Table of contentsIntroductionCan digital devices replace traditional textbooks? (essay)ReflectionConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionCan digital devices replace traditional textbooks? (essay)The first e-book or electronic version of a printed book was noticed in 1971 and was named Project Gutenberg by Michael Hart. He used a computer for the first time to accumulate, retrieve and find information. “Since then, Project Gutenberg (has) created thousands of free texts and copies of books that can be downloaded or accessed online.” But it was still too early for e-books to become popular, as the Internet was still very new at that time and not accessible to the general public. For this reason, the development of the e-book market has been slow. But in 1998, four major events took place: 1) The first e-book software, Rocket E-Book and Softbook, was released; 2) the first ISBN (International Standard Book Number) was issued for an electronic book; 3) American libraries began offering free e-books to the public through websites and other services; and 4) the creation of Google by Larry Page and Sergey Brin made it easy for online users to search for anything they wanted, which meant that everyone interested in e-books was going to search for them through Google. With these advances, e-books were expected to grow in popularity, but growth was slower than expected and did not gain popularity until the early 2000s. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay From 1998 to 2006, there were fewer developments in the e-book market that could attract users' attention , but the release of Amazon's Kindle in 2007 boosted the popularity of e-books. However, according to Weisberg's observation, e-books available in 2009 "...offered little more than simple reading capabilities", which was the same when they first hit the market. But later in 2010, e-readers started hitting the market with basic note-taking, highlighting, and searching features. With this transformation of e-books, they became more user-friendly and began to gain popularity. In 2010, Apple launched the iPad with iBooks and its iBook store on iTunes, selling half a million e-books in less than a month. Google also saw its e-book store finally take off, but more importantly, Amazon reported for the first time that its e-book sales were outpacing those of its hardcover books. This was very important because Amazon started as an online book retail company and this increase in e-book sales clearly showed the change in user acceptance towards e-books while also highlighting the future prospects of e-book. An updated list of resources with free booksIn their article on e-books, Chen, Gong, J. Yang, X. Yang, and Huang mentioned that “a digital textbook maximizes the convenience and efficiency of learning by digitizing existing printed textbooks, to provide the benefits of both print and multimedia learning features such as images, audio-visuals, animations and 3D graphics, as well as practical functions such as search and navigation”. THEdevelopment of modern tablets with additional battery life, along with these enhanced features of e-books, have made them more convenient for readers and maximized reading productivity. There are different types of e-books available in the market today. Some of them are simple digitized versions of traditional textbooks available in different formats, e-textbooks with additional features such as links to various media including videos, podcasts, live hyperlinks and other resources, as well as interactive e-textbooks. In my opinion, the most useful of all is interactive e-textbooks. Because interactive eBooks contain concepts, explanatory videos, etc. and can store data on student progress, such as which chapters have been completed, which questions have been attempted, and so on. They would be particularly helpful to people with special needs and disabilities. Additionally, these books offer advantages, such as their portability; making them accessible for use on mobile devices, allowing users to view videos, audio clips, images, slideshows, etc. Thus, these books are able to teach the concepts contained in the book like a tutor and give the impression of a completely online classroom environment. . To elaborate on my point, I would like to share my own experience of using interactive e-textbooks, which have been a great way to learn statistics. As an online student, I have taken many courses and have experience using different types of e-textbooks. Among them, the most useful book I used was the interactive textbook for learning statistics courses offered by BYU Independent Study. It required an e-textbook from Macmillan Learning with access to Launchpad. They have built-in assessments and quizzes that help instructors monitor student activities. The only downside I found was the fact that I could only use the e-book for a year due to the publisher's digital rights licensing limitations. This can be a bit disappointing for the end user, as unlimited viewing licenses can be expensive or even unavailable. Another advantage of using e-books is their additional features that can enhance the instructor's teaching process. They are used by many instructors to enhance their study materials and present information to students in a clear manner. This helps students better adapt to different courses that might be difficult for them. Since instructors play an important role in textbook selection, they must select the best teaching materials to meet their teaching needs at the lowest cost to students. Apart from this, e-books are used in libraries all over the United States. Modern libraries will also benefit from e-books: “Libraries of the future could be hybrid environments in which different media contribute to the evolution of their services and adapt to the growing needs and expectations of users.” Digital libraries can eliminate manual and physical processing such as packing, unpacking, shelving and physical circulation of books, as well as reduce costs throughout the acquisition process through instant delivery of books. 