to be creative writers. Academic rewards come, to a great extent based upon the professor's "creative productivity". The traditional academic value system generally regards reviewed technical papers published in recognized journals as the highest form of publication, followed by refereed papers presented at national and international meetings and published in proceedings. Text book publication is not typically considered as "prestigious" as writing papers for a number of reasons such as lack of review (though text books do, indeed, get extensive review), and because there is a monetary return on a text.

This academic value system is not strictly applicable to the construction discipline. Construction education does not have a strong tradition of technical publication. Recognized journals are few. Moreover, publication is generally associated with reporting of research results and many construction programs have no research component. They are primarily teaching units. A case can therefore be made in the academic discipline of construction for much increased importance being placed upon the authoring of high quality academically sound text books. For the construction educator working in a primarily undergraduate, teaching environment who is frustrated by either lack of appropriate places to publish, or lack of research from which "acceptable" publications can be developed, publication of a text should gain strong academic recognition.

Personal Fulfillment   People are creative by nature. They like to see the tangible results of their labor and they take great pride in being able to point to a physical product and say "I did that". Constructors have a particularly strong sense of pride in the fruit of their work. We like to point to a building, or a bridge, or a house and say "I built that". The construction educator can take great pride in producing a text which is widely used. There are few things that give more of a sense of accomplishment to an educator than to see his or her name on a highly regarded text book.

Professional Responsibility

As professional educators, the responsibility is ours to expand the body of knowledge that comprises the evolving professional discipline of Construction. To that end, we must record that knowledge in a form in which it can be disseminated to others and used as a foundation upon which to create further knowledge. This function is as much a part of our responsibility as curriculum development, day to day instruction, or academic advising of students. Not only is it essential to the quality education of our students, but it is a service that we owe our profession, and a requisite for the growth and prosperity of that profession.

THE ROAD TO BECOMING AN AUTHOR

Having established the need for development of good texts, having identified the reasons for writing texts and having accepted the responsibility to do so, how does one proceed? The process is typically begun by presenting a proposal to a publisher.

The Proposal

Development of that proposal is the first major step toward publication of the text. The proposal consists of the following parts:

The Prospectus                        The prospectus has three primary functions: to provide a rationale for the project, to define a strategic plan for development of the project, and to create a clear delineation of the targeted market. Questions addressed will include the following:

Annotated Table of Contents   The Annotated Table of Contents provides an overview of the entire book and some indication of what is contained in each chapter. It defines the scope and form of the book and allows one to see how it all fits together. Each chapter is identified. A summary is given of what is included in each chapter. Unique characteristics of the content of the chapters are identified. Innovative organizational characteristics of the total project are highlighted.

The annotated table of contents allows the author to refine plans for the overall structure of the work and to display its special characteristics. It reveals the organizational logic of the work and characterizes the instructional strategy. It is used by the publisher to gain an understanding of the concept and an overall feeling for the proposed text.

Sample Chapters   The most important function of the sample chapters is to demonstrate that the prospective author has the capability to carry out the project and produce the planned text It is one thing to have great inspiration about a valuable text; it is quite another to be able to execute a plan and come up with the excellent product

Vita   The vita, of course, gives the publisher some idea of whether the prospective author does, indeed, have the background and understanding to deal with the subject. The vita is not a strong indicator of success, but can help the reviewers understand the perspective of the author and can identify weaknesses that the author might have to overcome.

Once received, the proposal will be studied by reviewers and consultants to evaluate the potential of the project. If deemed viable, they will provide suggestions to the author regarding how the product might be improved. At this point, a contract can be made between author and publisher for writing and publication of the textbook, and the manuscript is begun.

Development of the Manuscript

The publisher can provide a great deal of assistance to the author during the writing process. Assistance in developing the manuscript can include help in planning the book, direction in the organization and physical preparation of the manuscript, and, of course, review of the manuscript as it is being prepared. The author is the expert in the content area, but unless an author has extensive experience in publishing, all the questions about how to turn the content into the physical product need to be answered by the publisher.

Other help during the period of manuscript development could take the form of some secretarial help, and/or provision of equipment upon which to write the book. It is normally assumed, however, that the author has access to a secretary and typewriter or word processor and this assistance is not to be assumed if it is not spelled out in. the contract. Financial help in the form of a monetary advance on future sales is also a possibility, but not normally a part of the arrangement

The Publishing Process

When the initial draft of the manuscript is completed, together with illustrations, exercises, bibliographies, indices, and any other components that will comprise the finished work, the publisher assumes the primary role and a review and publication cycle is initiated. This includes the following steps:

This process can take anywhere from six months to more than a year. In the mean time, the publisher is also developing a marketing strategy and beginning to market the text

CONCLUSIONS

The excitement of being part of the evolution of a new academic discipline creates both problems and opportunity. A major problem is the lack of high quality, well structured, well tailored textbooks. This results in frustration of faculty and students alike, but the more significant consequence is the impact on the profession, which will be stunted in its development if adequate texts are not developed.

There is strong incentive for construction educators to develop the critical pool of textbooks necessary to support their classroom instruction, and to document and expand the body of knowledge pertaining to the evolving profession of construction. Need is only part of the incentive. There are numerous rewards to say nothing of strong professional responsibility which lead the construction educator to become an author. Major publishers stand ready to encourage and support the new authors.

The objective of this paper has been to encourage and inspire construction faculty to undertake the task of solving their textbook problem through making a personal commitment to write a text. This is not a simple undertaking. The commitment involves hundreds of hours of work, years of time and numerous frustrations as well as personal vulnerability during the review process, but the penalties for not writing are severe and the rewards for producing an excellent test are great indeed.