Gen Y-ers Drive Classroom Technology

A recent MediaPost blog, The Battle of College Textbooks Begins Anew by Dan Coates provides great stats on why textbooks and their high prices are not liked among many students but doesn’t really address the real issue of the next step. The real issue here is that Gen Y-ers and the generations to follow are not using the textbooks they buy, even if the teacher recommends it. Why?

Today’s students are online, in their homes, as they are walking down the street and sitting in cafes. And that is where publishers need to be as well. Providing accurate information for student learning needs to be digital and not just through a website, but through many applications.

So what’s the hold up? According to Coates blog, electronic textbooks really haven't found much of a foothold, with fewer than 7% of students have ever purchased a textbook in electronic format.

This lack of adoption has much to do with digital rights management, limiting the comfort level that publishers feel in releasing textbooks in this format. Gen Y-ers have little sympathy for the creators and owners of digital content, feeling that once it has been digitized, it's fair to share. They are right by the way.

As was and is the case with entertainment, the solution to the textbook problem may be device-centric. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Amazon's pilot to bring textbooks to the Kindle DX at seven campuses this fall and McGraw-Hill Education's plans to bring 100 college textbooks to the Kindle and Kindle DX platform bring solutions to the price and weight of what's in students' backpacks. Meanwhile, CourseSmart has brought more than 7,000 titles to Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone platforms.

Note to publishers…open access is here to stay and grow. Better get on this train or you will be left at the station.