'a commissioned e-book title. Furthermore, there is norisk of loss, theft or damage to the book and no physical space required. With appropriate licensing models, eBooks provide concurrent access to widely used titles. E-books allow libraries to store a wider range of materials on individual subjects and access essential documents. Along with current developments, the key feature of future e-books that can be expected is their greater flexibility for readers. It must be adaptable to the requirements of different teachers, students and groups of learners. “E-books have the potential to provide teachers with an educational tool that can help them effectively deliver lessons to their students.” An e-book designed to meet the needs of both the instructor and the student will certainly be more accepted than printed textbooks. Many factors influence why users accept or prefer e-books, such as reader comfort, reading habits, cost of the book, knowledge of how e-books work, ease of access, etc. “…meanwhile, most researchers have recognized that e-books have the potential to complement printed textbooks and expand their use in the near future only if certain identified obstacles can be overcome.” Issues such as eye strain are being investigated so that e-books can have better displays that replicate the look of a paper text like the Kindle e-ink reader. Work is also underway to limit distractions on the Internet, such as Microsoft's Focus Aid and Google's Digital Wellbeing, which help users stay focused on their work and brake accordingly. E-books can help instructors and students take advantage of all the features available while reducing costs. While comparing the disadvantages of e-books with those of printed books, both of them affect the environment in one way or the other. However, using an e-book rather than printed books will likely have a lower environmental impact. Every year, nearly 30 million trees are cut down in the United States to make printed textbooks. On the other hand, e-books are mostly read on computers, laptops, mobiles, and tablets made from recyclable materials. Therefore, in comparison, e-books are considered more environmentally friendly if they are properly recycled or disposed of. Duncan, Korey, and Stuart state in their article that "e-waste is a global problem, but on the college campus, the already widespread use of portable, multifunctional devices that could support e-book reading (such as laptops or tablets) suggests that the environmental consequences of electronic manufacturing and support could be considered "sunk costs (that have already been incurred)." Additionally, it is estimated that for one student, the electricity required to use a complete e-textbook program for 16 semesters is approximately half the electricity required to print the equivalent program, including papermaking. Therefore, it can be said that the adoption of e-books would reduce the environmental consequences of textbook manufacturing while solving the problem of what to do with bulky books once the course is completed. Another advantage of e-booksis that they won't take up as much space as normal textbooks. So, e-books are considered relatively cost-effective, convenient and interactive, but they may have a limited license, making them unavailable to users forever, which may be a bit unsatisfactory for them. Printed textbooks, on the other hand, are always available and can be easily exchanged, unlike electronic textbooks with digital and proprietary rights. Shin in his article mentions that “When students find valuable information, they want it stored on their personal computer or in a computer network to secure it permanently. They don't view an e-book as a permanent place to store valuable information. » Although e-books have many advantages, many students still prefer printed textbooks to e-books. The main reason for this preference bias appears to stem from the belief that printed books are more convenient than electronic textbooks. Traditional textbooks do not require any special reading devices or software. Many think that e-books are distracting compared to printed books. Students feel that e-books distract them while printed textbooks help them stay focused by keeping them away from computers and away from the temptation to check emails, social media or just waste time while surfing the Internet. Research seems to indicate that many users prefer printed manuals over printed manuals. E-books because they find them easy to read, like the smell of traditional books, it gives them the satisfaction of highlighting important texts, reduced eye strain and no internet distractions, etc. Daniel and Woody in their article state that "electronic textbooks may actually be less effective than paper textbooks because it takes students much longer to read an electronic textbook than the paper version." Navigating the manuals can also be a problem. Mangen et al. in their article on e-books, they alert the reader by saying that "scrolling is known to hinder the reading process, by imposing spatial instability which can negatively affect the reader's mental representation of the text and, consequently , his understanding.” In their article, Chulkov and VanAlstine noted that “achievement of learning outcomes was not significantly different between students using print and electronic textbooks.” In terms of student performance, the use of printed books has shown positive results compared to electronic textbooks. According to a study conducted by Jeong in 2010, possible reasons were: "Reading on a screen may require more concentration than on paper, reading an e-book is more error-prone than reading a p-book, Reading on a screen is not the same as reading a p-book and can cause eye strain and reduce concentration, which can also affect comprehension. E-books have recently attracted a lot of attention and many researchers have recognized the advantages of e-books and their features such as portability, ease of searching the necessary text, hyperlinks, highlighting and sharing notes. But missing learning content standards and functional barriers to using e-books (i.e., screen reading, licensing restrictions) are among the problems that,, 21(4), 151-164.