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By Steven Lyle Jordan

nwmubearcatNorthwest Missouri State U has been evaluating e-texts, and has come up with some interesting results. As many others in academia are discovering, students are showing a lot of interest in any way to bring school costs down, especially when it comes to textbooks. Combined with a forward-thinking school (they give laptops to full-time undergrads), you have the makings of some serious efforts to use e-texts.

From an article to be released in the September 2009 CURRENTS:

One Show Me State institution may soon be showing the way to e-textbook innovation. Northwest Missouri State University spent the 2008–2009 academic year in a research trial for e-books.

Some 500 students used only electronic texts, and another 3,000 had the option of using e-books or traditional books. Former university President Dean Hubbard was the driving force behind the effort. “I’m kind of a techie,” says Hubbard, who retired in July after 25 years at the helm of the 7,000-student university.

The university has a long history of being technologically savvy, becoming an “electronic campus” in 1987, when all students were given computers. And since its founding in 1905, the university has provided rental textbooks to students for modest fees. “I thought we had a unique opportunity to make a huge difference in terms of cost savings with e-books,” Hubbard says.

In the fall the school tested e-books on the Sony Reader, and in the spring testers switched to the HP laptop computers that were standard issue for all Northwest students. “The notebook computers are a richer experience,” says Hubbard, noting that the textbook publishers allow students to highlight the text and save files of notes. Also, the software is flexible enough to allow faculty to add original content and pop-up quizzes.

Northwest conducted rigorous surveys and focus groups with faculty and students throughout the trial. The response? “All things being equal, about half of the students and faculty would rather not change,” says Hubbard. “But when we tell them the cost savings, the approval rating for e-books jumps into the 90 percent range.”

McGraw-Hill was one of several publishers that provided e-textbooks for the trial. “We are a research-driven company,” says Jeffrey Ho, McGraw-Hill’s product manager for e-books. “It was incredibly educational for us to have the feedback.”

Ho points out one feature where e-books definitely win with today’s students: search. “This is a generation of students who have always had access to a search tool.”

 
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