Chemical Education Today
Letters Question of Electronic Textbooks I would like to raise the issue of electronic textbooks (e-books) for discussion among the members of the chemical education community. Online textbooks are likely to be immediately attractive to students because they are less expensive than printed texts. For this reason, I have been wrestling with how I feel about recommending their use to my students. I wonder if today’s students would read more of the text if it was available online. When I have to read something online, I print it out. Is the digital generation actually reading and comprehending extended passages online? If they are using the online text more, does that translate into higher success rates in the course? I have been unable to find published data on this subject and would like to know if I have missed something. I would also like to know if there are chemical educators currently involved
in relevant studies whose results will be forthcoming. It is an important question because if today’s students would read more of the text online, I would be far more likely to advocate the use and purchase of e-books. Supporting JCE Online Material http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2009/Jun/abs689_1.html Keywords; Full text (HTML and PDF) Suzanne Carpenter Department of Chemistry and Physics Armstrong Atlantic State University Savannah, GA 31419-1997
[email protected] © Division of Chemical Education • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 86 No. 6 June 2009 • Journal of Chemical Education
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