The Martlet

Textbooks: would you like that in paper or electronic?

More students are being offered that choice as some of the larger textbook publishers are developing digital versions of their books.

When Ahmed Mumeni, 22, took first year economics last year, he still opted for the paper copy of his textbook, even though the e-book was cheaper. But he’s pretty sure that if his younger brother was faced with the same option, the 18-year-old would definitely go digital.

“He does everything on computer, I never see him with a book,” said Mumeni, who was the UVic student representative at the national Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM) textbook conference last December. He is also a photographer with the Martlet.

Mumeni’s brother, just four years younger, will apply for university this year.

“We’re really trying to keep track of how students evolve,” said textbook manager Penny Draper. “We have to change what we offer them, to keep up.”

The UVic bookstore currently offers about a dozen digital textbook titles, four of which were for sale last term. But even traditional textbooks are often bundled with online supplements.

Economics instructor Christopher Willmore offers the option of a digital textbook in his course, and also allows his students an option to earn 10 per cent of their course grade by completing the online quizzes, which are based on textbook material.

Students get the PIN number to access the quizzes when they buy their book.

If students don’t want the online option, Willmore says he just adds 10 per cent more to the weighting of their exam. But most are eager to do the quizzes. And why not? Some students have figured out that they can check the answers before they submit the quiz, ensuring they get 100 per cent.

Still, Willmore says his students’ understanding of course material has increased since he began using the quizzes.

“Students want interactive; they want technology,” he said. “It’s the new way teaching is going.”

But do they want to read on screen?

The UVic bookstore asked 588 students who filled out a ballot during their textbook buyback whether they would buy electronic textbooks if they were available. Thirty-three per cent said they never would, while seven per cent said they always would. For the rest, it depended on the price: if the e-book was 75 per cent of the paper price 10 per cent of students would go for it, at half the price 33 per cent would and if it cost 25 per cent as much 16 per cent would read on screen.

“The demand on e-books is not currently great,” Draper said, noting that part of that is likely due to the fact that students have never tried e-books before. “We’ve got a bit of a chicken and an egg situation — students don’t know if they want them until they can try them, but publishers don’t make them unless students want them.”

Currently, Draper says the bookstore is keeping a close eye on what happens in American markets where e-books are being tested.

The University of Texas, for example, has begun a large-scale trial period on e-textbooks. The school paid the licensing fees for thousands of students to download their biochemistry, marketing and accounting textbooks. After the trial, the school will decide if it will take the leap to becoming the first textbook-free school.

Meawhile, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been developing open source learning resources since 2001. Today, anybody in the world can access course material and exams for over 1,800 courses free online.

Sure, MIT students don’t get credit for completing a course, and there are no teachers to lead them through the material, but the price is right.

As Mumeni points out, when profs rely on online material provided by publishers like what Willmore does for his economics class, standards of education are compromised.

“It should be a professor teaching the class with his unique perspective on the subject matter,” Mumeni said. “Publishers just care about their profits.”

UVic Financial Aid estimates that in their first year of school, full-time BA students spend about $850 on textbooks per term, which accounts for 11 per cent of their student budget.

Electronic books, which currently sell at half the price of traditional texts at UVic, would cut that figure in half. That would mean that some students who currently can’t afford to buy books could have access to their course material.

Publishers like electronic textbooks because they save on printing costs and students can’t resell them as used books after the term is complete.

To avoid piracy, most e-books can only be accessed on one computer for a set amount of time and only allow users to print a certain number of pages.