With a strained economy and higher tuition, students are searching for alternatives to physically and financially heavy textbooks.
The surge of electronic textbooks and tablets in college classrooms has businesses scrambling to invest in future classical learning.
According to a recent report by the Public Interest Research Group, which surveyed thousands of students around the nation, approximately seven of 10 college students have bypassed purchasing a textbook because of high prices.
“In the digital age, textbooks are so out of date,” said Rep. Tim Burns, R-La., the author of the Accounting Whiz Kid iPad app, which released in late spring.
But Burns is not the only businessman who perceives a growing market for digital education tools.
While the University bookstore currently supports two eTextbook outlets, Barnes and Noble’s Nook Study and Vital Source, the real focus is shifting to Apple’s iDevices, the popularity of which is apparent during any stroll through the Quad.
“That’s where I think the future is,” Burns said of the iPad, adding that students and workers are “becoming a lot more particular with it.”
Between Nook Study and Vital Source, only Vital Source supports mobile access through iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads – a feature that has become a selling point for all online textbook suppliers.
Regardless of the textbook options for tablets, many students use tablets in the classroom for convenience purposes.
Marrissa Burridge, dental hygiene sophomore, uses an iPad because it’s “easier to follow the teacher” online during class.
She noted it’s less distracting than a laptop because you can’t keep Facebook open while working.
“I have a laptop at home,” she said, “but I choose to bring the iPad for easier.”
Perhaps the most promising aspects of eTextbook outlets are the free trial periods that allow students to use a textbook – sometimes for up to two weeks – before deciding to buy, allowing students to find out whether or not they can afford to pass on the purchase.
The offerings of digital textbooks and textbook apps remain limited but positioned for growth.
In a more immediate future are book rental services, which also offer cheaper alternatives to textbook purchases.
BookRenter.com, for instance, claims students can save up to approximately $2,600 over the course of four years by renting instead of buying textbooks, a practice the University’s bookstore has taken in stride.
 
____
Contact Clayton Crockett at [email protected]