Thursday, February 26, 2009

Colleges consider e-textbooks to cut costs

It's a sign of the times. On campuses around the country, professors and students are selecting digital versions of textbooks that can be read off of a computer screen.

Blame it on skyrocketing costs in higher education. One college textbook can cost as much as $200. E-book versions cost about half of that.

Northwest Missouri State University is the first school to try to go entirely book-free, as National Public Radio reports.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not particularly a fan of this move. While I can appreciate the cost cutting involved and the reduction of printing and wasted paper, making books available electronically lets students off the hook. Instead of actually having to read an entire body of text (i.e. when studying for an exam), they can simply do a "CTRL + F" to electronically find what they are looking for. It offers too easy of a way out for students.

Deb Sistrunk Nelson said...

Andre: This is an interesting point I have not considered. I would think any good student would know that he'd have to read the entire text in order to place everything into the proper context. There's something to say for working smart, but if a student cuts corners, his work should suffer. But what do I know?! I'd love to hear more from you and others on this.