James Dunn
CEP 822
Literature Review
Introduction
The Topic
Electronic textbooks offer significant
advantages over print editions.
K-12 textbooks are bulky and quickly become outdated. Electronic textbooks can be annotated,
highlighted, and bookmarked. They
afford visually- and hearing-impaired students, as well as struggling readers,
the accommodations that can help them succeed and are sometimes required by
law.
Electronic textbooks have, in the past, done
about as good a job as print editions. They had no real advantage over print textbooks other than
their increased portability and novelty effect. A new wave of electronic textbooks has additional features
that can be used across multiple platforms, deliver automatic updates, and more
information for less money than ever before (and sometimes for free).
General Overview of the Literature
The first wave of electronic textbooks were
glorified PDFs. Most of the
literature to date confirms that students did about as well with electronic
textbooks as they did with the print versions. That is intuitive, since there was very little difference
between the two.
My Rationale
If the electronic textbooks of the 1990s and
2000s were version 1.0, we are in 2.0 today, with 3.0 on the horizon. Given that electronic textbooks v1.0
were about as effective as print textbooks, and today’s electronic textbooks
are better, schools should begin adopting them. In addition to the advantages mentioned above, electronic
textbooks can bring a lot of resources—animations, simulations, slide shows,
and more—all into one convenient package for students. Students also have the advantage of
viewing and interacting with this content at home.
To date, the research has only had a chance
to review the first wave of electronic textbooks. Future research needs to focus on electronic textbooks
v2.0. I am confident that the
results will be strong, since students do better when they interact with content,
the way today’s electronic textbooks allow. Once the strong results come in, a more standardized format
will emerge. Then electronic
textbooks v3.0 can take off and be adopted large-scale nation-wide.
Body
Kinds of Work Reviewed
Case studies seem to be the most relevant
type of research available for electronic textbooks. While most of it involves older
iterations of electronic textbooks, it is still important to understand how
electronic textbooks started and how they fared.
Description of Selected Important Works
Cameron (2011) found that Naval War History
students did slightly better using iPads running the iAnnotate application. The textbooks were static PDFs, but the
app allowed them to highlight, cross-out, jot down notes, underline, and write
over the text.
Students were generally not distracted by
the other features of the iPad, although some were. Students enjoyed the portability of the
iPad over a printed textbook.
Their favorite feature was the ability to search the book (or a page)
for a specific word or phrase.
This is similar to what they have come to expect from a Mac (command +
f) or a PC (control + f).
Gilmour (2008) found that pre-service and
in-service teachers did significantly better with electronic textbooks than
print textbooks. This was the
only study that I found that made this claim. This suggests either an anomaly or a different
approach. Gilmour was the
instructor in the class being tested.
His study was the only one to offer more than PDFs. He embedded learning objects directly
in-line with the textbooks.
A potential concern is whether or not an
electronic textbook written by someone other than the class instructor can have
the same results. Gilmour
points out this obvious potential problem, but said that it can and should be
attempted. I agree with him. Instructors should always be very
familiar with the text they use in their classes. As long as the instructor is familiar with the electronic
resource being used, this should not be a problem. S/he should be able to clarify points and answer questions
for students.
Lane (2006) found that although students
enjoyed the aesthetics of electronic textbooks, they were unimpressed by the
lack of features. Students
in the college-level business class said that they wanted to have the ability
“edit, mark, and annotate” the text.”
Maynard (2005) looked at 11-12 year
olds in England that were used to using computers. The control group used a traditional
textbook, while the test group used a CD-ROM (see, the article is showing its
age!). These particular sixty
students were chosen because they were used to using computers, so the novelty
of using an electronic textbook is mitigated.
A serious limitation of the study is that
the two groups of students did not use identical textbooks. The author mentions that it was very
difficult to find identical copies of relevant text. If this study were to be done today, I do not think this
would be as limiting a factor as it was in 2005. At the end of the study, she found that students using the
electronic textbooks performed better than their peers, but not statistically
significantly better. I would love
to see a similar study done today comparing two identical titles. Porter (2010) saw similar results with
college students in an Allied Health class.
Students in an Intro to Computer Science
class did slightly better with electronic textbooks than students using
traditional printed textbooks (McFall, 2005). McFall deduced that this is so because the electronic
textbook is basically the same thing as the print version. The only advantages that the electronic
textbook offers are built-in highlighting, note taking, and diagram building.
An unexpected advantage of using electronic
textbooks is that he could track when students read the book. He could look at time of day and length
of each session. He expected to
find that students were reading the books very late at night, but was somewhat
surprised to see that most reading took place right before class and in the
early evening. Students spent an
average of 7.5 minutes reading per session. Typical results were between 4 and 14 minutes. Since this was only used in an elective
introductory survey course, there was no direct correlation between average
number of minutes reading and performance in the class. Although everyone that averaged 10
minutes or more “did do quite well” in the class.
Conclusion
How My Work is Informed by the Work of Others
The most important piece of work that I
reviewed was Gilmour (2008).
His research is the only example that showed a significant performance
improvement by using electronic textbooks. The main difference between Gilmour and the others is the he
included learning objects in-line.
The potential for this kind of textbook is huge. Apple’s new iBooks allows textbook
publishers, teachers, and district administrators to all create their own
electronic textbooks. They can
include animations, simulations, slide shows, and more. They can also do basic features that
electronic textbooks v1.0 had (annotation, highlighting, bookmarking, zooming
in, and audible reading.
References
Cameron, A.
H., & Bush, M. H. (2011). Digital
course materials: A case study of the apple iPad in the academic environment. Pepperdine
University). ProQuest
Dissertations and Theses, Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/874080368?accountid=12598
Gilmour, D.
J. (2008). Effective
use of technology in classrooms: Electronic interactive text and integrated
technological/pedagogical environment. Temple University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Retrieved
from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304492831?accountid=12598
Lane, D. N.
L. (2006). Evaluating
e-textbooks in a business curriculum. Nova Southeastern University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 180 p.
Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304910188?accountid=12598
Maynard, S.,
& Cheyne, E. (2005). Can electronic textbooks help children to learn? The
Electronic Library, 23(1),
103-115. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218233261?accountid=12598
McFall, R.
(2005). Electronic textbooks that transform how textbooks are used. The
Electronic Library, 23(1), 72-81.
Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218258279?accountid=12598
Porter, P.
L. (2010). Effectiveness
of electronic textbooks with embedded activities on student learning. Capella
University). ProQuest
Dissertations and Theses, Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/192907508?accountid=12598
No comments:
Post a Comment