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Physical Textbooks Hold Strong in the Digital Era
By Derrick Winter
At the dawn of the second decade of the 21st
century, the American educational system has
changed dramatically over the last several
years. Although History, English, & Geography
still have a place in many colleges across the
country, the new focus of the 21st century has
been Technology, from hand-held gadgets and
touch-screen computers to sprawling online
social networks, games, and marketplaces.
As Ray Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns
states: “an analysis of the history of
technological change is exponential, contrary
to the common sense ‘intuitive linear’ view”.
In other words, technology is continuing to
mature faster and faster at an exponential
rate, and thus more and more universities are
expanding their curriculum to accommodate new
students that are eager to jump on the
bandwagon.
Technology impacts every industry, thus
schools are finding unique niches to fill,
including Game & Simulation Programming,
Health Information Management, & Business
Information Systems. The list goes on and on,
with more new special programs coming out each
year.
Yet, despite the growing amount of technology
around every corner, most students still
prefer a good old book to learn with.
Electronic books and online study guides are
being used in high numbers for homework
assignments, and in order to keep up with the
pace of society’s appetite for technology, all
major textbook publishers are digitizing their
materials.
For the moment though, when it comes to
studying and learning the material, books
still reign supreme, thanks in a large part to
the fact that a pen and paper is still being
used to take notes in class, physical
textbooks are typically more affordable than
their digital counterparts, and that the
majority of synthesized lesson plans are
provided in paper & booklet formats.
Call it nostalgia or ignorance to new
technology, but it would seem that today’s
universities still favor the physical textbook
over the digital version. As technology
continues to develop and students adapt to the
new technology, the digital textbook may
finally defeat his papery nemesis, but for
now, textbooks still continue to be the
standard.
Derrick Winter is blogger and writer currently
residing in Austin, TX, home to many
universities and students. To learn more
about how technology is directly benefiting
modern-day students, take a look at College
Swap Shop, a place for students to buy, sell,
and compare used
textbooks.
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