ASSESSING THE VALUE OF E-READERS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

This paper analyses the value of e-readers to Higher education. The discussion considers whether or not text books can be replaced by e-readers and electronic books. In many developing nations text books are mandated for students so that their understanding of English may be improved simultaneously with the topic content of the curriculum. The added expense to the institution and the student is considerable. The replacement of paper books by electronic books is often suggested but no comparative study is available of the impact of both e-readers, e-books and a mix of required texts not available via electronic means. This paper develops a readily understandable formula for calculating the costs under a variety of circumstances. Consideration is given to diffferent e-readers and the suitabilty of each to the student environment. The paper uses several scenarios to demonstrate the validity of the formula under varying conditions. The formulation is applied to the needs of the American University of Iraq as an exemplar case.