In my experiences, hard cover for sure. I see the text, I physically turn the pages and highlight what I wish thereby adding to the learning process. Of course, highlighting means that I own the material but if I do not, taking notes by form of paper and pen offer a higher form of learning than simply typing which is rote and has little to do with actual memory input. There’s something about “hand to page” that I prefer over viewing a screen with a bunch of buttons and a cursor to manage. When I am on a computer and I wish to retain a piece of knowledge that I value, I then print it out and review the information again.
Depends what it is you want to learn You Tube is great for showing you 'how to' and, like Sam Malone in 'Cheers' who stayed up many nights reading War and Peace - give me the film any day To sit and read a good engrossing book - different matter, but I don't seem to take in info too well from a book, guess its all about who's giving the info whether in a book or in person
I seem to be an auditory learner and learn best from lectures, although I have learned a lot from all forms of data transfer. I think it would depend on the individual.
I frequently print things out because, although I spend most of my time online, I have trouble learning digitally. I can read a book on my Kindle but if I am researching something, I prefer paper.
If I understand the article correctly, students absorbed the main idea of what they read on the computer but skimmed over the details. Since details are sometimes extremely important, I think there is a place for both computer learning and print material. I, personally, prefer printed material.
For books, fiction or non, I want a book. For information, how-tos, news, I'll take the computer. Speaking of himself, Woody Allen commented that he'd taken the Evelyn Wood speed reading course and read the entire text of "War and Peace" in one night. "It was about Russia," he said.