Pros and Cons

When trying to make the best decision for you, many different aspects come into play. This section is to help you examine the pros and cons of both formats a textbook may be bought in.

The pros of traditional textbooks.

1. Hands -on learning

The traditional textbook can be held in your hands. For students that feeling of having a book with you can make some people focus more. Studying is easier because you can set your laptop and other electronics away and focus on the material. Annotating in the book is all your own. You can easily highlight and comment any notes to help you. This allows the student to be more interactive with the text and at least with my experience is more helpful when retaining knowledge.

2. It will always work

The eBooks must be used on a device. If the device dies, then that is inconvenient but if you do not have the means to charge it at that moment then you will not be able to access your textbook until you have charged your device.

3. Ease of Sharing

The traditional style textbook is a tangible thing. Since it is a physical book and not just a copy you are viewing on a screen it is easier to share the book. If you and your friend are studying, then both of you can view the pages without trying to crowd around a laptop, and be at the right angle so that it does not glare.

4. Selling or Donating is easier

Most of the time, students do not want to keep the textbook. Many students will buy a textbook that they may need for multiple semesters but then once they are finished with that course then they want to sell it, donate it, or give it to a friend. With an eBook, this is more complicated as it is usually a 1-time code. With a physical textbook, you can return it to the bookstore for money or sell it online with ease. Also, most people will not buy an eBook simply because it may not work, therefore people will buy used physical copies of a textbook.

5. Device Free

Traditional textbooks are printed onto paper. With this there is no device needed. Some people will buy a tablet on top of a laptop just for their eBooks. With physical books an extra tablet is not needed.

6. Reading is Easier

With electronics, your eyes can strain and ache after a long study sessions. With the traditional style of text books then this extra strain disappears. Focusing on paper is easier on your eyes than it is to focus on a screen. Printed books do not have the chance to cause you to develop Computer Vision Syndrome, or CVS, which occurs from staring at a screen for too long without allowing your eyes to rest.

7. It is Tradition

If you are like me, then your parents will be rather irritated when you are doing homework constantly because it appears you are just sitting on your laptop all day. It almost feels rude to me when I go home at Thanksgiving with a pile of homework to sit in front of my laptop all day. Luckily with traditional textbooks, not only is it something my parents understand, it allows me to be more social in my studying. At the same time, there is nothing better than holding a book in your hand, even if it is a textbook.

The cons of traditional textbooks.

A textbook is designed to be the only source of information because it enables the students to only see one perspective of an issue or a concept.
Sometimes, many textbooks available are outdated and old which means that the information that the students get is not current or relevant (Cavanaugh, p.15). The students cannot apply this knowledge to real-life problems and situations.
Textbooks’ assessment questions tend to be low level and fact-based (Dills and Romiszowski, p.21). This could cause the student to assume that learning only involves the collection of figures and facts.
A textbook will not take into consideration the knowledge background of the student, and this will influence the lecturer not to tailor their lessons to the unique attributes and interests of the students.
Sometimes, the reading level in a textbook will be too difficult, and this may prevent the student from efficiently reading and understanding important concepts (Cavanaugh, p.16).
In many cases, the textbook will contain the answers to the questions asked. This changes how students view learning as they tend to think of it as an accumulation of correct answers.
The price of a print textbook is quite high in comparison to that of an e-textbook. A review of textbook retailers revealed that the online version of a textbook could be 60% cheaper than its print version.
In case a student has multiple classes in a day, carrying traditional textbooks may become a problem due to their bulkiness (Li, p.20). Textbooks are heavy, particularly those used in college, that contain thousands of pages. Carrying these will strain the student’s back.
Despite being quite expensive, having excessive markings on a textbook may reduce its buyback price (Dills and Romiszowski, p.22). On the other hand, it is possible to sell back an e-textbook because it retains its original form particularly those that do not allow the reader to highlight information.
Sometimes, the textbooks can be so large, with thousands of pages which will make it difficult to search and find the information needed. This is unlike using eBooks where the student may find simplified versions and get the information they need more easily.
Very often the student may find that a particular textbook is out of stock and it may take them a while to find a copy (Cavanaugh, p.19). Many bookstores also tend to stock only the most recently published books, and this may present a problem to the student. The only solution would be to search the book at the library, but this is also a problem particular if there are only a few versions of a certain book. The library will not lend the student the book, and this could disrupt learning.

Works Cited

Cavanaugh, Terence W. The Digital Reader: Using E-Books in K-12 Education. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 2006.

Dills, Charles R, and A J. Romiszowski. Instructional Development Paradigms. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Educational Technology Publications, 2007.

Li, Kam C. Engaging Learners Through Emerging Technologies: International Conference on Ict in Teaching and Learning, Ict 2012, Hong Kong, China, July 4-6, 2012. Proceedings. Berlin: Springer, 2012.

The pros of eBooks.

1.Easier to find what sections you are looking for.

