Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Ebooks in Education - Research Paper Example

The use of e-books in the educational process at schools and colleges Technological transition has been a tremendousphenomenon across the globe in recent times. Many companies and small businesses are competing against each other in the market so as to earn profits and ensure their continuity in business. Technology has been a crucial tool for many businesses in an attempt to woo customers their way. This has resulted into various forms of inventions and innovative products flooding the markets from all corners. The greatest beneficiary of this entire process is the consumer, who ends up with higher quality products and services. This technological transition has seen the emergence of the E-books which is a system in which an entire book is stored in a soft copy. They have to be stored in a computer and can be accessed at any time through the internet. The devices used to access the e-books are referred to as the e-readers. The use of e-books has earned global fame since it is accessible through the internet which has transformed the world into a global village. The emergence of this form of technology has been so rampant in the market to the extent that those companies dealing in books and ignored its usage have found it hard to survive in the markets. (Matthews 54) Borders Books in the United States of America is a perfect example of the importance of the use of e-books. The company went out of business because electronically sensitive companies emerged. These companies, Amazon and E bay forced them out of business. Amazon’s operations are centered on the Linux operating system. This has enabled the corporation handle the wide customer base. Another advantage of technology in business is that it has ensured the security of customers and the company since information is well secured. E-commerce strategies used by modern companies has enabled customers transact regionally, internationally or even globally. The usage of e-books has even grown further across the globe thanks to its ‘question and answer sections’ which users find very sufficient as they are able extract the information they need without searching for too long. Most e-books are designed in a PDF format since it is the most common format across the globe. This drive is aimed at ensuring that as many people as possible across the world are able to access the e-books. The future of e-books look promising due to the overwhelming reception it has received globally. The existence of search engines such as the one availed by Google also contribute significantly to the growth of e-books as they enable people to find the e-books of their choice from the internet with much ease. Competition among the firms dealing in e-books also ensures its continuity as new products keep emerging by the day. E-books can be read from the internet or be downloaded to be read later. The use of e-books has also been boosted a great deal through their endorsement by prominent personnel in the society. These persons are known to greatly influence the tastes and preferences of many in a society. For instance, Oprah Winfrey once claimed that the emergence of the e-books was her most favorite form of invention as it enabled her to become a good reader which she said she was not before. This virtually convinced people that this was a great form of invention and many gave it a try. (Swedberg 112) The emergence of every form of invention has always come with its merits and demerits and e-books is not an exception. However good or productive an invention may be, it always comes with its negative side effects even if it is of the slightest magnitude. E-books are however observed to bring with them more advantages than disadvantages. Some of the advantages of e-books include: e-books come in various forms such: written form, image form, audio form and video. This gives e-books an edge over the hard copy books as those users who do not fancy reading can opt to use the video or audio forms of e-books. This way it also makes it possible for the disabled such as the blind to also participate by using the audio format. This has resulted into e-books having more customers compared to the users of printed books. Another advantage of the e-books is the low costs of transportation that comes with it. This has hastened the use of e-books over the hard copy books which require a lot of funds to transport across the world whether by air or sea. Not many people are able to raise such funds required for transport hence resorts to use e-books. This is very applicable in schools and colleges since many students have meager sources of finance. (Underdahl 89) E-books also make it easier for users to access the specific information from the available material. This is enabled by the existence of a search section whereby one types a topic or sub-topic of interest and all the available information within that topic is displayed. This is unlike the case of printed books where one has to literally search for information page by page which consumes a lot of time. This makes e-books very efficient for students in schools and colleges who need to spend the least of time in doing their assignments and research. It is also convenient for research institutes especially when an urgent solution is required for a particular problem. The emergence of e-books has also been of substantial benefit to authors and scholars who sell their material through the internet. This is seen when they need to update their books, through e-books they simply edit the material online then they post the new version which takes relatively shorter time compared to updating hard copy books. Upgrading a hard copy material may require the author to print several pages afresh which may take long and is costly. Therefore through e-books students in colleges and schools are able to access updated information within a much shorter period and this is a great boost to their studies. Through e-books students tend to have much more information available at their disposal at any time. This encourages the culture of reading among students and enables them to cover much more concept at ago. (Pastore 44) E-books tend to create an economical system of education among the students in the sense that they only use particular information when they need it unlike the case of printed