"I think everybody agrees that at some point we're going to see digital textbooks, but exactly when is that and at what time is that and what do we do as an insitution to prepare for that day,"director of innovation at Abilene Christian University George Saltsman said.
ACU is looking to move completely to digital textbooks. While iPads and textbooks on their own are both equally expensive, the price of digital books could make college a little less pricey.
"If we can get digital textbooks that are say half the price of a regular text book, I think there's a really great opportunity that we can use the digital textbook revolution to lower the cost for students overall," said Saltsman.
So far, about 15-20 percent of ACU's textbooks are online. But the school hopes that going digital can help teachers use material outside of the textbooks and be more interactive.
"Be able to use open source journal articles or content that already exists on the internet and assemble their own book , but not have students buy a prepared textbook," said Saltsman.
A study by Harris Interactive shows that 57 percent of students prefer digital over actual books. But the reaction on campus shows it's pretty balanced at ACU.
"I would rather have textbooks," said senior Miky Trvedi.
"I just don't see myself using the online textbooks as much," Landon Gray, freshman, said.
"It makes it a lot easier for people to have just one tablet for their books and not have a bunch of books to carry around," said Austin Kessler, senior.
Either way, the change is coming. With technology advancing, Saltsman says it's inevitable that digital books will replace text books.But that is not necessarily a bad thing for ACU.
"The searching and the flexibility, the ability to have all of my books on a single device, that's something that appeals to us," he said. "I think the question is when, and how much and how is that going to evolve. And those are questions that all of education is looking at and that is something that we at ACU are trying to do intentionally right now, today."
Though they don't know when the switch will be complete, ACU is looking to have at last 50 percent of their textbooks available as digital textbooks by the fall of 2013.
ACU is looking to move completely to digital textbooks. While iPads and textbooks on their own are both equally expensive, the price of digital books could make college a little less pricey.
"If we can get digital textbooks that are say half the price of a regular text book, I think there's a really great opportunity that we can use the digital textbook revolution to lower the cost for students overall," said Saltsman.
So far, about 15-20 percent of ACU's textbooks are online. But the school hopes that going digital can help teachers use material outside of the textbooks and be more interactive.
"Be able to use open source journal articles or content that already exists on the internet and assemble their own book , but not have students buy a prepared textbook," said Saltsman.
A study by Harris Interactive shows that 57 percent of students prefer digital over actual books. But the reaction on campus shows it's pretty balanced at ACU.
"I would rather have textbooks," said senior Miky Trvedi.
"I just don't see myself using the online textbooks as much," Landon Gray, freshman, said.
"It makes it a lot easier for people to have just one tablet for their books and not have a bunch of books to carry around," said Austin Kessler, senior.
Either way, the change is coming. With technology advancing, Saltsman says it's inevitable that digital books will replace text books.But that is not necessarily a bad thing for ACU.
"The searching and the flexibility, the ability to have all of my books on a single device, that's something that appeals to us," he said. "I think the question is when, and how much and how is that going to evolve. And those are questions that all of education is looking at and that is something that we at ACU are trying to do intentionally right now, today."
Though they don't know when the switch will be complete, ACU is looking to have at last 50 percent of their textbooks available as digital textbooks by the fall of 2013.
