Five years into a push for e-textbooks at Dallas College, faculty and students are having mixed responses and enthusiasm. After the seven individual colleges combined into Dallas College, the institution started pushing for faculty to use electronic textbooks. The college made the full switch to be completely online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five years later, the accessibility and programs included in classes have progressed and improved. Many faculty members opt in to using textbooks that include lab sections where homework is embedded within the textbook itself. Richland campus professor Jennifer Gray uses these smartbooks for her speech classes.
Gray said she likes it because of how seamlessly it integrates with Brightspace, and she also thinks the platform she uses makes it less likely to cheat. “I don’t know for sure that means they’re not cheating. But I think there’s less likelihood when it’s like, read two paragraphs, than answer some questions about it,” Gray said. A big concern with e-textbooks is whether students are actually absorbing the material.
With the smartbook Gray uses, she said: “I don’t know that that necessarily means every student’s really absorbing it. But I do believe that they’re getting more of it than if I just made the reading like required.”
The switch to e-textbooks has benefited Gray with her being able to get rid of tests and note taking assignments, but other professors are still on the fence about them. Government professor Patrick Moore talks about a lot of the pros and cons of e-textbooks for teachers, students and the administration. One of his concerns is the disadvantages e-textbooks bring to some students.
“Depending on how you learn and attention spans and ADHD and all that stuff, to have a hard copy to be able to go through and highlight and bookmark and all that stuff with a physical text is really beneficial for a significant number of students. Some are clearly disadvantaged by having essentially only the texts available. And so, I really worry about that,” Moore said.
In an end of year survey Moore did for his class, 55% of students said they learned better from e-textbooks. Moore said even though that’s more than half, it’s only by a small margin. “The administration tried to convince us, though, that this is a big benefit for the students. Well, like I said, in some ways, it is, but in some ways, it’s not. And I’ve said several times that 55% think they learned better with the e-book,” he said.
Moore did note the advantages to having e-textbooks, like the availability on the first day of classes, the lessened expenses and the fact that no one has to carry heavy books around campus.
Across different classes, faculty and students have said there is still a population on campus who likes and benefits better from physical textbooks. Psychology professor Jana Flowers mentioned she has seen an influx of students in the last two semesters asking about getting a physical copy.
Moore has also been asked this and said, “You know, students can, in theory, order a hard copy. of the book, but it’s expensive and administratively, logistically difficult.”
Richland student Luisa Zilli’s main concern is the environment when it comes to physical textbooks. She said she would rather have a book in her hand, but it’s not worth the environmental impact. Even with her conscious preference for digital textbooks, she still has many concerns for students like herself. “I’m a very tactical, kinesthetic learner, so I like touching and I like the feel of holding it, so even sometimes if I really want to, I’ll print out certain pages of the book. But we have a limited amount of pages we can print for a book on the e-textbook,” said Zilli.
Another disadvantage professors mentioned is that even though you can print pages from the book, the publisher is the one who decides how many and what pages you are allowed to print. Zilli also brought up many ideas she has had on how to better the system, including audiobooks and Kindle versions to lessen the blue light exposure students experience.
The age of e-textbooks at Dallas College may be here to stay, but the conversations regarding the disadvantages it comes with are far from over.
