This school year has brought the return of online textbooks, but it also has left students with conflicted feelings about the best medium for studying. Teachers find that online textbooks are a way to give students the freedom to use their technology in and outside of class and lessen the hassle of carrying the hard-copy textbook around school and at home. The online textbook features advancements in detail and gives more options for students when taking in information and then applying their knowledge to assignments and activities. For students, however, opinions are more conflicted, as many would prefer turning back to hard-copy textbooks.
Teachers want to give students the greatest possible freedoms in their needs for making the easiest learning environment in and out of school. For teachers, online textbooks provide a great resource, with all of the information in one convenient location, where it will always be accessible and can never be simply forgotten at home or at school. Every student has constant access to this weightless source of information. They feel that the online source creates more organization for students as it removes the need for every student to carry personal textbooks, and relieves an additional responsibility from the students. Teachers also like the idea of online textbooks in comparison to hard-copies because they cannot be lost. The online textbook creates versatility for teachers, as it gives different options that they can teach to their students, so that students can take notes more efficiently and teachers have more class time to devote to daily tasks rather than lectures and notes.
Students have mixed opinions on the online textbooks and its subtle introduction, as it created both problems and relief because of the immense change it brings. Most students initially loved the idea of an online textbook, as it made the accessibility of the textbook on a favorable layout. “I liked the online textbook because I can access [it] in a couple seconds on my phone,” said Paul Russo (10). It gave students the ability to share their textbooks with others, where as in the original textbook created individual accountability. However, some students want to stay with their textbooks because of its sense of companionship and how it lets students always keep on task with where their personal property is.