Students with back packs and piles of books are common sight in the last 2 decades. Nonetheless, during 21st century, considering the needs of effectiveness, human run to leverage time into more valuable than 24 hours in a day. Computers and various wireless tools invade human life without any exclusion. Education field becomes more and more innovative by new hybrid net and note books within implanted learning system. Science e-book clung together with Macintosh smart phone is a new life style and learning culture nowadays. This condition results in challenges and disadvantages concurrently. Students may choose the most effective way in learning by comparing and contrasting manual and digital learning from some diverse points of view.

In student-centered learning theory, the most important part in teaching learning process is the students themselves. They must have internal motivation to use all the resources in order to achieve their determinations. Tools are external motivation to stimulate students’ passion for better learning. In addition, both manual and digital learning must provide certain structures; school, building, classroom, table, chair etc. and infrastructures such as books, computers, teachers, curricula and so on. Structures and infrastructures are means to ease students getting the knowledge. Further, they are set in a mutual relationship which one depends on the other. In this case, it does not mean that using solely digital learning tools will have more significant achievement if it is not united with other aspects especially students’ motivation.

Teachers play the important roles in facilitating students to rocket their potentials. People may say that they learn dependently through internet or educational software, but in certain time they must need tutors, peer teachers, facilitators, or what ever another term of teacher. Apparently, students cannot study alone even they have complete facilities or even they have their own schools. The main point in learning is the word “transfer” which means that there must be resources and receivers. In this way, teachers transfer their knowledge to the students as receivers and direct them into certain behaviors.

From these points of view, manual and digital leaning looks alike, but from the others, they are quite different in the term of economical value and effectiveness.

In long term, digital learning has more economical value than manual one. However, students must make investment to buy some peripherals such as computers, gadgets, head phones, android smart phones and so on. This fact is on the contrary with manual learning which does not need such an investment. For recent Indonesia condition, manual learning is still the favorite one; meanwhile, the digital learning is sneaking behind.

Digital learning is still in the first place for the value of effectiveness. For an example, the use of technology CALL (computer assisted language learning) promotes students to learn individually on their own pace. It means that they may choose the material level on the computer they want to. Even the class contains a big number of students, the teachers will be able to manage it because they play as facilitator who assist the teaching learning process. Different from the manual learning, the material is based on the excerpts in the modules or books. The teachers conduct the teaching learning thoroughly and must pay attention to the students one by one. Moreover, students cannot jump to the next material before the teachers finish the current one.

The most important thing in learning is students themselves because they are the actors who can release the power in them. External factors such as teachers, structures, and infrastructures including manual and digital learning also have important roles to promote students learning. In former cases, manual and digital learning are alike, but in later ones, they are quite distinctive. In practice, manual and digital learning walk together, but sometimes they are tilt in different areas based on the availability of information access.