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Current issues

Submit an issue (and vote on others) which you would like the Student Leadership Team to discuss at their next meeting.

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  • -2 score
    14 voters

    The possibility of opting out of paper textbooks

    Submitted 1 year ago by Richard Knight
    Current
      4comments
      In relation to a current suggestion, there should be improvements to the PDF materials offered. Having only just started my course with the OU, I've been pleased by the quantity of material offered, but I was surprised that a now strictly online presence (which was also disappointing, as other issues have raised) doesn't offer a more modern and dynamic approach to viewing the material online. For the module I'm studying alone there are ~2500 participants, with the textbook materials amounting to over 1200 pages. Looking at around 3,000,000 pages of A4, that's approximately 300 trees. When it's considered that all of these textbooks need to be recycled (and that's assuming that everyone recycles it) that's still a huge quantity of waste. Recycling textbooks for further paper still incurs a cost to the environment, with varied sources stating the carbon emissions equate to between 70% and 80% of the original creation of the paper. Surely it would be better to have the option of not having this paper created in the first place.
    Andrew Wilson
    11:16pm on 16 May 24 Interesting thought. Whilst on a personal note I prefer hard copies to digital copies, a key issue that I have against this motion is the fact that should one lose the digital copy for any reason, whether end of course or computer malfunction, then the individual would be placed at a disadvantage. As such, whilst appreciating the fact that it could be helpful to have this set up, having both types gives the individual student the option to do what fits one best. If we look at our academics and post-modernist world, we still require hard copies for various different reasons, such as musicians who are learning to play an instrument and are skilled sight-readers, or our research analysts who are requiring to use libraries to research a particular aspect of their academic studies, need to reference the information because it is not available online. There are always something we are limited to the scope of hard & digital copies, therefore to have the option open, would probably be fairer and responsible than to say, "no, everything must go digital" sort of response.
    Pauline Beaty
    6:57pm on 31 Aug 24 I need physical copies for my assistive technology simply to take part as a disabled student but I totally agree that it should not be universal. There should be a facility for optting whether to have printed material as well. Those who need or prefer this mode could be accommodated while those who happily work completely online are also catered for.
    Gee Thomson
    12:41pm on 17 Jan 25 I think having the option to not receive physical copies is great - but physical copies should remain an option for the foreseeable future. Until we have technology which allows a digital copy to be as convenient and accessible as a physical copy we must keep it as an option. I like physical books as I may not be studying at home, and a book is more convenient if I have to study on a long journey for instance. I do use digital copies from time to time - but the current technology doesn't replicate a book well enough for me.
    Laura Denman
    9:26am on 27 Feb 25 Students rely on the ebooks for a variety of reasons and as it stands it is not sufficient to rely on the ebooks alone. I use assistive technolgy and have come across many problems such as the hyperlinks not being consistent and the page numbers not correlating with the text books (which most students use to reference) There fore I think it is essential that more work is done on the ebooks across all modules to make them fit for purpose.

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