University Students’ User Expectations Concerning E-Textbook Features

Abstract

E-textbooks are becoming more and more part of the teaching and learning process also in higher education. However, the use and acceptance of e-textbooks lag far behind expectations. The purpose of this study is to investigate how university students evaluate the importance of specific features and applications within e-textbooks for their learning process. The participants of this study (N = 92) were future primary school teachers who can be considered as important target group for future implementation of next generation e-textbooks. The students took part in an intervention study and used e-textbook for Ipad. After the intervention a questionnaire was given which consisted of 24 statements on seven-point likert scale. Students had to evaluate how important specific features are for their learning. The results indicate three different student profiles concerning e-textbook characteristics. The profile with the highest importance (M = 5,7 ;SD =0,873) deals with the features like underlining, writing comments in the text and using scratch book. The second student profile finds learning games, simulations and virtual laboratories important for their learning (M = 4,59 ;SD = 1,38). The third student profile found e-text consisting of links connected to visualizations, to video clips or to their own links least important for their learning process (M = 4,19; SD = 1,21).In sum, the results indicate that the user expectations lean on the traditional print text environment. New potentials of e-textbooks seem not to be thoroughly explored by the students in this study.

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Author Information
Norbert Erdmann, University of Turku, Finland
Mirjamaija Mikkilä-Erdmann, University of Turku, Finland
Sari Yrjänäinen, University of Tampere, Finland
Roope Raisamo, Univesrity of Tampere, Finland

• Category: e-Learning and Collaborative Learning

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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