As the world progresses into a new decade, technology keeps becoming more and more advanced. Esther Swilley, assistant professor of marketing, is helping K-State stay caught up with technology through the use of e-books.
“There has been a lot of talk about replacing textbooks with e-books,” said Swilley. “I hear it from the publisher, but what do students think?”
Swilley has administered surveys to students to determine if there was any interest in using e-books.
“It looks like studies have been done where students like e-books from some classes, but not others,” she said. “For example, students didn’t like e-books for accounting.”
Justin Miller, junior in finance, said, “I would use an e-book for classes outside of my major, but I would want a textbook for classes in my major.”
Marketing instructor David Fallin offers the e-book and textbook version for his marketing class.
“More and more people are using e-books,” he said. “I think students will load their e-books on a Kindle or iPad which will help them take notes easier.”
E-books did not change Fallin’s style of teaching; however, students benefit from the resources e-books offer.
“There are classes that I think e-books are the way to go,” said Swilley. “For the next 10 years you’re going to see e-books and textbooks. For me e-books weigh a lot less and they are easier to put on an iPad or Kindle.”
The switch to e-books is starting to take a toll on businesses that haven’t prepared for the digital age.
“Borders has approximately 500 stores, and 200 that are not performing stores are closing,” said Swilley. “Borders is not going out of business; they are just restructuring.”
These closing could create problems for other stores located around Borders.
“A lot of the Borders that are closing are in shopping plazas,” Swilley said. “Other stores in the shopping plaza are afraid their business will be affected. I have read that where a couple of Borders are closing, other stores are moving in to take their place.”
Not only are e-books taking over education, but video distributors, like Netflix, are eventually changing the way their movies are delivered.
“What I can find about Netflix is that it is not looking at itself as a DVD renter, but it’s looking at itself as an information renter that rents out DVDs and e-books,” said Swilley.
With all the technology available, K-State will be seeing e-books infiltrating in their classes.
“I think K-State will eventually start using more e-books,” said Swilley. “I will personally start using more e-books, especially in my electronic marketing class.”