There’s been plenty of research showing students are
just not into electronic textbooks hype. In fact, the OnCampus Research report
Student Watch 2012: Student Attitudes and Perceptions found that just 17% of student respondents even owned an e-reader and 62% of
these bought the gadget just for leisure reading.
So why aren’t college students clamoring for
e-textbooks? After all, they should be cheaper to purchase, plus there’s all
those nifty tools, such as highlighting and interactive footnotes, geared to
attract a tech-savvy generation.
The top reason for student reluctance is they’re not often finding the required book in their preferred digital format, according to the Online University staff’s look at reasons why college students aren’t buying
e-textbooks. Even if students find the correct digital text, they soon discover it
probably only saved them about a dollar after factoring in the cost of the
e-reader, “publisher pricing decisions,” and the fact they can’t sell the title
back.
Digital formats also complicate the process for
students because they vary from one device to another. Add in the fact that
some e-text will eat up large portions of storage space in each device, as well
as that some e-text can look pretty primitive next to online learning sources,
and it’s not hard to see why students might expect more from their e-textbooks
than what they currently get.
