In this blog I will look at the some of the issues around e-Book use within a New Zealand tertiary environment.
Working with nursing students on a regular basis, I can see benefits immediately: a lighter load and increased accessibility to resources for a start!
Weighty considerations?
Lugging around nursing textbooks (Craven & Hirnle and Potter & Perry have a hefty combined 3029 pages) requires the athletic prowess of a Greek god. Instead, simply slip the e-Reader, containing your light-as-a-feather e-Textbooks, into your handbag (or backpack).
On clinical placement and unable to make it to the library during opening hours?
Just download the e-Textbook you need and voila, reading at a day and time that suits you!
These are just two obvious benefits to using an e-Reader within the tertiary environment, but is it really that simple?
What does your typical tertiary student do with print-based resources?
- Highlight
- Mark with pencil
- Attach 'post-it' notes
Are all e-Readers created equally?
In the Kobo versus Kindle war, it would seem the Kobo wins in its ease of use to highlight passages of text and find word definitions, the latter is certainly an important consideration if your area of study is in an unfamiliar subject. On the flip side, the Kindle seems to win with reliability and is less likely to fail/crash than the Kobo. Again, an important consideration if you plan to invest in an e-Reader device for 3 or more years.
What other considerations are there?
The ‘digital divide’
The digital divide in New Zealand still shows there are many who have not used, and/or do not have access to, a personal computer, though public libraries are going someway to bridge this gap. However, e-Reading devices are not (yet) standard items available in New Zealand academic libraries (or public libraries for that matter).
Until such time as e-Reading devices are available in a library, as a student, you can of course acquire an e-Reading device in a number of ways: as part of tuition, through course related costs, or purchased from your local store. The choice is really yours.
e-Literacy – you’ve got it, but can you use it?
For some, the thought of using technology may, and does, cause incredible anxiety. You have your e-Reader, now what? Using fingertips to touch or scroll may seem second nature to some, but completely foreign to others. How do you learn how this fang-dangled device works? This obviously (to me at any rate) leads into the question of the academic librarian's role evolving into the e-Literacy Instructor, however I think that discussion really merits its own blog.
e-Textbooks - to borrow or to buy?
Investing in an e-Reader is only part of the process. You need the resources, namely, the e-Textbooks. Amazon has released an e-textbook rental programme though with issues around pricing and textbook availability, this programme is still very much in the early stages.
On a final note, in what is quickly becoming a technologically-dynamic world, would amendments to the admissions process be needed; extending the current assessment of a potential candidate's computer literacy level to include technological device literacy? Certainly food for thought.
e-Textbooks - to borrow or to buy?
Investing in an e-Reader is only part of the process. You need the resources, namely, the e-Textbooks. Amazon has released an e-textbook rental programme though with issues around pricing and textbook availability, this programme is still very much in the early stages.
On a final note, in what is quickly becoming a technologically-dynamic world, would amendments to the admissions process be needed; extending the current assessment of a potential candidate's computer literacy level to include technological device literacy? Certainly food for thought.
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