News

Digital Textbooks at LCC: Bringing Studying to a New Level

20 January 2010

LCC International University has become the first university in Lithuania to use digital textbooks. Last fall a group of students had a chance to experience what learning with an electronic textbook is all about and they were not disappointed. In the future, the university will offer more courses that will use digital resources, because the tendency is clear - electronic books are winning the hearts of millions of learners and readers around the globe.

LCC's Library Director Jolanta Kaun says that the experiment using digital textbooks last fall was a success - she hasn't heard any complaints from the students of the Management Theory and Behavior class that have been using an open access resource. In addition to licenses acquired from the publisher, ten hard copies of the textbook were printed too, so that the textbook was available on reserve in the library. Interestingly, after the introduction of the digital textbook hard copies were not very popular among the students of the management class.

"We have always tried to solve the problem of textbooks creatively, because there must be a way to supply students with learning materials. The online textbook is a big innovation in academics and we are glad to be among the universities that are offering new and convenient technologies for learning. This time we tried out the open access resource "Principles of Management" and it paid off. First of all, hard copy textbooks are more expensive than a license we pay for with a digital textbook, and advantages of electronic textbooks are obvious: a student can reach the resource from any corner of the world, s(he) won't lose it, a digital book does not weigh anything, the information is updated as soon as it changes, and, of course, there are no fines for late return", the Library Director commented with humor.

Instructor of the Management Theory and Behavior, Dr. Lineta Ramonienė reports her students have been happy with the new method of studying, too.

"The navigation inside the book is easy, a student is able to copy and paste information, the book is supported with integrated multimedia items and features, it allows users to add notes if registered, etc. It is also perfect for the institution - it saves money while applying innovative teaching/learning solutions and saving the environment in addition", Dr. Ramonienė says.

LCC's Library Director Jolanta Kaun believes that digital textbooks will soon partly replace hard copy books, though LCC will continue to listen to students' opinions and make decisions based on them. "LCC strives to get the best quality learning resources for students and we will continue investing funds in getting commercial textbooks when a good quality digital textbook is not an option", she emphasizes.