1. How does the rise in digital textbook sales reflect changes in education/how students learn?
2. Is this new craze a good change, something that we should be wary of, or something in between?
3. If digital textbooks continue to rise in popularity, how might this affect the student, publishers, and academic environments?
The rise in digital textbook sales reflect that education/the way in which students learn is becoming more tech savvy. Its impossible to go through college without a computer, whether it be one's own personal laptop or a computer in the library, our education cannot function without the use of this technology. And so, since students are continuously using computers, its just a matter of accessibility when it comes to digital textbooks. Its easy, fast, and efficient.
ReplyDeleteThe new craze is both good and bad in my opinion. Good because students can get textbooks online for much cheaper than paper texts. Secondly, digital texts are saving millions of trees, which is an awesome thing. On the other hand, even though its not going to happen next quarter or even in a few years, but brick-and-mortar stores are going to feel the pain from these digital textbooks. People are seeing digital textbook sales go up which they will continue to do. And, this will definitely take a toll on stores that sell paper texts, because, like the article said towards the end, we simply won't need them anymore.
If digital textbooks continue to rise in popularity, it will effect the student because, one day, we might all be forced to buy digital textbooks simply because those are all the options we will have left. Sure, older editions of paper texts will still float around, but they would be useless because of their outdatedness. It wouldn't have much of an affect on publishers; they're text is still being produced, just manufactured and sold in a different way than traditionally. Finally, it might affect the academic environment in a way that everything will be more easily accessed in a faster and more efficient way.
I do not think that a rise in the sales of digital textbooks has affected or changed the way students learn the material. From my perspective, one of the major reasons that sales have gone up is the price difference. As many people know, college students do not have a lot of money to spare, so when there is an opportunity to pay less than half the price for a digital copy of a text book, they save a ton of money doing so.
ReplyDeleteThis new craze doesn't necessarily mean that it would be a good change. Times are tough, and the paper industry will be hurt deeply by this change. One of the major products the paper industry makes a profit off of is hard copy books. As for the trees, I am pretty sure that changing everything to digital will not affect how many trees are cut down. Personally, I would rather read something from an actual text book. I have tried reading a computer screen but it doesn't quite work with learning the material. Books: never run out of battery, do not have a glare on the page if there is light shinning on it, and they do not expire and force you to buy them again.
I find this trend (and this article) to be particularly interesting. Not just the growing use of digital textbooks, but the way in which technology is becoming more and more integrated into the classroom and education as a whole. In regards to the increasing sales and use of digital textbooks, I think it is only a good thing. Same information, same potential for learning, but none of the environmental drawbacks associated with printing books in mass quantities. And now, with the ability to download books to a variety of platforms (iPad, Kindle, etc.), books are simply more convenient and accessible. I know that personally I am a lot more likely to download a book that a friend recommended on my iPad than I am to drive twenty minutes to Barnes and Noble to buy that same boook.
ReplyDeleteAnd the argument that book stores and traditional outlets of acquiring books will suffer, and entire industries will subsequently fail simply doesn't hold water. This opposition to digital books is based on the assumption that a job lost in the printing industry is a job lost for society. While this may be true, I would contest that an equal - or even more likely, greater - number of jobs is created by the rapidly growing industry that is digital media. Basic economic theory tells us that while new technology often displaces unskilled workers or workers in the industry that is becoming futile, the new technology will more often than not result in a net benefit to society - whether it be through job creation or greater convenience and access of a product to the average individual.
That said, I think it is worth noting that there may be some potential drawbacks to the increasing level to which technology is becoming integrated in academic environments. In this day and age, you can receive a college diploma - or even a graduate degree - without ever stepping foot in the classroom. Many would argue that this is a problem. They say that technology is slowly but surely leading to the "depersonalization" of academia. While it's easy to brush aside this notion and label these people as technophobes, they have a point. There is something to be said about face-to-face contact and interaction in a classroom environment.
Anyways, I enjoyed the article and this is certainly a topic worth discussing.
Most students today can't be found without their laptop or phone on them, so it's natural that the education system would transfer books and ways to learn into some form of technology. It just makes it easier to have accessibility to a book no matter where your location, and no more "i forgot my book at home" when computers are available.
ReplyDeleteI think that this change can be good at times, but then again it's also going to hurt a lot of people. Everyone's mentioned it above, but it's true that many book stores are going to suffer directly from not being able to sell as many paper books in store, and the books could be cheaper online since there is no need to print them, also leading to print shops suffering. Both stores will suffer as well if people begin to hack books and steal them online. Libraries will probably still keep older books and encyclopedias, but they will suffer too from the loss of paper books, although people could "rent" online books from the library. Libraries will become more used for studying and less for the books though, and will become smaller and lose funds. It will be helpful to students because prices could be dropped, and accessibility is easier, but if internet is slow or your fancy kindle breaks, you're pretty much out of luck. It'll take a long time but we are moving towards everything digital. Technology will soon take over our lives even more than it does currently. I agree with Zach's point about the "depersonalization". Technology just means artificial interactions and socializing, which can result in lack of social skills in public and loss of real language.
This article is just an example of the fact that education is evolving right along with technology and is becoming increasingly more reliant on it. The fact that sales doubled from spring to fall is absolutely mind boggling. It goes right along with Americas demand for everything to become more and more convenient(and also eco friendly). While I think that there are a lot of advantages to online texts, I for one prefer the hard copy as I am a chronic highlighter, and I get tired of staring at a lit screen all the time(cellphone, computer,tv ect).
ReplyDeleteI think the change comes forth with good intentions, but we have to be wary of how wrapped up we are getting in technology. We are a foot away from allowing technology to completely consume every aspect of our daily lives. The cost aspect of online textbooks is definitely an advantage though.
