The use of online textbooks decreases the understanding of students and creates inefficient learning and studying habits.

According to James Madison University, processing information becomes significantly harder when students use an online source of information. Readers tend to skim the text more often, process the material in a more shallow manner and retain less information when utilizing these sources.

This tendency to quickly retain information causes a large loss of understanding and causes students to require more time to actually study, as they have to reread sections in order to comprehend.

Not all students have access to the internet or the electronic devices necessary to connect to many online textbooks. Additionally, even if an internet connection isn’t needed for some online resources, buying technology for students to even access these resources is extremely expensive. The added economic costs of tablets combined with the ineffectiveness of online learning materials shows the clear advantage of using printed textbooks. Although at first glance online textbooks may seem as if they are less expensive, the long-term price compared to paper textbooks is larger.

In addition to the price of the technology as well as the program, online resources cannot be reused or sold like paper textbooks can. 

Educators must always strive to utilize the best teaching tools for their student’s learning experience and ensure students are able to efficiently comprehend with the given materials. Online textbooks are not the answer, as they present issues with learning efficiency, cost and accessibility. New technology can be interesting and engaging, but compromising a student’s education is not worth the expense.

Online textbooks provide Park teachers and students with health, cost and environmental savings and benefits that physical textbooks cannot.                        

Over four million trees are destroyed annually to produce physical textbooks, according to Independent School Management (ISM). According to ISM, it takes around one gallon of oil to produce a single ink cartridge and  13 cartridges are disposed of every second. Transitioning to e-textbooks would alleviate these issues.

Most e-textbooks also come with numerous functions which benefit students, including a search and find feature within the book, an embedded dictionary, text-to-speech features and the ability to digitally annotate. Digital textbooks can also be updated, instantly saving the school money from buying new books when only minor changes are made. Online textbooks can often be downloaded onto a device so students without Wi-Fi can read at home, according to ProCon.

Online textbooks are significantly less expensive than physical books. With tablet prices rapidly decreasing, schools can save $250 to $1000 per student per year, according to the Federal Communications Commission. In a Pew Research study, 87 percent of teenagers aged 13 to 17 had access to a laptop or desktop computer, 73 percent had a smartphone and 58 percent had access to a tablet.

The use of e-textbooks is also supported by education officials over printed textbooks. The U.S. Department of Education and recent studies by the National Training and Simulation Association said the use of technology can drastically minimize the time necessary for students to reach a learning goal by up to 8 percent.

E-textbooks provide many more benefits than drawbacks, and outweigh any reason to keep physical textbooks.