E-Books

An article by Paul    Comments Off

Just saw a great presentation on the use of e-books at La Trobe University.

A nursing cohort followed over 3-4 years embraced e-books but (and there’s always a but) their recall of use was heavily dependant upon their lecturers use of e-books in reading list material.

The main problem was quite a few lecturers simply did not use e-books at all instead viewing them as a clunky somewhat unknown option for students.

I enjoyed the speakers definition of the term ‘embedded’ in which she said to truly embed an e-book into a subject of study required more than just a simple hyperlink.

The argument was for proactive use of e-books in syllabus so that students were required to pull out text and other information and use it to help deliver the required answers for a specific task.

A final thought.

I have been to three sessions now where stats showing the quantity of e-books purchased by libraries over the past 2-3 years have exploded.

Compared to print purchasing levels these libraries are all investing way more in their e-book collections. Print purchases remain static.

E-books are here to stay –  it’s up to us to find better ways to include them in academic and everyday life so we maximize their utility.

io2009