INNOVATION VS. TRADITION: MICROBIOLOGY TEXTBOOKS IN THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Bahar Graefen, Nadeem Fazal

Abstract


In the ever-changing environment of advanced technology use in education, many things are becoming, if not obsolete, then irrelevant. The education market is still teaming with traditional microbiology textbooks from seasoned authors despite the presence of new, interactive, and colorful textbooks that are student-friendly and relevant. Although senior instructors in the field of education continue to assemble collections of textbooks on their office shelves, college students’ bags have lightened and now accommodate a laptop rather than weighty textbooks. At Chicago State University (CSU) we surveyed our current student population from years 1 to 4. The 120-students registered in the College of Health Sciences and Pharmacy were enrolled in the study and were asked questions using the Google form survey tool. The questionnaire included questions about all course textbooks including microbiology. The data suggested that less than 1% of the students bought a textbook as mandated in the course syllabi. 5% of the students studied from free Portable Document Format (PDF) versions available through the internet. More than 90% of the students affirmed that they do not find the need or time to read textbooks. They not only found them boring but an absolute waste of their precious time. The students also reiterated that the content of the textbooks was never tested in their exams and assessments. The respondents overwhelmingly declared that the price of textbooks was not the major issue, and their student loans would cover the book allowances. We speculate that with this rising trend of textbook-free course offerings, there will not only be a shortage of useful textbooks in the education market but that young authors in the field of microbiology will become discouraged and disillusioned. It is therefore time to rethink, replan and reverse the fate of students’ eternal companion: the textbook.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


microbiology, traditional textbooks, technology in education, innovative learning methods

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abuloum, A., Farah, A., Kaskaloglu, E., & Yaakub, A. (2019). College Students' Usage of and Preferences for Print and Electronic Textbooks. International Journal of emerging technologies in learning, 14(7).

Aharony, N., & Bar-Ilan, J. (2018). Students’ academic reading preferences: An exploratory study. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 50(1), 3-13.

Alfiras, M., & Bojiah, J. (2020). Printed textbooks versus electronic textbooks: A study on the preference of students at Gulf University in Kingdom of Bahrain. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 15(18), 40-52.

Almekhlafi, A. G. (2021). The effect of E-books on Preservice student teachers’ achievement and perceptions in the United Arab Emirates. Education and Information Technologies, 26, 1001-1021.

Bierman, P. (2006). Reconsidering the Textbook. Carleton Education Website. Available online at: http://serc.carleton.edu/files/textbook/summary.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2006EO310004

Borcoman, M. (2019). Traditional paper books vs. electronic books-a present-day challenge. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series VII: Social Sciences and Law, 12(1), 51-58.

Carvalho, J. L., González, R. L., Casas García, L. M., & Juarez, J. C. (2018, September). What is better to study: the printed book or the digital book? An exploratory study of qualitative nature. In World Conference on Qualitative Research (pp. 34-45). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Chavali, K., & Gundala, R. R. (2022). The textbook dilemma: digital or print? Evidence from a selected US university. TEM Journal, 11(1), 242.

Ciampa, K. (2012). Reading in the digital age: Using electronic books as a teaching tool for beginning readers. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 38(2), n2.

Graefen, B., & Fazal, N. (2023). Revolutionizing education through Instagram in the post-Covid era. European Journal of Education Studies, 10(8).

Jhangiani, R. S., Dastur, F. N., Le Grand, R., & Penner, K. (2018). As Good or Better than Commercial Textbooks: Students' Perceptions and Outcomes from Using Open Digital and Open Print Textbooks. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(1), n1.

Merkle, A. C., Ferrell, L. K., Ferrell, O. C., & Hair Jr, J. F. (2022). Evaluating E-book effectiveness and the impact on student engagement. Journal of Marketing Education, 44(1), 54-71.

Mizrachi, D., Salaz, A. M., Kurbanoglu, S., Boustany, J., & ARFIS Research Group. (2018). Academic reading format preferences and behaviors among university students worldwide: A comparative survey analysis. PloS one, 13(5), e0197444.

Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. J., Courduff, J., Carter, K., & Bennett, D. (2013). Electronic versus traditional print textbooks: A comparison study on the influence of university students' learning. Computers & Education, 63, 259-266.

Simon, J., & Garcia-Belmar, A. (2016). Education and Textbooks. Technology and Culture, 57(4), 940-950. https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2016.0114




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejae.v8i3.4965

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright © 2015 - 2023. European Journal of Alternative Education Studies (ISSN 2501-5915) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).