University lecturers plugging their own books?

dowie

dowie

dowie

Caporegime
Joined
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How often does this happen at your university (or did happen when you were at university)?

I've got mixed views on it - on one hand the book might well be quite well known and regarded (better still it might be available for free in pdf format on the author's website) in which case great... it has clearly been written with that particular module/course in mind and also used by other universities.

On the other hand when it is part of a module, a bit specialist and costs a hefty sum of money... I'm not so sure when the lecturer then sticks his or her own book as one of the recommended texts.
 
The one time it happened on my course the book was available for £12 through the lecturer which was a ton cheaper than Amazon etc. and seemed to cover the subject matter quite well.
 
It happens a reasonable amount. However, the lecturers just provide us with a protected pdf of the relevant chapter(s).
 
The uni will monitor if the book is rubbish and overpriced. If it makes the education more engaging then I don't see much of a problem.
 
Why is it even a problem as long as it is up to scratch?

You are being taught by this lecturer and this is their book they have written for just such a course.
 
University lecturers plugging...

So many possibilities when seeing the title from the main forum but I'm disappointed now I've clicked on the thread :(

Did happen with one of my lecturers at Uni, although it was an entire philosophy towards projects rather than a book.
 
muon said:
Why is it even a problem as long as it is up to scratch?

You are being taught by this lecturer and this is their book they have written for just such a course.
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I don't think that is a problem as already mentioned in the OP.
 
dowie said:
I don't think that is a problem as already mentioned in the OP.
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If it appears to be an abuse, then complain to the head of department and I'm sure they'll make an impartial decision. Universities these days desperately care about student satisfaction as they affect league tables so much.

I only came across it 3 or 4 times and the books were very good.
 
The question was how often does/did this happen not what to do if it happens, I think you're misreading the OP muon. :)
 
dowie said:
The question was how often does/did this happen not what to do if it happens, I think you're misreading the OP muon. :)
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Ok, fair enough.

Out of 20 modules, I think it was 4 times for me. A couple more times it was of a colleague (not necessarily at the same university).

edit:

To add a bit more detail. I think it was required only twice.

The other times, it was an option of a range of books.

In all modules, from memory, you could get by with just lecture notes which were very detailed.
 
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I can honestly say I never read any of the recommended books during undergrad. I didn't come across any lecturers recommending their own books either, they were always general books which is excessive for a single course module.
 
The Craig said:
Had this with one business lecturer. Was required material for the course too!

Terrible practice!
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It's quite common, I wouldn't say terrible as it's not gona be a huge earner and hopefully if the prof in question is a leader in the field it would be best practice, a guy I had was an expert on terrorism so it would have been wrong not to use his book/s.
 
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If they are lecturing on the subject, they are an expert in that field. Why wouldn't any books they've written on the subject be in the recommended list?
 
Feek said:
Isn't this exactly what Gilderoy Lockhart did?
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indeed :)

amigafan2003 said:
If they are lecturing on the subject, they are an expert in that field. Why wouldn't any books they've written on the subject be in the recommended list?
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any number of reasons - for example maybe it is at too high or low level, maybe it is specialist and the course is introductory or vice versa
 
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