Do students learn better when reading from and studying from traditional books or digital books? An article in ISM (Independent School Management), “Paper Versus Electronic: Debating Comprehension,” cites research relating to the topic. Digital resources were found to be more mobile, easier to carry, and greener than paper. Two studies, one in the Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education (2012) and another to be published in College & Research Libraries in 9/2014 found that although college students “relied heavily on their mobile devices”, they reported that study tools such as highlighting, bookmarking, and even searching worked better when they use traditional text. Although, a study by Ferris Jabr, in the Scientific American, found that “modern screens and e-readers drain more of our mental resources ... and make it harder to remember”, this study did not, according to John Jones of DML Central, include various types of electronic readers and “did not support his [Jabr’s] claims about the nature of paper versus screen reading for comprehension.”
The argument continues with some preferring paper and others, digital. It seems that only time will tell, because we must remember that the college students in these studies grew up using paper texts. Only recently have we seen digital textbooks starting to replace paper.
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