In the war between e-books and printed texts, who’s winning? To figure out the answer, you could look at the $267.3 million in e-textbook sales in the higher ed market, according to Simba Information.

That represents a growth rate of 44.3%.

But you also might note that only 11% of college students have purchased e-texts.

In a world that seems to grow increasingly tech-obsessed by the day, why aren’t we seeing a meteoric rise in sales of e-texts?

Here are the complaints:

• PDF or a similar format is generally used — and it isn’t easy on the eyes.
• Students like to highlight and underline passages in books, which isn’t always possible with an e-book.
• They’re not always cheaper than printed texts. In fact, some students save more money buying or renting used books online.
•  Students can’t re-sell an e-text after their class has finished.

Right now, students, professors and publishers are waiting to see what will happen.

As Brad Wheeler, CIO for Indiana University told USA Today, “This is an industry that’s failing everyone — parents, authors, professors and students.”

Meanwhile, all we can do is sit and wait for the quality of e-books to improve.

Do you use e-books? Let us know in the comment section below.

As part of its three-year mobile learning initiative, Abilene Christian University provided its students with iPads – and, no surprise, the students got pretty attached to them by the end of the school year.

After using the devices, 75% of ACU freshman said they’d buy their own tablets if at least half their textbooks were available digitally.

But the popularity of the e-readers hasn’t yet translated to textbook sales. In 2010, digital books accounted for only 3% of textbook sales, according the National Association of College Stores.

One reason: poor-quality materials. Students couldn’t highlight or take notes on these pseudo e-books, which more closely resembled PDF files, and so no one bought them.

Recently, though, more educators are making the shift to digital e-books so students will more eagerly participate in assignments and improve their overall learning.

Major publishers like Inkling are focusing on the switch to digital text books to meet the increasing demand.

Here’s just how popular e-books are becoming:

• 20% of college students will possess iPads and other tablets by 2012, and
• Digital book sale growth will double to $1.5 billion by 2015, accounting for 25% of market share.

Has your school made the switch to digital e-books? Let us know, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Arizona State University (ASU) participated in a trial pilot program that provided textbooks to students via the Kindle DX, which renders electronic books into visual text. The Kindle DX has a text-to-speech function, but there is no audio option for its menus and controls. As a result, it’s inaccessible to people who are blind.

The only classes that participated in the pilot program at ASU were classes taken by Honors College students. No blind students tried to enroll in any pilot course.

ASU student Darrell Shandrow, who is blind, claimed the pilot program violated federal laws against disability discrimination. Even though he wasn’t in the Honors College, he said he had the right to sue because the school’s use of inaccessible technology made him feel unwelcome and offended him. He also claimed he had suffered an economic injury, since the school used his tuition payments to support inaccessible technology.

The court rejected Shandrow’s claims on the basis that he lacked standing to sue. He did not identify any school policy that would impact him in any way, the court reasoned. And he didn’t have standing just because he paid tuition that helped fund the Kindle DX pilot program, the court said.

Cite: National Federation of the Blind v. Arizona Board of Regents.

Did the court get it right? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

If this were Jeopardy, the answer might read: “This academic tool has been around for 500 years, but is slowly being replaced by its electronic counterpart.”

Can you guess the question?

There’s no Daily Double involved, but if you asked, “What is a book?” you’re right.

Is this an overstatement? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Take a look at these facts, and you be the judge:

• Princeton, Case Western, Reed, Darden School at the University of Virginia, Pace and Arizona State are partnering with Amazon to try out the Kindle e-book reader on their students.
• Missouri School of Journalism students will be required to buy an iPhone or iPod this fall, so they can electronically download course material.
• Columbia University added four times the number of electronic books to its collection this past year compared to traditional books.

While 99% of individual buyers still purchase traditional books, it seems the move of higher ed institutions toward e-books is picking up speed.

Amazon has purposely enlarged the screen of its new Kindle DX to accommodate textbook photos, charts and tables. The display is now 9.7 inches, more than twice as large as the old model.

Publishers who turn out scholarly works are beginning to omit footnotes and photos, so they can be better adapted to e-books. Textbook topics themselves are changing in order to become more cyberspace-friendly.  Even electronic versions of scholarly magazines are steadily gaining ground.

Naturally, there are pros and cons to e-books:

• Pros: more immediate, searchable and interactive.
• Cons: not as durable, portable or – and this is a big one – affordable.

So where does that leave the future of the traditional textbook? Do you agree with the Columbia University librarian who says we’re in a “war for the access of information”?

Let us know your stand on e-books vs. textbooks in the comments section below.