23 August 2011

college students, ebooks and sex...whoa! wha?


ATTENTION, dear readers! ATTENTION!

once again, science has come to the rescue to tell you what you didn't know you didn't want to know.

according to a survey sponsored by kno, inc (an education software company and purveyor of e-textbooks...hmmmm), a quarter of college students would give up sex to never have to carry around a textbook. hah! where did they give this survey, liberty university??

okay, granted textbooks can be expensive, not to mention heavy, but giving up sex? seriously?

all jokes aside, ahem, the study points to concerns that students have regarding using (or not using) e-books (or e-textbooks) inside (and outside) of the classroom.

one concern expressed was that "most college students (78 percent) don’t think that their professors are currently doing enough to enhance their learning experience with technology, such as with online tutorials or digital textbooks." So even if students are willing to forego "extra-curricular physical activities," it doesn't mean they'll get buy-in from their professors.

i would love to "embrace" the findings of this study, except that it was completed in one week, based on the responses of 506 students and sponsored by an e-textbook seller. at last check, there were approximately 14 MILLION higher education students in the united states. you do the math (i'm not good at it). but it does beg the question of what will it take for higher education students (and faculty) to embrace or at least embark on the adoption and integration of e-book technology?

is it really faculty holding students back from purchasing e-books? we're not talking about a dedicated e-reading device, such as the amazon kindle or barnes & noble nook. soooo, what is it?

habit is one reason. students know how to buy books from the bookstore or order books from an online retailer (okay, amazon). availability is another. i did a small experiment myself with one student and six texts required for one class. 4 of the 6 texts were not available in an electronic format. BUT, the student hadn't even considered investigating electronic format. this was a particular bailywick when amazon first introduced kindles and many academic titles (and some lesser titles) were not available in kindle format.

and what about the state of e-book collections in library catalogs? here's an interesting article from almost 2 years ago on how patrons would be accessing e-books.

so, i guess the lesson for now, with the exception of iPads, is hurry up...and wait.

happy reading...and other things...no matter the format!

1 comment:

  1. Wow... this is crazy. They must have conducted the study at Bob Jones!

    ReplyDelete