What Are Text Manuals?

 

A text manual is really just another form of presenting the same material commonly found in a text book. We have been conditioned to what constitutes a text book by many years of using those texts published by large publishing companies. Those books are not bad books just because they have been produced by large companies, but we feel it is time for you to take a look at those heavy tomes and see if they are really fulfilling the needs of your classroom and your students.

Consider color for example. Look at the text you are presently using and ask yourself if color is being used effectively. Is it serving any useful function at all? Most texts use color for shading in tables or parts of circuits, places that really do not need color at all. So why is it there? Well, it is there for several reasons. One, because most texts use color, there is some expectation to see that in a text. Two, to keep the price of a text high because the higher priced the product, the more money the publishers make. Three, because they want to illustrate things that require color for proper explanation. You would think the third reason would be the dominant reason, right? You would think color would be used for things like resistor and capacitor color codes, right? How then can you explain that one of North America's most popular electronics texts, one that has color on almost every page, presents these color codes in black and white? Make no mistake about it, your students are paying a high price for all that color. In our opinion they are not getting useful value for that money. The cost of color can amount to $70 or more for each copy and, of course, profit is made on the color as well.

Consider size and cost as another example. Have you noticed how texts have grown over the last number of years? They have grown in page size and in the number of pages. It's almost as though they have been eating at a popular drive-through. In the process they have become unwieldly. Many students will not carry a heavy text around all day, even if they can afford the price tags that are approaching $200. They are just too heavy! Is all this necessary? Does a text have to be like the proverbial educator who, when asked a question, feels the need to jump back two centuries in order to explain it fully? We think not! We believe most texts simply contain too much material, some which is simply outdated and some which is overly repetitive.

So we have coined the term "text manual" to describe our books because the word "manual" is associated by many with a somewhat lower level of product. The term "manual" is used to describe many of the products sold to students which have been created by their own professors; they are also often called course packs. Now, what do we mean by "lower level?" Certainly not inferior! Course packs and manuals are what makes education work today! We mean lower level in the sense that the expectations are somewhat lower. With a manual, you do not expect opaque high-gloss paper, or perfect binding, or hard covers. And probably you don't expect color, except for perhaps one or two pages that have been inserted. And you don't expect it to last 100 years! It does not need that sort of life expectancy. Like your own course packs, it really only needs to last a semester or two, after which it will become a reference and likely see very little use. Most texts are not kept as references, they are sold as soon as the course ends which is why they publish new editions so often--to kill the used book market.

What we provide in a text manual is careful and concise coverage of all the theory required to get a good start in electronics, and with plenty of examples to illustrate the typical problems encountered. You will notice, as you review the text mauals, that there are no problem sets ending each chapter, and there is no appendix. If you want problem sets, they are available and classroom-tested; just pick what you want from our choice of problem sections. We can add them back in, or provide a separate problem manual. Many people choose to use their own problem sets that they have laboriously created, so the text material is offered without problems for those educators. The books then become an even better buy for their students because they are not paying for something they will not use! Upon adoption, all appendix material is provided so you can add it to your college's computers and distribute it digitally to your students. Free! And in color, where needed! And all the photos are provided in color as well. Free!

Many young learners feel intimidated at the thought of reading an 80-page chapter. We really believe we have struck the correct balance in providing the right material in a clear and concise voice that your students can read with ease. Take a look at our chapters and see if you don't agree! Thank you for reading this.