Students like iPad and Apps but do not purchase ebooks

In spite of constant media attention around new forms of technology and especially e-books students still appear to be reticent about embracing new technologies in their studies. (…)

The students in the group, who studied a range of subjects at universities in and around London, felt there was a constant push for them to move to digital but they were resisting it. Although respondents were seeing increasingly more iPads and e-readers at university and they expected more use of e-books in the future, they were unanimous in the hope that this wouldn’t come at the expense of face-to-face time and hard-copy texts. (…)

The students in the focus group said that they used a wide range of online sources and databases (mentions included JSTOR, Project MUSE, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Athens, Emerald journals, LexisLibrary, Westlaw UK, ISI Web of Knowledge and Inspiration). They also used search resources including Google Scholar and Wikipedia. However, it was startling (and distinctly disheartening to the publishers watching the group) how little the students bought digital study resources and e-books. (…)

Medical students had by far the greatest use of apps for their studies…

Read further:

Kedros, Jenny. Focus group reveals reticence about move to digital. Research Information, 28th of February 2012.
http://www.researchinformation.info/news/news_story.php?news_id=902