As technology has advanced over the last fifteen years, reading books online has grown in popularity. This in part is due to its overall convenience of having thousands of books accessible in one tablet or other electronic device. In the long run it could save someone money by investing in a tablet to purchase readings through websites or apps instead of paying for hard copies of each book. On average, the price of a new book when it comes out is twenty-nine dollars, but for eBooks usually ranges from ten to thirteen dollars. This has led to rumors and the belief of the possibility that one day the education system will rely on tablets to have all textbooks on, but will this affect the education of the reader?
In a 2012 study, scientist let eighty undergraduate engineering students choose whether they want to read five articles from a computer screen or paper. Before the test each person had to guess how well he or she would perform on the test. For two of the articles they were put under no time restraint. For the other two they were only given seven minutes and for the last test they assumed they had no limit but were interrupted after seven minutes. When the students predicted how they would do, those who were reading online generally predicted that they would have a lower score than those who made predictions before the read the articles on paper. This is an immediate indicator that this could be a physiological issue rather than an actual one. If people believe they will do worse they generally will do so. Those who read the paper books did better on the tests with the time restricted and unrestricted time limits. The interrupted readings led to similar scores with both online and paper readings.
Another story conducted did not give the readers their personal choice, but instead they were assigned either a kindle or paperback to read. Fifty readers were told to read a short story by Elizabeth George, and then they were tested on different aspects of the short story. The area that showed the greatest significance in results was the questions asking readers to put events in critical order. This could be due to the fact that eBooks do not recreate an image in the same way that paperbacks do. When someone reads on a digital screen, is it more difficult to get an image in his or her head other than a screen? Paper is a boring sight, which could make it easier to think about and picture what the author is portraying. In comparison, an eBook screen is exciting. It lights up, and has many features and adjustments that can be made. made.
It appears as though from educational standpoint, the only true advantage of eBooks is convenience and long-term price. In a survey conducted asking people whether they concentrate better with eBooks or paper books, 92% said they concentrate better with paper books. Obviously surveys can be full of bias but those results are pretty staggering that over 9/10 people surveyed believe they can concentrate better on paper books. books. Humans can easily get distracted by minor things such as a pop ups or having access to the Internet and apps with jus one click or swipe.
Based off these studies I fail to reject the hypothesis that paper books are the better option for learning. This is due to human response on different tests and the indications made clear by the studies.
To me, an e-book can never fulfill the feeling of my hands and minds when I wanted to read. Reading to me is not only looking at the words. I think it also involve lots of thing: the smell of the book, the sound of the pages, be able to turn to specific page without any learning. The ability to write note, to pass it to someone else, I can keen counting. So my conclusion is, at least in the foreseeable future, the paper book will not be replaced by e-books..
For me personally, looking at an electronic device is easier as opposed to a large textbook. On a eBook or PDF, it is easier to read just because of the psychological element to it. A large and thick textbook will always seem more daunting to me, just because of the sheer number of potential pages I have to read. eBooks allow me see the textbook in a different way. Although I still have to read the same number of pages, the idea that I won’t have to physically turn and trudge through each page in front of me helps me get through it.
I am also a person who prefers the hard copy of a book. I agree that e-books have some advantages such as price and convenience. However, I think the negatives outweigh those. E-books aren’t always accessible if your not in an area with internet and if an assignment is based off that book, you could be in a bad situation. Also, I don’t like looking at screen for long amounts of time because it strains my eyes and gives me a headache, but that is what’s required if you’re reading an e-book. Overall, I have always preferred hard copies of books because I feel like they are easier to use, therefore I hope society doesn’t make the switch to e-books anytime soon.
I personally like the hard copy over the eBook, because it’s more like a book to hold and has more feeling when I actually read it. It meet your conclusion that the hard copy is coherent to human’s response.
In your blog, the experimental detail are so supportive, and the logical steps are really good. For further studies, the pro and con of eBook and hard copy book can be compare in specific. But, over all it’s a very scientific blog.
The link is the pro and cons of the eBook, and is related to the topic that you are talking about.
http://tablets-textbooks.procon.org/
I tried using a e-book for my STAT 100 class last semester and quickly realized that an ebook was not the best way for me to take in information.Reading long text on a computer screen makes me more likely to scroll and skim then really take in the information. But I also believe there will alway be a market for both types of reading.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/olgakhazan/2011/09/12/is-listening-to-audio-books-really-the-same-as-reading/2/
I’m more of a fan of audio books because they adda do at your own convince aspect to doing class readings but unfortunately there is just way to information in must textbooks for this platform. Even if the studies mentioned in the link above conclude that reading and listening to a book a virtually the same thing.
Personally, I find that having a hard copy of a textbook is much more useful and pragmatic. While I recognized the ease with which an ebook is carried around, I find it helps more to have a tangible reference to highlight or write in directly. Obviously, that hurts the buy-back price of the textbook, but for me it is far better for learning.