Link to April 15 Webster University Journal article, "The e-book switch: more problems than solutions?" (via Resource Shelf)
Excerpt: Technology is improving. There is no doubt about that. But with new technology, there is a price. And for Webster University students, that price comes right out of their wallets.
The School of Communications would like to become more eco-friendly and go green. The idea is to completely switch from standard textbooks to e-texts and to have only one book for all of the mass media classes.
This idea is ludicrous. Mass media is a very broad subject, covering newsprint, magazines, broadcast journalism, photography, web design, public speaking and more. How can one book, even an e-text, begin to cover all these media?
It can't.
Anya Orzel goes on to describe 4 problems with e-readers as a replacement for textbooks.
1. 3-4 hours of use on a fully-charged battery.
2. Price, as in who's gonna foot the bill?
3. Lack of sufficient storage space for note-taking.
4. Academic freedom
Related articles:
All Fulltime Seton Hill University Students to Get iPad in Fall 2010. (3/31/2010)
The Coming Shift in Textbook Formats. (3/11/2010)
Revised As You Go: Customized, Interactive Textbooks. (2/22/2010)
Battle in Ebook War Likely to Take Place on College Campuses. (12/1/2009)
Ebook Readers Get Less Than Rave Reviews on Campus. (7/17/2009)
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