The old-fashioned hardcopy textbooks are preferred by Professor Khaled Al-Hroub, a political science professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, who thinks that it is easier to remain on track and be able to communicate thoroughly the ideas of the book by writing notes and highlighting points.
eBooks are an online soft copy of a book that can be easily interacted with. These types of books allow highlighting and comments to be added onto the book as well as sometimes provide interactive tools to make education and the learning process faster and easier.
Hroub mentions that eBooks are found to be more convenient on the educational side since they are easy to email and order. He also says that the ordering and shipment process of eBooks are much easier and more convenient since no one has to deal with large number of packages and such. “There are so many pros to eBooks, one has to admit,” Al-Hroub added mentioning that a person could travel with a tablet where there can be an unlimited amount of eBooks which makes it more convenient in terms of accessing them all wherever one can be. However, he still prefers hardcopy books due to the process of one reading it and that it was scientifically proven that people can absorb information much faster and easier when in contact with a hardcopy of a book.
He mentions that he does not have a concrete view, yet, this is just his personal taste. He adds saying, “most of the books I read, I generate some dialogue with them by writing notes on them and generating questions.”
Professor Khaled Al-Hroub also adds saying, “as a professor, ebooks are useful, useful to handle, useful to be emailed and dealt with,” which makes it more handy for students too yet it depends on the student and what their learning preferences are. In terms of technology, he agrees that this is such a useful and helpful innovation and technological development yet it does not always and necessarily add to the betterment of the educational nature in a classroom. However, professor Al-Hroub adds on saying, “from a pragmatic perspective as a professor, this would minimize the excuses of them not receiving the books yet, etc.”
A couple of students gave different aspects and perspectives on their idea of the pros and cons of eBooks. Many of them found it less practical because they find traditional hardcopy books to be easier to deal with when it comes to studying or revising because of the ‘dialogue’ that can occur with the traditional book, which professor Hroub prefers.
Even though universities implement eBooks, some universities do not like it. Dana Mahmoud, a senior student at Northwestern University in Qatar, says “I took a lot of classes where eBooks were available or were the only option to use but I struggled a lot when it came to studying for quizzes or exams.” Due to the dialogue that cannot occur with eBooks, Mahmoud justifies that this makes it difficult to absorb information in a fast way. Mahmoud adds, “I would have to take notes on my notebook and refer to the page which I took this information from which makes it much less convenient to me during exams because this wastes a lot of my time and energy, too.”
On the contrary, Dana Hassan who is a junior student at Northwestern University in Qatar says that she prefers eBooks because she would not have to carry heavy books all around the university which causes her severe back pain. Hassan says, “I am very thankful for the invention of eBooks because not only did it make it more convenient for me, but it also made me feel more organized where I can highlight and add notes in the same place which makes it more organizing.”
Hassan thinks that forgetting books at home is a very often thing to happen yet when it comes to eBooks, it can be easily accessed on the laptop which is carried all around the university on a daily basis with her. “I would not have to carry books when I have a class that provides eBooks which I find more convenient. I think I easily learn from eBooks too because I sometimes find it more interactive than the usual traditional hardcopy books.”
Wijdan Al Khateeb, a senior student at Northwestern University in Qatar says that she did not experience any class that had a mandatory eBook which she finds saddening. “I wish I was able to experience eBooks and see how they work because I never took a class that actually has eBooks provided.” Although she did not experience this new trend yet she thinks it would be very interesting and easy to handle because “it is much easier to just carry a laptop than loads of books at one time,” Al Khateeb adds.
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