books which are rendered useless when one moves from one level of education to the next especially in institutions of higher studies. Therefore the cost of e-books is relatively low compared to the hard copy books. Printed books are quite bulky and hence cumbersome to carry around. This gives e-books an edge over them as they are portable. This is so since e-books can be downloaded and carried around in devices such as flash disks, memory cards and external hard disks which are light and easy to carry around. This has encouraged studies among students even during the holidays as the burden of carrying books around is reduced. This may translate into better grades for students in the long run. Printed books are usually stored in a library which requires a large space to form. This makes e-books more convenient as a whole library can be stored within a computer hence saving a lot of space. This also makes it easier when one is migrating from one area to another as it is less cumbersome and cheaper. It reduces the risk of losing books or any other important documents during migration. The use of e-books puts into consideration people with different eye problems as the fonts can be regulated to suit different eyes, both the short sighted and the long sighted. This is unlike the case of printed books whereby the fonts which a book was printed with are permanent and cannot be adjusted for those with eye problems. This further broadens the number of e-book users over those using the hard copy books. (Duong 34) Some e-books are offered over the internet without any charges which saves people a lot of money. It is very rare to find hard copy books being given for free anywhere. This has made e-books more attractive to the general public especially for the students who will do anything to save the little money they have. Changing from one e-book to another is a simple process and one needs very little effort to facilitate it. E-books allow reading even in the night in areas without light since the devices used to read them such computers and laptops come with their lights. This way students’ studies are not easily hindered even if there is a black out. There is a software that makes it possible to change e-books from one language to another instantly. This gives e-books a huge advantage over the printed books whereby if one wants to change languages, it calls for an entire new printing process and is much more costly. In e-books, correction of mistakes is easier and instant whereas for the printed books the mistakes are fixed permanently in the books. In case of accidents such as fire or floods, information in e-books is never totally lost as they can be re-extracted from the internet. This is unlike the case of printed books whereby if a book burns down it goes away with all the information in it which may never be recovered. The use of e-books also contributes significantly towards environmental conservation. Books are manufactured using trees and this means that for the manufacturing process to occur, several trees have to be cut down. This leads to exposure of the soil resulting into soil erosion. The factories manufacturing books also emit harmful air into the atmosphere causing air pollution. These books if not properly disposed, they can litter the environment making it very untidy. The use of e-books does not require any of these processes and therefore contributes towards conserving the environment. The use of e-books saves a lot of energy such as fuel which can be redirected to other uses which facilitate economic growth. This is so since the manufacturing process of books consumes a lot of energy unlike the case of e-books. This makes the use e-books more economically feasible compared to the printed books. (Boyd 74) The use of e-books also has its disadvantages. These include: there is a possibility of the e-reader one is using to access the e-books being very slow hence one may spend a lot of time finding the information they require from the internet. Some of the authors who post their work online may have done a shoddy job leaving users with very unreliable information. The e-readers required to access e-books such as laptops and desktops are expensive. This, therefore, locks out some people from the use of e-books. In case of blackouts, some of the e-readers without good battery lives may run out of charge making e-books in accessible. Research by doctors has shown that spending too much time on a computer may result into eye infections for the users. This, therefore, calls for the controlled use of the e-books. In case of a calamity such as fires, the e-book may not be lost but the loss of an e-reader is possible and very costly. People have a tendency of pirating material from the internet, and this has left artists who post their work online with little profits. E-readers are prone to viruses which may distort the e-books already downloaded. There are also cases whereby the format of an e-book is not compatible with the operating system of an e-reader making e-books inaccessible. In conclusion, it is evident that the advantages of e-books are much more than the disadvantages making them appropriate. (Arthur 104) Works Cited Arthur Wesley Dow, Joseph Masheck. Composition: A Series of Exercises in Art Structure for the Use of Students and Teachers. California: University of California Press, 2008. Boyd, Scott. Make Money Online-Write and Sell EBooks Guide: A Work from Home Internet Business Writing, Selling EBooks Online. Halifax: Globotic Media Publishing, 2011. Dillehay, James. Your Guide to Ebook Publishing Success: How to Create and Profitably Sell Your Writing on the Internet. New Mexico: Warm Snow Publishers, 2009. Duong, Truoc. Self Publish Perfect Paperbooks and EBooks with LyX on Windows and Sell Them Worldwide on Lulu Easy and FREE! North Carolina: Lulu.com, 2009. Matthews, Jason. How to Make, Market and Sell Ebooks - All for Free. Los Angeles: Jason Matthews, 2010. Pastore, Michael. 50 Benefits of Ebooks: A Thinking Person's Introduction to the Digital Reading Revolution, Where Ebooks are Low-Cost Or Free. New York: Zorba Press, 2011. Swedberg, Marnie. Ebooks: Idea to Amazon in 14 Days. New York: CreateSpace, 2011. Sykes, Timothy Sean. Self-publishing Ebooks And Pods: One Step at a Time. Texas: Forager Publications, 2010. Underdahl, Brian. IPAQ For Dummies. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Read More