USING AN eTEXTBOOK AND iPAD:
RESULTS OF A PILOT PROGRAM
ROBERTA H. SLOAN, PH.D. Morrisville State College, New York
ABSTRACT
An eTextbook and iPad were used in a pilot program, and the impact on the course was assessed to guide the development of a college policy. Students in the course completed three questionnaires to provide feedback about their perceptions of the eTextbook and iPad. During the pilot program, students’ perceptions of the usefulness, ease of use, and extent to which they enjoyed using the eTextbook increased. Students reported that the eTextbook made it easier for them to learn, and they preferred the eTextbook to a printed textbook. Students were neutral about the iPad’s usefulness, but found it easy and enjoyable to use. Based on the students’ feedback, it is recom-mended that an interactive eTextbook be used; that a course be redesigned to take advantage of eReader technology, especially if a tablet computer (iPad) is used; and that students be allowed to choose between an eTextbook and a printed textbook.
INTRODUCTION
The concept of the eTextbook is not new; for more than a decade, electronic textbooks have been available and perceived as an important part of the future of education (NetLibrary To Create e-Textbooks, 2000). However, it is only during the past couple years that the connectivity, computer devices, and avail-ability of textbooks in appropriate electronic formats have emerged to make the potential for widespread use of eTextbooks a reality (Chesser, 2011). Yet even as
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eTextbooks move into the classroom, there is a lack of standardization in terms of their format and the devices used to access them. There are several forms of eTextbooks, including those that are digitized replicas of printed textbooks with “page-fidelity” (Chesser, 2011, p. 33), those that have a page layout adjusted for viewing on a screen, and those that are truly interactive and contain additional embedded content not present in the printed version (Chesser, 2011). There are also many devices which make them accessible, including desktop and laptop computers, tablet computers such as the iPad, and eReaders, such as Amazon’s Kindle, which have been developed specifically to read electronic books. Currently, there is evidence that an increasing number of college students own tablet computers (DeSantis, 2012). Apple’s iPad has been the market leader among tablet computers and is popular in educational environments (Mantell, 2012), making it a viable option for use with an eTextbook.
For many years, the Technology Services Department at Morrisville State College has focused on mobility in information technology. In 1998, the college became a Thinkpad University and began to integrate laptop computers into selected curricula; in 2003, students were offered cell phones to take the place of the residence hall telephones; and in 2007, the college’s wireless network was upgraded to 802.11n (Lowles & DeCerce, 2007). Currently the college network supports 1600 simultaneous devices, half of which are handheld devices. Therefore, given the environment, the concept of offering students the option of using eTextbooks and eReaders (such as the iPad) was a natural extension of the technology already in use.
The idea for a pilot program to explore the use of both an eReader device and an eTextbook was discussed prior to Spring 2011, and it became viable with the increasing availability of eTextbooks and the release of the iPad 2 in March 2011. Other colleges and universities have run similar pilot programs involving both tablet computers and eTextbooks, and have gained insight into their use (Fredette, 2011). Through this eTextbook and iPad pilot program, Morrisville State College hoped to do the same.
PILOT PROGRAM
The pilot program’s purpose was to assess an innovative approach to using eTextbooks. One course section would be selected for the pilot program during the Fall 2011 semester, and each student in the course section would be loaned an iPad and the course eTextbook free of charge for the semester. The course instructor would receive an iPad to use for the semester and then to retain for future course development. The Request for Proposal (RFP) was transmitted from the Vice President for Academic Affairs (D. E. Rogers, personal communication, June 7, 2011) to all faculty, and interested faculty were asked to submit a proposal including information on the digital content used in the proposed course, the faculty’s experience with digital content, and ideas on additional digital content
which could be integrated into the proposed course. It was noted that the faculty selected would be asked to provide a summary of the pilot program outcomes at the end of the semester. The pilot program was funded by the Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation (MAC), the not-for-profit company which operates several non-academic college services including the College Store, Thinkpad University, and cell phone distribution program.
