E-Book vs. Printed Textbooks

[marialsnd]

I am starting my first semester of my BSN program on the 20th of this month. Over the summer, my school did a lot of revamping of the nursing school and one of the major changes was a change to our textbooks. This is the first semester that they have started to require each semester (5 total) to purchase a different bundle of books, which don't actually cover all the required courses for the semester. Each bundle has the option of purchasing just the e-books or the printed material in addition to the e-books. For first semester students this was a difference between $320 and $530 just for the bundle. I am an older student (just turned 40 this summer) and so although I have used a few e-books in other classes finishing my pre-reqs, I have spent FAR more time in my educational career with printed material in front of me. Since this is new to my school, no one is really sure how this will all work. Do any of you have any experience with your schools requiring e-books and online material for your classes? How do you think it compares to to using printed materials? Have you found a benefit to having the printed material in addition to the e-books and online materials?

[kfunk09]

My school also uses e books. I personally don't like them. The first 2 semesters of nursing school I used them, and this past semester I bought the printed version of the book. I will no go back to the e book. My study habits are more focused bc I have the actual book in front of me. I also like to highlight and flip back and forth between pages.

[marialsnd]

Thanks for the input. That's kind of the way I am too. I don't have a choice about purchasing the e-book. If I choose to purchase the printed version of the books, we still automatically get the e-book access. It costs more and is what I did this semester. I'll see how much I actually use each book type. I did look at the e-book access we have and it's better than any I've used so far, but I'm reserving judgement.