Some thoughts on a recent Open University Press Questionnaire
Of passing interest is a question from a recent Open University Press questionnaire sent to lecturers, 'Would you consider buying e-books rather than printed books?'
How many of you out there would answer 'yes' or 'no'???? And why????
Filed Under: [Publishing]
Posted on 02 May 2007 around 12pm
It’s a yes for me. I already spend so much time in front of the screen reading news and e-mails that I have to admit the media isn’t a drawback. Plus, academic texts are both expensive and too heavy to carry around.
I am interested to see the OU question as before coming to Southampton I worked there and we did analysis of students’ responses to that question on the annual surveys. At the time, the mid-2000s, we found students wanted both a hard copy and an e-copy of the text because they use them for different purposes at different stages of their course.
I am now finding the same attitude vis-a-vis live and podcast lectures at Southampton. Making podcast lectures available only marginally reduces live attendance, because, again, the usage of the two formats is different. The podcast lecture allows students to reflect on the notes they took during the live lecture while listening to it again and also to verify things they were uncertain about. In addition, they use the podcast versions for revision purposes in the way that OU students use e-book versions of texts they have previously read in print, primarily because you can jump directly to the particular section you need for your current focus of revision.
Thus, I think that we should avoid seeing electronic and physical productions of books, lectures, etc. as being an either/or choice, rather they should be seen as providing different opportunities for accessing the same content in a way that becomes most appropriate for students at different stages of their course. The issue is, though, that if staff are obliged to provide two versions of everything how much additional time/effort does this require and whether to balance this there are other savings, for example, through not having to go back over things at revision time.
Next Blog Item: The Codex Book
Previous Blog Item: Here’s a thought from The Bookseller
