FIRST IT WAS mail. Then it was music. Now, books are next in line to be eaten up by the digital revolution. Some people in the academic world are targeting the textbook as the next big thing to be put into electronic format.
They are proposing that textbooks be placed on CDs so that students don't have to deal with the peskiness of the real thing. If the University is looking at this development and thinking of following suit, it should realize that such a shift would be more trouble than it would be worth.
Some professors at Brigham Young University have started putting their course material on CDs, thereby cutting textbook costs ("Students, Teachers Seek Cheaper Options to Textbooks," The Daily Universe, Aug. 31). "Textbooks are going to be obsolete in a number of years," said Norman Nemrow, an accounting professor at the school. He says that using CDs instead of textbooks cuts costs because "electronic information is cheaper than printed."
It's true that using CDs instead of textbooks may conserve paper and would be cheaper for students. But there are many reasons why not using real textbooks would cause problems, for students and for professors.
There are merits to having a tangible textbook. Electronic textbooks can't be highlighted; notes can't be written in their margins. Students can't make a note of confusing passages and bring it to discussion to ask questions about it.
A large problem is that students can't carry electronic textbooks around with them. Normal books can be brought to class, which is useful when professors want students to follow along as they refer to a particular passage or when they want a student to do a particular homework problem on the blackboard.
With textbooks on CD, the only way students would be able to bring their textbooks to class with them would be if they had a laptop. Many students have laptops, and some of them even bring them to class so that they can type notes on them. But problems would arise if everyone had one.
In a class of 200 people, all the typing and mouse-clicking going on would amplify into a considerable amount of noise, making it hard for students to concentrate and for professors to teach.
In addition, students don't need something else to distract them from listening in lecture. When an activity as simple as doodling on a piece of paper can keep them occupied for hours, imagine what having a laptop in front of them would do.
There would most likely be a lot of covert game-playing going on during lecture. Professors would never know if the intent look on a student's face is because the course material is interesting or if they're about to beat their Minesweeper high score.
There is also the issue of whether or not being too dependent on computers is cause for concern when they are far from reliable. Students already have problems with computer glitches -- anyone who has ever lost a paper the night before it was due can attest to that.
When students have to rely on computers to read their assignments for class or study for exams, their dependence is markedly increased, and the number of problems that they will run into increases as well. A textbook CD could get scratched or damaged. Or it could just refuse to work when a student needs to study for an exam. A student's computer could just crash altogether. The possibilities, frighteningly enough, are endless.
A big idea fueling the Brigham Young University professors' use of CDs instead of textbooks is that it will cut costs because "electronic information is cheaper than printed." This, of course, would be good for students. Booksellers and authors, however, would be negatively effected. Professors are the ones writing the textbooks. They get royalties on profits because of the large amounts of work and time they put into them, as they should.
If textbooks were to be put on CD, however, students could simply borrow a friend's CD and copy it on a CD burner, essentially stealing it. Just because something is easily distributed, however, does not mean it is not still the property of the person who created it.
There are plenty of ways to save money on books short of putting them on CDs. Buying used books can save a great deal of money. Reading books on reserve at the library is another option. Students can use www.addall.com to buy books: It searches 30 textbook sites, compares costs and tells students which site give them the best deal.
Converting everything possible to the electronic format may seem like the cutting-edge -- and therefore "good" -- thing to do. Textbooks, however, are not ready for e-existence just yet.
(Laura Sahramaa's column appears Fridays in the Cavalier Daily.)
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