When buying textbooks for the semester, students may look for the cheapest forms of textbooks to buy. One option students may look for are e-textbooks.
Dr. Bryon Brown, professor emeritus of economics at Michigan State University, said physical textbooks are the way to go for not just price, but for a number of other reasons.
Drawn to the topic of the worth of e-textbooks, Brown had considered having his students make the change before realizing that it wasn’t cost efficient.
“I explored the idea of having students subscribe online … Then we came to the sad conclusion that, unless of rare circumstances, the e-book was second,” Brown said during his speech.
Brown’s Wednesday afternoon talk, titled “Vision and Reality in Electronic Textbooks: What Publishers Need to Do to Survive,” talked about the true cost of e-textbooks, along with the issues surrounding the usage of e-textbooks.
This talk comes at an important time at the University, said Sue Houston, the vice provost for Academic Affairs, when the University is making changes to classrooms, such as the updated technology classrooms located in Olscamp.
“We have this exciting opportunity to make some major renovations to our learning spaces in Olscamp Hall,” Houston said while introducing Brown.
Part of the movement from the traditional classroom to more of an advanced classroom includes the affordability of e-textbooks over physical textbooks, Houston said.
E-textbooks present more problems than simply their worth, Brown said.
These problems, he said, ranged from problems with viewing e-textbooks online, such as quality of the material online, to navigation within the e-textbooks, static content, contract issues, viewing issue and accessibility for handicap students.
“Textbooks are important,” Brown said. “The market is arranged in the way where the students have a choice [as to where they buy books]. It’s not obvious to the instructors that there’s new material out there. With a few exceptions, e-books are overpriced, compared to normal books and have problems, including accessibility to handicap people.”
Michigan State revised their accessibility policies for e-textbooks to help handicapped people after they issue was brought up.
MSU has a special place for people with disabilities to go for help. “Our facility has also been designed to accommodate persons with disabilities,” according to MSU’s Usability/Accessibility’s website. “The usability lab contains an adjustable workstation and we can also perform testing in an individual’s home or public place, depending on preferences.”
