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Jacob Lancaster says No, "Although Prairie Lights and UI are making changes for the future of e-books, the books are still questionable in their use."
They may lighten the load in your backpack and save trees, but many studies have found that students don't learn any better in an electronic format and that more than often, the results are worse.
The problem with pioneering the use of e-books is that we're pioneering: testing something that's not guaranteed to be beneficial for learning. The positive outcome of e-books should be established before we pursue it, and the UI is not the place it should be tested.
Katie Kuntz says Yes, "Last semester, I took five classes, and three of them had all of the reading material online — and that was wonderful. I only had to purchase two textbooks — one which I forgot to open the entire semester — but the electronic material was hugely useful, and I still have some of the more valuable readings saved to my computer today."
The University of Iowa is participating in a research project with McGraw-Hill to examine the effects of e-books in classrooms. This is great for the university because e-books will likely prove successful, and if not, any program that studies ways to cut costs and increase efficiency is beneficial.
I already know that the electronic medium works for me, because I've used it. I can't lose it (because it's always online), I can't spill on it, I can't accidentally set it on fire, and I don't have to pay quite as much for it. The $20,000 grant next semester even makes the e-books free for 800 lucky students.
Source: UI The Daily Iowan
