Yes, a
majority of college students still say they prefer to study from print
textbooks rather than digital, often due to the ease of flipping back and forth
or marking up pages. But sometimes their opinion depends on the type of digital
materials.
Digital
course materials can include pages scanned (complete with streaks and cut-off
paragraphs) and converted into PDFs that are posted in the learning management
system. At the other end of the spectrum, digital materials may feature an
array of interactive, multimedia tools designed to help students master the
content. And then there’s everything in between.
Which type
of digital materials do students like best? The answer is obvious: the
interactive, multimedia kind. When that’s the type of course content faculty
assign, students’ opinion of digital materials becomes more favorable.
OnCampus Research, in its monthly survey of college students conducted last February,
found that “55% of students are finding particular value in the electronic
study tools being incorporated into some digital platforms,” according to a
summary of findings. When step-by-step homework assistance was available as
part of digital course materials, 85% of the students actively used it and 66%
rated the tools as extremely valuable. Sixty-one percent gave the same rating
to searchability (being able to search the materials by keyword or topic).
However,
those capabilities don’t seem to boost purchases of digital. “Not surprisingly,
though, the primary reason students choose digital isn’t the features, but
because they feel it’s less expensive than print (59%),” according to OnCampus
Research.
