Tuesday, September 6, 2011

E-textbooks: Current Shortcomings


A colleague sent me this audio session on E-books on Campus.  Speakers were Jeff Young Senior Writer, Chronicle of Higher Education, Eric Frank ,President and Co-Founder, Flat World Knowledge, Inc., and Matt MacInnis, Founder and CEO, Inkling. They talked about the affect of E-books in campus curricula and why the adoption rate for E-books has not been as high as expected.

Here are some of the reasons the speakers gave as to why they believe adoption of digital course materials have been slower than anticipated:
1. Pricing Model Out of Sync
2. Digital Divide
3. Industry is very confusing and in a flux
4. Hard to read large amounts on E-books
5. Battery Life
6. Good for Liberal Arts but not so good for Social Sciences
7. Distractions on the Screen
Other reasons we have found in studies did not appear on their list, which was interesting.  The hour-long audio session is interesting, however, and worth a listen over lunch.

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