Students Prefer pTextbooks over eTextbooks

Hat tip to Villanova Law prof Louis J. Sirico on Legal Skills Prof Blog for calling attention to a recent consumer study conducted by the National Association of College Stores which found that 76% of surveyed students prefer pTextbooks over eTextbooks. About 13% of the students reported that they purchased an eBook in the past three months, most because it was required by their professors. But "some students uncomfortable with the technology and fear that they might lose something." (Quoting Elizabeth Riddle, the Association's Consumer-Research Manager) in Students Remain Reluctant to Try E-Textbooks, Survey Finds (The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 26, 2010).

The findings are contrary to my own admittedly anecdotal evidence where even 4-5-6 years ago law students I knew want e-texts instead of or in addition to pBooks assigned for law school classes. But they are wanted eBooks in text-editable formats, not just to highlight and annotate but also to copy and paste text into the course outlines they were preparing.

The National Association of College Stores survey found that only 8 percent of students owned an eReader such as a Kindle or Sony Reader and also reported that the most popular device listed for electronic reading was the iPhone. The Association expects eTextbook sales to grow as profs and students become more comfortable with the format. According to Elizabeth Riddle, "[w]e definitely are expecting an increase—of probably 10 to 15 percent by 2012." [JH]