Students and staff split on going to e-textbooks
By Doug Ancey
Technology has become a part of most aspects of our daily lives, including our education. Electronic readers such as the Kindle and Nook, as well as e-textbooks, are growing in popularity.
At the bookstore, publishers offer around 70 titles in electronic format. However, students are not rushing to buy them as opinions range on which style of textbook is more effective.
Assistant Professor John Ifcher teaches courses in the economics department and he requires students to purchase an e-textbook for one of his classes, Principles of Microeconomics.
Students have the option to buy the print version of the textbook should they feel the need. "I think e-textbooks have many advantages over traditional textbooks," Professor Ifcher says, "They incorporate features that could not be incorporated into traditional textbooks, for example, interactive features, quizzes, homework assignments, audio-visual content, etc. I am not sure that e-textbooks will completely phase out traditional textbooks but I do think that they will become the norm for introductory courses in many subjects, for example, economics, sciences, etc. The large number of students who take these courses and buy textbooks will make it worth the publishers while to invest in creating fully enhanced e-textbooks."
E-textbooks are generally said to be cheaper than traditional textbooks, but Professor Stephen Carroll, who is a professor in the English department, seems to think otherwise."Potentially, e-textbooks could be cheaper, but in practice, I have not observed this to be the case. In fact, if you go to Amazon and just look at the price differences between regular books and e-books (not necessarily e-textbooks), you'll see that the paper versions are often significantly less expensive than the e-versions. "If you buy used texts, you can almost always get a lower price than the electronic version, a fact which emphasizes that one cannot buy a used e-text, nor can one sell one easily. Overall, I have found that for my classes, hard copies are always cheaper than e-versions of the same texts, even when I can't buy used versions."
While it may be cheaper to produce and distribute files electronically, that doesn't necessarily influence the market price.
"The real driver of textbook prices is captive markets," Professor Carroll says, "once a professor says that students have to buy this particular text, students really don't have much of an option, therefore, textbook publishers can charge whatever the market will bear. Until this changes, I see little reason to believe that e-textbooks will be significantly cheaper than paper textbooks."
Professor Carroll said that while he may use a lot of online materials in his classes, whenever he uses a textbook it is always a bound paper book.
The technology behind e-books is still growing. A major problem with using electronic books (and thus trying to format a class around them) is that many of the readers that are on the market are not compatible with each other. There are 25 different makers of e-readers using over 16 different formats.
In an effort to protect their intellectual property, Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble use formats that are only compatible with their personal e-reader.
There is, of course, also something to be said about holding a book while you read. Reading is a sensory experience in which physically turning the pages plays a large part.
Students still seem divided over which method they prefer as some have adapted to using e-textbooks while others find that they learn better using the traditional textbook. Whichever method of textbook you prefer, what is clear is that technology is changing the way we communicate and learn.
Contact Doug Ancey at dancey@scu.edu or at (408) 554-4546