Disappointed in the book format

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We had our orientation last week for the nursing program that starts in August. They went over everything we will need to get and what we need do to prepare, and I am sooo excited (and completely overwhelmed!). The one thing I was really disappointed to find out is that we wont be using physical books - they are all digital. Now, I understand how useful and conveniant digital books are, but I love using the actual book! Im definitely more old fashioned in that way, and to be honest, technology frustrates me. I realize that I can purchase the hardcopy on the side, but our budget is severely restricted. Has anyone else dealt solely with the digital books? And if you're old fashioned like me, how hard was it to get used to?

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
The school says you must have EBooks and not hard copies? Are the EBooks part of the tuition?

This. Whenever I was in my BSN classes, all I would do is go to the bookstore, copy down the ISBN of the books, and then buy them used on Amazon. Much cheaper, sold for more money than I would have gotten back from the bookstore anyway, and it's not like they were included in the tuition.

My MSN classes included the cost of books in the tuition. We were shipped hard copies; no option for ebook/hard copy, although I too prefer the hard copy version for textbooks.

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The school says you must have EBooks and not hard copies? Are the EBooks part of the tuition?

Lots of schools give students the choice of EBooks or hard copies, since they pay for them in addition to their tuition anyway.

We were told that if we wanted the hard copies we were more than welcome to go buy them, however the only ones we would be able to purchase with financial aide would be the ebooks. And I also found it confusing when we were told that we would not be allowed to have our devices in class. So a nook, a chrome book, laptop ect that our books are on....wont be allowed in class. Now, I definitely understand the need to do our reading before hand so we are familar with the content and we can have any questions ready. It just seems like not having the school book accessible during class would be counter productive.

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

It seems the school hasn't thought this through and student input might change things. Your financial aid is yours if you have to pay it back!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

The school definitely has not thought through the process. As an instructor, I can assure you that 'no books' classroom teaching is pretty much impossible. But, on the bright side -- if you're tracking your educational expenses as a tax deduction, it would have to include a device for reading the ebooks.

I LOVE ebooks (srsly, I have 7 Kindles) for leisure reading ... but NOT for reference/text books because in order to learn, I have to use highlighters - yellow only - LOL. However, once I figured out how to 'highlight' ebooks, it became tolerable. They're certainly easier to lug around.

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I doubt that the school hasn't given this process some thought. OP, can you let us know what the process is once you start? I'm curious :)

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USA CON does this, is this where you'll be going by chance, OP? I graduated from there several years ago when it first started and I was furious about it. I am a crazy highlighter person, hard copy everything. However, I actually found I never missed the hardcopy. I developed a new system and adapted and trust me you will too. I think it actually made studying much easier in the long run. I took notes on my computer using a split screen with the book. In addition, I still have ALL my textbooks for reference. Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions 😊.

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

My cohort was the first to get into digital book copies WITHOUT THE OPTION OF GETTING HARDCOVERS.

I was kinda like, "Okay, yeah, that's fine. I've seen what kind of monstrosities nursing textbooks are so I can deal with digital." When it comes to writing care plans, digital textbooks can't be beat for the search ability. It makes it so much faster to get what I need. Also, this is my 2nd bachelor's so I can't really be having any more text books filling up my house.

By the way, you aren't even going to have enough time to read your textbooks. If you're using Elsevier, look up all the free (FREE) resources that come with your books and use the text outlines while you take notes in class, the NCLEX questions for the pre- and post-quizzes to start getting in that mentality of prepping for the NCLEX (you start now, not a year from now, not after you graduate, NOW) and the care planning tools and other immensely helpful things that come with the texts you won't miss the hard covers.

And, if you must still get the hard copies, just buy or rent old ones. At least you can still look up the current free resources through the publisher.

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@AlphaM- Definitely!:) @lovesongajp- No, Ill be going to HCC in WNC. Im glad to know that someone who loves hardcopies adapted so well to ebooks. It gives me hope :p @la_chica_suerte85- Awesome, thanks so much for the advice!

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I used the hardcopy form for my major textbooks (i.e. Fundamentals, Med-Surg, OB/Peds), but I used the digital form for classes such as gerontology, public health, etc. I couldn't imagine using the digital format for my major textbooks, but I enjoyed it for the other classes. I have a MacBook and an iPad, so I was able to download the content on more than one device. I enjoyed being able to highlight and make notes in the digital version.

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