Cougar News Services
Students at San Antonio's Trinity University use words like "frustrating" and "enlightening" in the same sentence to describe Professor Robert E. Jensen's business courses.
Jensen doesn't teach from a textbook or course packets, and handouts are rare. Students spend the majority of their time working on computers. Many don't touch a piece of paper all semester.
"It's a new experience that takes getting used to," said Brandon J. Lamb, a graduate student at Trinity who has taken some of Jensen's classes.
"A flat textbook can never compare with the advantages students find when they can actually interact with the text, finding additional information that is visually exciting and relevant to their lives," he continued. "Cyber-textbooks also organize and present information much better than textbooks."
Jensen runs each class he teaches through his Website. To go along with the site's readings, exercises and practice quizzes, he has installed a search engine so students can quickly access specific topics.
But many of Jensen's students say they miss textbooks and insist the Internet may not be the resource some professors think it is.
"Reading and studying from a book is a lot better," said Audrey Kinter, a 22-year-old graduate student who has also studied under Jensen. "Lengthy information on a computer screen is hard to read. It makes your eyes hurt, and it's hard to stay focused. Books are great because you can relax and read them on your own time. Like most of the students in the class, I printed out the information and then read and took notes like I was using a textbook."
"The classic textbook will be dead in 20 years," said Philip Anderson, a professor of business administration at Dartmouth College's Amos Tuck School of Business in Hanover, N.H.
"If you look at the two economic models, it's as compelling for computer textbooks to replace standard textbooks as it is for cars to replace horses.
"It costs so much less to publish a book online. Students will get less expensive online course materials and publishers will be able to double their profit margins."
While the University of Houston has yet to offer courses with online textbooks, UH already offers online courses in occupational education and in technology. Many UH professors use the Internet to aid classroom instructions by posting notes, homework and study aids.