“Today convenience is the success factor of just about every type of product and service that is showing steady growth.” — Charles G. Mortimer
While the concept isn't new, I've been reading a lot of buzz lately about electronic textbooks. I keep hearing how they're becoming more and more popular with online programs, and even being used with classroom-based learning. Interestingly, in all my years as a student, I have never been assigned an electronic textbook. I finished my Bachelor's online, then did a Master's almost entirely online — in educational technology no less, and now am doing a doctoral program online, but no e-textbook has been part of my experience.
The thing is that I'm not sure I'm sorry about that. There are good and bad aspects to e-textbooks. Not everything about them is great. One drawback is that they can be difficult to read for those of us who would rather go through long stretches of text on actual paper rather than by clicking through screen after screen of text. I suppose I might just be an old fuddy-duddy here, though, as I understand some people are just fine reading forever on a screen. Put another way, my dad used to print out email to read it, and my kids won't print anything, so maybe I'm just in between them.
Besides, I realize that there are a lot of conveniences that go along with electronic textbooks. It's possible to search for a word or phrase and instantly find it anywhere in the book. It doesn't take up any space on your shelf. Some of the newer ones can grade their own quizzes to help you study. And assuming you're already taking your laptop or other e-book reader with you, there's no more weight to carry. Try doing any of that with books make from paper!
But what ought to be the best part of electronic textbooks should be the price. Many times a digital version costs less than the same book in printed form. But even then, are we as students paying too much? Textbooks are obscenely overpriced to begin with, and getting a small discount doesn't make up for that. But sometimes we don't even get that. One school recently announced the option for students to buy their textbooks as digital copies rather than printed ones, and the incentive was that for the digital versions there was no shipping charge. That's it? What about the cost savings from not having to print a big bulky book? Fellow student, you and I do not see the savings.
What's even more interesting is that it might not hurt publishers' bottom lines even if they gave the electronic version of their textbooks away for free. A recent bit in the Chronicle of Higher Education talked about research that shows that even when publishers make the electronic textbooks freely available, sales of the print versions of the same book stay strong.
So how about it publishers? If you're getting your thirty pieces of silver, can't you cut us some kind of a break?
Image courtesy of pmccormi