E-Texts In, Hardcopies Out
When was the last time you checked your cell phone for missed calls, text messages or emails? Our guess is that it wasn’t too long ago. Mashable recently cited a Wakefield Research study for CourseSmart which found that 38 percent of college students check their cell phone, laptop or tablet every ten minutes.
70 percent of students now use these devices for note-taking in class. While laptops are widely used among students in and out of the classroom, tablets and e-readers still lag behind in popularity—particularly when it comes to reading for class.
Hardcopies still reign supreme when it comes to reading for class, but a shift toward more digital textbooks among college students can be expected in the future. Most students agree that e-textbooks were less pricey and more convenient than traditional textbooks. When you’re dropping $200 on a “required” biology textbook that you may open once all semester, a cheaper digital version is suddenly more appealing to students.