Digital Textbooks, Online Learning Increasingly Popular

PHOENIX, Ariz., Aug. 27, 2009— -- In colleges across the country online textbooks are inching their way to the top of the class, while paper and ink textbooks are quickly becoming "old school."

"Books are getting bigger and costs are going up," said Dale Baker, an education professor at Arizona State University. "Technology is so wonderful and you can post everything online and take readings from a variety of different sources. Often times there are things in textbooks that have nothing to do with the course, so it can be really wasteful."

Bob Stewart, an oceanography professor at Texas A&M University, opted to publish his class textbook through an online "open book" rather than the traditional way. Now, his entire book appears as text online and can be viewed as HTML or downloaded as a PDF file.

"Online textbooks are useful because they are timely," Stewart said. "The subject of oceanography is rapidly changing and I can upgrade the book in minutes if need be."

Stewart said all he has to do is make the changes, upload a new version to the Web and the book is officially edited, instead of having to wait a few years to republish the text.

"Being able to make corrections rapidly makes online distribution far more efficient," Stewart said.

Students from China and other parts of the world have accessed Stewart's online textbooks, all for free. Stewart said he doesn't make any money off of posting his books online.

"Most professors are paid to write books, usually by state or federal governments," Stewart said. "So in a sense, students and their parents have already paid for the books. Why charge them twice? I'm saving my students about $80 to $130 per book and I get feedback from other professors pointing out errors or ambiguous text."