In reply to Matt Nickerson.

Thanks for your comment Matt. This post hasn't generated direct conversation here obviously, but I have pointed to it via other platforms and used it to spark direct conversation elsewhere.

Of most recent interest on the topic is the potential effect that these concepts may have in the area of the rising popularity of MOOC's. Currently most don't directly require a text as they're trying to cater to a larger world of learners, many of whom may not have financial or physical access to textbooks. In these cases some professors are either recommending textbooks (usually their own) or are providing a list of interesting choices which is a somewhat useful middle-ground to the more extreme stance I've taken above. Because the general background level of the average MOOC student is so large and diverse in a given course, the ability to pick/choose a specific text tailored to their individual learning goals actually becomes a increased benefit to the work they're doing!

If you do see or are aware of other writing on this particular topic, I hope you'll share it either here or via any of the other diverse social media means -- I'd love to see it.