Searching for material in books can often be difficult. The technology involved in the devices that the eBooks are downloaded onto is complex. With that comes these tools students can use to search for materials. On laptops, the CTRL+F keys will pull up a search bar which allows the individual to type in the key word they are looking for and then it shows every instance the word is used in the document. There is a table of contents as well that allows the student to click on the chapter and section they are searching for as well.

2. Convenience

The eBook can be carried on your tablet or laptop. As a college student, you have the essentials in your backpack, your pencils, laptop, paper, and books. Depending on the number of classes, you may need multiple textbooks in a day. With eBooks, all your textbooks can be found either in a library on your computer or in the downloads.

3. Marking up the text

When trying to read, and study the textbook, students want to be able to highlight, make notes, annotate, etc. With the eBooks, all the tools to do this is found in a toolbar. There is a girl in my stats class that takes her notes on a tablet. As she is note taking, she highlights the important terms, writes in notes, and works through math problems strictly on her tablet. This ease of not having to pack around highlighters and writing utensils Not having to pack around highlighters and other miscellaneous writing utensils makes annotating simpler and less messy.

4. Ease of Transport

The eBook is on our tablet or laptop meaning that is the only thing needed for your textbook. Although both items do weigh a bit, they typically do not come close to the weight of a traditional textbooks. Being lightweight means that it is easier to pack your book to class or the library without any difficulty.

5. Helping the Environment

Since eBooks are entirely on your laptop or tablet, there is no paper involved in the manufacturing. One tree can produce up to 16.6 typical textbooks, estimated at 1000 pages. This means that if you stick to eBooks only during your college career then you can save up to two trees.

6. Ease of Storage

EBook’s are saved to your device. This means that besides your device the book will not take up any more space. This is helpful if you have multiple classes or if you are planning to keep multiple textbooks after you have completed the class.

7. Extra Perks

EBooks are downloaded on some advanced pieces of technology. With that being said, there are usually a few perks that come along with that. With an eBook if an author includes a link to some website, then you can easily just click on it without having to get out your laptop. Also with some eBooks you may get an extra bonus from purchasing it, this is dependent on the publishing company and the book you purchase.

The cons of eBooks.

1. Using eBooks requires the use of handheld technology or computers and these are associated with several health problems. The first is that they can cause Computer Vision Syndrome that will lead to headaches, eye strain, dry eyes, and blurred vision (Dills and Romiszowski, p.15). It has also been found that persons who are constantly using these devices suffer musculoskeletal disorders that come due to repetitive straining of the muscle. They include neck pain, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and fibromyalgia.

2. Secondly, using eBooks in schools is more expensive than using printed textbooks. eBooks will require that the school purchases other hardware and software and even training the administrators and lecturers on how to use the new equipment during lectures (Li, p.11). The implementation costs will be higher than when using print textbooks.

3. Reading an e-textbook requires the use of a tablet, a smartphone or a computer, and these come with many distractions. The student’s attention may be diverted by ads, apps, messages, emails, websites and games instead of studying. This is even weightier because studies have shown that today’s generation has a very short attention span.

4. Research has also shown that people who read print media are likely to understand, remember and learn more than those reading digital text. From the research, the brain interprets digital, and printed text differently and those reading digital text have a 20 to 30 percent slower reading rate in comparison to print (Dills and Romiszowski, p.20). In particular, two peer-reviewed studies revealed that reading hyperlinked text is likely to increase the ‘cognitive load’ of the brain and this will lower its ability to store, process and retain information. It is also harder to translate the reading material into conceptual knowledge. In addition, students who tend to type their lecture notes instead of writing by hand will tend to write more, understand and process less, thereby performing poorly on recall tests.

5. Using eBooks is disadvantageous because it relies on a strong internet bandwidth, whether at home or school. The student needs a reliable broadband to access digital content and to complete the assignments that may be issued via the internet (Cavanaugh, p.15). However, about a third of the American homes do not have a broadband internet while a large portion of the schools are constantly reporting broadband connection problems while others claim the current broadband connections are inadequate to meet their current needs.

6. A broken e-reader such as a tablet or a laptop will require the help of an experienced technician to fix and this can be time consuming and expensive. On the other hand, a textbook is repairable with the use of basic supplies such as tape and glue.

7. E-readers are also likely to freeze, crash or be hacked. The possibility of getting malware, spyware or even getting your personal information stolen from a print textbook is zero.

8. The average battery life of a tablet or a laptop is 7 hours or less (Li, p.19). This life is shorter than the length of a school day. To read an ebook will require charging which will increase the electricity demands and the need for more electrical outlets. In case any of these is not available, then reading will be paralyzed for that day.

9. eBooks will make the student develop poor reading habits because they allow the student to cut corners or to cheat in their schoolwork. The student will avoid reading and analyzing their text because when using an e-reader, they will easily look up passages or search for the answers on the internet.