According to a survey by Zogby International, an independent polling and research firm, of 1,029 U.S. college faculty from two- and four-year institutions, 84 percent of instructors believe students need a textbook to complete their courses.

Patricia Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers said, “This survey confirms the conventional wisdom that next to the professor, the text is the most critical tool students have to ensure academic success.”

Zogby also found that 80 percent of professors polled thought that is important for textbook materials to be as current as possible, and three-fourths of instructors thought either required or recommended the use of supplementary materials in addition to textbooks.

UTM has many labs and learning centers to help students with their classes. The Modern Foreign Language department has the Muriel Tomlinson Language Resource Center to help students with their foreign language courses.

Dr. Daniel Nappo, assistant professor of Spanish, said, “I’ve read evaluations from the fall semester and students gave positive feedback for the lab. The lab helped with vocabulary, pronunciation, and to reinforce ideas taught in the classroom.”

The Zogby survey found that more than 70 percent of professors require students to read and study at least half of the textbooks they assign for a particular course. Also, three-fourths of professors advise their students early in the course that using the textbook is necessary to get a better grade.

Dr. David Coffey, assistant professor of History, said, “If a professor assigns a book, the text should be require and students should be required to buy it. Teachers should not assign textbooks they don’t intend to use.”