Hi all, if you've read my new member intro you'll already know that I'm about to embark on a large research project. I'm an on campus/online lecturer at a New Zealand institute of technology, and in the interests of my students finances, plus sustainability, I am researching the possibilities of providing text books, lecture notes and other reading material in ebook format.
While many online courses provide lots of information via Learning Management systems like Moodle, Web CT, Compass or Blackboard, many students find it difficult to commit to the required hours in front of a computer screen, and more mature students have difficulty absorbing information from computer screen reading.
Many of my students prefer to buy text books and print out lecture notes to read at times when they don't have computer and/or Internet access, eg while waiting to pick up kids from school/sport practise etc, or if they are working, in lunch hour or break times.
In the interests of sustainability (ie saving the rain forests) and financial strains (ie having to buy $100 text books for each course they enrol in) I am embarking on a research project to assess how much money and paper we could save by supplying resources in ebook format, which can then be read anywhere, anytime.
So important points are:
- Price
- Available Formats
- Color vs Monochrome (important for some course material)
- Weight/portability
- Availability of textbooks in required format
So sorry for this long rambling post but I will be immensely grateful for any advice/opinions on where to start in this research and what devices I should test with my students.