Online textbooks not on students’ bestseller list
By Linda Conner Lambeck, STAFF WRITER, CT Post
Mary Ellen O’Sullivan’s students had a choice. The class
at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport could buy a $29
access code to give them use of an online textbook to meet the requirements
of their Psych 101 class or, for $59.20, they could buy the access
code plus a loose-leaf binder containing chapters of the sixth edition
of Psychology Core Concepts, the book they would use during the semester
long course.
But when O’Sullivan asked her students during the second week
of class how many had purchased just the access to the digital version
of the text, not one hand was raised. It was the same response she
got from students at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven,
where she teaches two courses, Psychology 101 and Infant and Child
Psychology.
‘ WHAT IF THE INTERNET CRASHES?
As much as Kindles and iPad and online versions of printed text are
trying to wrestle their way into college classrooms as the more
convenient and economical alternative to high-priced college texts,
students don’t appear ready to bite. “What if the Internet
crashes?” said Jamie Parana, 23, a freshman from Derby. “What
if I leave my book at home? I think there are reasons to have both.” In
a freshman economics class 90 minutes away at the University of Connecticut’s
main campus at Storrs, there are 141 students who all had the option
to buy just the $55 online version of their economics text or
both the online text and the customized paper edition of the test
for $91.75.
When Richard Langlois, the professor who teaches the class, asked who
went for the cheaper online option only, 40 raised their hand.
He’s been told about one third of students who initially
buy the online text only later go back and upgrade to a paper version
as well.
Page for page, the online text and paper text are the same.
Students, it seems, are looking for the best of both worlds. Few see
the logic, yet anyway, of adding a Kindle, iPad or some other kind
of electronic text-reading device to a book bag already crammed
with a laptop, smart phone and iPod.
Eric Weil, a managing partner with Student Monitor, a group that
tracks everything about college students, found that only
2 percent of full-time undergrads purchased electronic textbooks
last fall. Digital texts account for 6 percent of a student’s
textbook budget. With just under 7 million full-time undergrads
nationwide, about 150,000 have warmed up to e-books.
“We expect that to increase dramatically” as the number of
titles available increase and gadgets like Apple’s new iPad become
widely available, said Weil.
WAITING FOR THE IPAD
Introduced last month, iPads will hit the market in late March. Still,
with technology changing so fast, some worry today’s e-reader
could become the eight-track tape player or video cassette recorder
of tomorrow.
Brinley Franklin, UConn’s vice provost for university
libraries, said the technology improves with each new reading
device. According to him, students are waiting for the price to
come down, while textbook publishers are waiting for assurances
that their online material won’t go the way of online music,
free to anyone who wants to share or copy it. “To a certain extent,
I don’t think textbook publishers are ready to jump in with
both feet until they figure out how to control the economics of
it,” Franklin said.
Beyond professors like O’Sullivan and Langlois, who incorporate
an online text into their instruction, there are many more opportunities
for students to buy a digital version of whatever textbook is assigned.
Frank Lyman, executive vice president of CourseSmart, a company
established by the textbook industry to create digital copies
of textbooks, said there are now 9,200 titles available, representing
the most popular textbooks on the market.
“I couldn’t say that two years ago. That’s a big change,” said
Lyman.
Still, he called the market an inch thick and a mile wide because
up until a year ago, a student who had a good experience with a digital
text often couldn’t find a digital version of the next book they
needed. Now, many more digital texts are available to anyone with a
laptop. The purchaser buys access to the book for a specific length
of time.
In essence, the student is buying a subscription that is one to three
semesters in length.
What devices like an iPad will do, said Lyman, is capture the
imagination of students who want to leave the laptop in their
room.“If they can save enough buying digital texts it will
justify the cost of the iPad,” he said.
The price for an iPad will start at $499. On average, digital
texts are half the price of the printed versions.
COST SAVINGS
With digital texts, students get the latest edition available
every time. What they lose is the ability to get a used edition someone
has already gone to the trouble of highlighting. They also can’t
resell it. UConn’s Langlois said the online text not only saves
students money, but the college saves as well.
By using an online text that offers the feature of completing homework
assignments and taking tests online, Langlois has an electronic
substitute for a teaching assistant.
That is welcome savings for the school, given budget cuts and fewer
grad students who used to fill the teaching assistant role.
Most college libraries have access to thousands of digital books — not
just textbooks.
Fairfield University’s library offers more than 100,000 e-books.
UConn’s library does too and also recently purchased
five Kindles, said Franklin.
The devices are checked out all the time.
At Housatonic, O’Sullivan said new technology eventually
wins over most students. For every student who complains on a
course evaluation about studying online, there are others, she said,
who like the online flash card feature or ability to see simulations
online. In her Infant and Child course at Southern, students take charge
of and raise a virtual child on line. As she leads students through
the website where they file homework assignments, check for announcements
and access research material, O’Sullivan shows them how to highlight
the text, bookmark pages and click on words to look up meanings. No
more consulting the glossary in back of book.
Joey Diaz, a freshman from Bridgeport, said he likes digital readers,
but will stick with both for now.
Anson C. Smith, Public Relations Coordinator
Housatonic Community College
900 Lafayette Blvd.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Tel: 203-332-5229, Fax: 203-332-5247
E-mail: asmith@hcc.commnet.edu