Are traditional textbooks still a viable learning resource for college students? Digital textbooks seem to be indisputably superior to their print counterparts. And better still is to just research the course material online for free.

I'm researching this on my own campus for a research methods course and an interesting point that keeps popping up is that professors know that textbooks are superfluous but use them anyway because although they're not the best learning mechanic they are very useful teaching mechanic </run-on>

DISCUSS!

I think you are making too much of a distinction between "textbooks" and "digital textbooks". The only real difference between these formats is the medium the text is read on. Sure, there are fancy things you can do on a digital medium but I think the more important question is whether the paradigm of "textbook learning" is still valid.

I think there is an unhealthy trend towards students assuming that information gathering from bite-sized sources is an acceptable replacement for textbooks and broader learning. I know I was often faced with a choice, in many classes, of whether to dive deep into the material or merely research online to find sources and piece things together to form a coherent response to a prompt.

I would like to see an entirely new learning vehicle for classrooms that is more akin to a pamphlet which is updated frequently with long form content (by long-form, I mean more than 3 pages) explaining specific topics which are confusing and require additional explanation. Textbooks are bloated to include all the course material in a readable form. This new format would include visualizations, diagrams, and other learning strategies to help students maximize learning rather than maximize profit from version updating.

It is inevitable that paper formats are quickly disappearing in the rear-view mirror but the important question is what does the new format look like? I believe it is in-between textbooks and current online resources.

I agree; I especially like your point that textbooks are bloated. It seems like they are made for courses instead of students. I wrote a article relevant to this (link's below if you choose to check it out). And the only difference between physical and digital textbooks is their property of accessibility. Content wise textbooks rarely differ substantially from their physical counterpart.

As for a new digital learning medium, Khan Academy is an interesting idea. Not long-form text and I don't know its quality but at least it's a digital alternative to traditional teaching methods.