The CITE featured
a blog from University of Virginia professor Daniel Willingham who wondered
what the rush is to adopt digital course materials (scroll down to May 8). His
point was that course materials are more difficult to read than books for
pleasure. Besides, digital he added textbooks aren’t much cheaper than print
editions in the first place.
That post brought
a reply that led to a different and perhaps more cynical conclusion on the reasons
behind the push for digital. This blogger questions why both the federal and state
governments are pushing digital materials so hard and finds the answer in big
business.
He says he wants to believe that all the legislation is about making things
better for students, but is concerned it’s just about money for publishers.
“The thing is, if my conclusion about how digital textbooks
got so hot so fast (is right), then it raises serious doubts as to whether they
really have so many virtues,” writes Nate Hoffelder. “What if all the supposed
advantages of digital textbooks are really the invention of a sophisticated
marketing department and not the observations of enthusiastic adopters?”
Clearly, these
are very different points of view. So what’s your thoughts?
