To Buy or Not to Buy – One Positive Example of a Digital Solution for Students who are Hesitant to Purchase Textbooks

The numbers of students buying the relevant or recommended textbooks varies from course to course, university to university and country to country. The impact of COVID-19 on this situation remains to be seen.

A common theme the world over, regardless of COVID, surrounds students and book-buying behaviour. It’s reported that students think long and hard before spending their money on materials that can be outside of their budget. In the US, a recent study showed that student spending on textbooks was down 14% and another highlighted that student spending has declined almost every year in the last decade. Here in Asia, [reference to any studies if possible OR] the discourse around this topic is less prolific, but the issue is still prevalent. One of our customers, Dr Bosco, who teaches at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, explained how his students have “high expectations” around what they get access to as part of their course, chiming with other global studies. He added, “They may expect extensive notes or PowerPoints—and so often they don’t buy the book.”

Alternatives to purchasing recommended textbooks are plentiful. Students may decide that the last edition would be a better option as second-hand versions are typically significantly cheaper, or they may rely on borrowing that specific book from the library who have only purchased a handful of copies. They may also explore borrowing the book from a friend for an evening, or a day, or they may decline to use the book at all, using only notes they’ve made from the lectures used with an assortment of other, freely available, resources on the internet.

This issue around textbook spend and the availability of open resources accessible via the web is well documented within the Higher Education space and is certainly not a new one, but what is interesting to see is commonalities in the challenges faced by educators across the world. And it’s naturally interesting to hear how other people have resolved those issues. Dr Bosco found a solution that countered not only the “to buy or not to buy” challenge, but also ticked another box at the very same time.

That other box hinged on the need for students to be practicing what they have learnt and be able to apply their learnings to real-life scenarios. Dr Bosco Yu explained that in the area he teaches, Management Accounting, it’s especially important for students to build their problem-solving skills through answering numerical questions. Without this, they’re not able to build the skills needed to succeed in their course or become proficient professionals.

Find out how Connect from McGraw Hill managed to deliver on both of these needs and how, additionally, his shift to Connect proved to be a bonus when COVID-19 shifted his classroom online here.

To learn more about Connect for Accounting, click here.  Have more questions? Contact us for a complimentary consultation.

[1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/07/25/spending-and-costs-textbooks-continue-decrease-according-surveys

[2] https://online.essex.ac.uk/blog/630-per-student-the-cost-of-paper-textbooks/