I guess it when it comes to planning and delivering a course using a technology platform such as Moodle, it does become part of normal practice to introduce new resources simply by supplying a suitable link and this year one of these links was to Ebooks. So I was more than an little fascinated by report from edudemic.com '10 Surprising Facts About Students Using E-Textbooks’From a survey by eCampus.com. It would seem that not surprisingly some 98% of students own a digital device, but maybe that’s a bit too general, but putting this aside a surprising 73% of those students surveyed said ‘they would not be able to study without technology!’ When asked however why they chose eBooks almost half, 48% cited cost, not any kind of techno leverage, a little surprising I felt. So is there a perceived advantage academically in using eBooks? Well around two thirds of those surveyed felt there was an associated saving in time during the typical semester, however only 17% felt that this amounted to more than 3 hours, and with only 2% of students reporting that they used mobile device in this role, for me seems to put a little question mark on some of those assumptions I keep coming across surrounding mLearning. When the students were asked if they would consider purchasing an eTextbook in the next semester 54% said maybe with only 38% confirming with a definite yes. From my own reading of the infographic, I must confess it does generate some questions, not least that while I agree eGooks are cheaper, a physical book can be re-sold, whereas the DRM (Digital Rights Management) on eBooks will almost certainly prevent this.
What do you think, please feel free to comment.
I you are interested in getting started with infographics and I must say I do really enjoy the way they are cable to communicate the facts, then I came across a really nice video tutorial the other day from Linda Braun. The video, which lasts a little under 15 minutes Lynda shows how you can make an infographic using Visualy.ly well worth a view I felt.
This post first appeared on Moodle JournalMoodle Journal Using The Moodle VLE, please read the originial post: here