Fascinating article and great comments so far! I look forward to discussing this with you all on Friday.
ReplyDeleteI, as well as others, found this article interesting. I didn't realize how big of a deal that online textbooks were. I don't think that the way students are learning the material, rather that be a paper textbook or an online textbook, will affect our ability to learn or what the material is that we learn. I think we will get the information regardless of how it's presented. As far as publishers go, they will probably be put out of business. They probably wont be able to make any money unless they start converting their paper textbooks to online textbooks and publishing them online. I don't know how this works but unless they do something, publishers will lose their profits. I think this is something that we should accept but be wary of at the same time. I personally like paper textbooks because I like things i can physically hold. Maybe it's just a mind thing but I'm not a fan of online textbooks. But at the same time, I do like being able to turn in homework online and I like the idea of conserving paper. I'm in the middle on this idea and many other people probably are too.
ReplyDeleteI do not think digital textbooks will change how students learn, other than expanding what we can learn. Currently, digital textbooks are an alternative to the hard copies of the text, and may one day replace the hard copies, but they will still contain the same info. We will have the option to get the text in hard cover, paperback, or digital.
ReplyDeleteI do believe this is something we should be wary of. While it does offer convenience to have many digital textbooks on one device, not everyone can afford one of these tablets as they are rather pricey. Also, because the tablets are becoming more multifunctional, the battery could die because you were playing a game and then you would no longer have access to your textbooks. While this does offer much convenience, there are still problems that could arise.
The rise of digital textbooks could lead to a much more computer-based classroom setting. With digital textbooks, some sort of technology would be needed in every class, be it tablet or computer. This would be expensive to implement in every classroom and could lead to higher tuition prices for students. While digital textbooks seem to be the direction everyone is headed, there are some drawbacks to making them the primary textbook.
The rise in digital textbook sales just shows that students are advancing with technology. The way the students are learning is not being affected though. I think that the main reason the sales are increasing is because of the cost of online textbooks compared to the hard copy. Many students have to buy their own textbooks and it is easier on their budgets if they can just rent a copy online. I don't think this new craze is a good or bad thing, just something in between. It works for some people, but not for others. If digital textbooks become more popular, it may affect all students because many publishing companies will stop printing out textbooks in hard copy.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this craze is good. In the future, the e-books, could become interactive. This would be useful in diagrams and models in textbooks. Besides the academic benefits, it would save money for everyone because you would not need to print or bind the textbooks. Which is also better for the environment.
ReplyDeleteThe rise in digital books sales reflects the education is more technical and students can't live without computers now. We can easily find, the price of digital books is much lower than the print ones and sometimes we can download for free. This helps students save money on the learning materials cost. For this reason, i appreciate this change as a student. However, I do not like to use digital books cause it's unhealthy to watch the computer screen for a long time. In addition, those publishers suffer decreasing sales and profits. For the entire academic environment, it may cause the library has fewer books and students go there all with laptops for study. That's not what we expect.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for myself personally, I would NOT like it if it was a rise in digital textbook sales. The thought of it being cheaper and more convenient is nice though. I like to have the actual book in front of me,while i study and highlight if necessary, some of which i can't do on the computer. I tend to get tired of staring at a computer for a long period of time, which can have a negative in the way that I learn. I think this new craze could be both a good and bad thing, depending on a person's outlook on it.
ReplyDeleteI feel this digital craze for textbooks is a very good idea. it will definitely save a lot of paper and is a very "green" approach to purchasing textbooks. I do think that eventually paper textbooks will become obsolete due to the rising paper prices, and the fact that a lot of people now prefer all their things to be in the digital format. I know I personally don't like carrying all my textbooks to class, so digital textbooks seem like very good ideas. Renting textbooks also seems like a very good and viable purchasing option for many people. It can save a lot of money off the original asking price of a textbook, and if you only need it for a certain amount of time, it's perfect. All in all, I see very little downside to online textbooks.
ReplyDelete-Collin
The rise in digital textbook sales affects the education environment hugely since it provides new ways of education. From the article the author mentioned that students can learn the materials through different kinds of media such as video or moving pictures that might be much more helpful for students to understand better than just reading the contents from the textbook. In my opinion, this big change no needs to be wary. I want to say that it is more good change for students’ education, since digital text book are easy to carry and also cheaper than paper text book. It might give bad influence to printers; however I support these phenomena for the better education environment for the future of college students.
ReplyDeleteI think switching to digital textbooks is something that is in between a good change and something to be wary of. I personally do not like the digital textbooks but can see how they could be useful. The article said this and I agree with it, that the digital textbooks are how to navigate about and not conducive to learning. If the popularity continues to rise, I think it will hurt all the people whose jobs deal with paper textbooks but increase the demand for computers. Also, it creates more traffic online and is the power goes out some people will not be able to study. The article has a link in it and used several quotes to help inform the audience. I thought the article was a little long but it was well written and the topic kept me reading.
ReplyDelete1. How does the rise in digital textbook sales reflect changes in education/how students learn?
ReplyDeleteI think it hurts students since it is much easier to get distracted when using an e-book. On a computer or iPad, you have different programs you can open, different apps, all distractions that could prevent someone from getting the most info from their books. The thing I like about e-books is that they save space and are easier to carry. Other than that, I know that I would get distracted and would never be paying attention in class.
I don't think digital textbooks will change how people learn because it's the same information, just in a different form. I'm not a fan of online textbooks because I think it strains your eyes to read from a screen and you are not able to take notes and highlight information like in a regular textbook. The rise of online textbooks makes sense because there is a definite rise in dependency on technology in general, but this is something to be wary of because the way we are headed, everything will be digital. The lower prices are something to be desired though.
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