E-books? For Textbooks, Students Prefer Paper

In early 2012, a group of University of Virginia published a letter in Science titled "Electronic Textbooks: Why the Rush?". Yes, why?? The answer coming from those who have already adopted them is: "Because they are there". Certainly it's right to experiment. But what have we learned so far? To start with, e-books can be as easy as a freely downloadable pdf. Many open textbooks promoted by UNESCO are in this format and can be freely accessed from the Internet. They are easy to find and do not need to be ordered. Some are so good that they are a constant presence in the US Texty college textbook excellence award. At the other end of the spectrum, there are electronic resources that are structured like paper textbook, but offer additional functions, like links to interactive material on the web and online tests. Instructors can choose which chapters to use, modify the text and assemble sections of various textbooks to build a tailored version that fits their own classrooms. In the middle of the spectrum, there are e-books proper, which can be read by mobile devices such as Kindles, iPads, tablets and smartphones. What all these materials have in common is the emphasis placed on the provider's platform that makes texts accessible. Publishers compete on the ability to deliver content that is interesting for students, flexible for teachers, rich in knowledge and up-to-date. However, studies shows that students are happy to use e-books to check data, browse chapters and read short sections, but that reading and studying e-books is more trying and inefficient for students with respect to paper textbooks. In e-books, for instance, students tend to skip titles of images and say they don't have time to follow up the links on the Internet. If they have to prepare a case study, they'd rather go back and forth on paper pages, instead of using electronic bookmarking and notes. In the United States, the costs of and limitation of access to e-books led to student protests, to a Senate inquiry and the emergence of new business models to supply e-books and other electronic resources at affordable prices. And the e-book market for education is more and more overlapping with the market for online courses. The Open CourseWare (OCW) initiative, born at MIT, has reached an agreement with an e-book startup, Flat World Knowledge (FWK) to make electronic textbooks that are companions of free online classes. Many Ivy League universities are involved in one or several initiatives regarding free online courses (OCW, Coursera, EdX, and others), each complemented by other electronic resources, many made by faculty members of those same universities that are promoting the courses.
So, the race is on, but the e-book is not its point of arrival. The true goal is understanding how (and how fast!) e-books are changing higher education and teaching, while new e-learning resources and new business models are starting to have an impact on the market. We should think how to supply students with the most useful resources for learning rather than taking part in the e-book race just because they are there.