Selected Course
The CITA 220–Systems Analysis course was selected for the pilot program. This course is required for students in the Application Software Development B. Tech. and Computer Information Systems A.A.S. and A.S. programs, and it is taken as an elective by students in other B.Tech. programs within the Computer Information Technology (CIT) department. Since the curriculum in the CIT department is part of the Thinkpad University, each of the 26 students enrolled in the course had a Lenovo laptop computer and was familiar with technology. The course was structured around a semester-long team project and incorporated individual assignments, quizzes, and exams. Software used in the course included the Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Project.
iPad and eTextbook Distribution
The iPad 2 (Wi-Fi only) with 16GB memory and iOS 4.2.1 was selected for the pilot program. The iPad 2 operated in the 5 GHz spectrum of the college’s 802.11n wireless network which helped alleviate congestion in the 2.4 GHz range. The eTextbook version of the course textbook (Shelly & Rosenblatt, 2012) was available on the iPad via the CourseSmart App. The author’s iPad and eTextbook access were provided to her on August 16, 2011. The students received their iPads and eTextbooks during the second class meeting of the Fall 2011 semester. Representatives of MAC attended that class session and distributed an iPad and a book code for the eTextbook to each student; each student was asked to read and sign an agreement that stipulated the return of the iPad at the end of the semester. The Network and Systems Manager for the college led the students through the process of configuring the wireless and e-mail settings on the iPad, creating an iTunes account, and setting a passcode on the iPad. Once the iPads were configured, each student created a CourseSmart account, redeemed the book code distributed by MAC, installed the CourseSmart App, and downloaded the course eTextbook.
eTEXTBOOK AND iPAD IN THE CLASSROOM
The pilot program was focused on the use of the eTextbook accessed via an iPad with the expectation that additional digital content would be included when possible. The author decided that this was a great opportunity to give the
students as much experience as possible with this device and its applications. Therefore, in addition to using the iPad for the eTextbook, the author also used the iPad whenever possible throughout the course.
Integrating the eTextbook
The eTextbook used was a digitized version of the printed textbook with “page-fidelity” (Chesser, 2011, p. 33). The eTextbook supported highlighting and annotating; it also had a search function, a ruler, a preview pages feature, a notes feature, and a go-to-page function. During the third class meeting, approxi-mately 15 minutes of class time were dedicated to a demonstration of these features of the eTextbook; the students followed along with the demonstration by working with their own eTextbooks.
To help the students learn to use the eTextbook, they were also given an assignment to access the support website for CourseSmart, review the information on using eTextbooks, and give written responses to questions about the eTextbook features. By completing this assignment, the students earned course credit while becoming comfortable with the eTextbook. For the remainder of the course, the eTextbook was projected onto the screen in the classroom during the lecture, and the author would highlight and annotate important passages, figures, and tables directly in the eTextbook. This method fit the author’s teaching style, and the students responded positively to it with the understanding that the author was highlighting and annotating the important concepts that they should focus on when studying.
Integrating the iPad
Not all students are immediately ready to use or easily adapt to technology such as the iPad (Keller, 2011). Therefore, the students were given an assignment to review the iPad User Guide, accessible as a bookmark in the Safari browser; to access the Apple website to read and view additional information about the iPad; and to give written responses to questions about the iPad’s Apps and other features. After completing the assignment, the students gathered in small groups and shared what they had each learned about the iPad.
The course contained a semester-long team project, so the iPad’s collaboration--oriented features and Apps were emphasized. The pilot program did not provide funds for the purchase of additional Apps, so only free Apps were used. The students were encouraged to use the iPad but not restricted from using their laptop computers; so, with only a few exceptions, all coursework was available and accessible from both an iPad and laptop. Blackboard was used for the distribu-tion of coursework including individual assignments, team assignments, and quizzes, as well as for the collection of individual assignment responses and quiz responses. The students used the Blackboard Mobile Learn App to access the course content from the iPad and were also able to access Blackboard from
their laptop computers. Students were introduced to Google Docs and used it for team assignment collaboration and team assignment responses, both from the iPad and from their laptop computers.
Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project were used during the course, but these software applications are not available for free for the iPad. No suitable alternative software was found, so the students used their laptop computers for the Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio individual and team assignments. Gantt Lite, a free app which allows users to view Microsoft Project files on an iPad, was used to view Gantt charts that had been created on a laptop; however, its functionality was limited.
eTEXTBOOK AND iPAD QUESTIONNAIRES
Although conceived as primarily a practical activity, the pilot program RFP specified the sharing of relevant outcomes at the conclusion of the pilot. This pilot program may be classified as a form of evaluation research incor-porating a case study (Robson, 2002); so, in keeping with this research-oriented perspective and in order to provide an organized summary of outcomes, periodic formal feedback was gathered from the students during the course. The students completed a questionnaire during the first class meeting, before receiving the iPad and eTextbook, to provide data on their perceptions of the eTextbook and iPad prior to the start of the pilot program. The students also completed a similar questionnaire after using the iPad and eTextbook for 3 weeks and again at the end of the semester. The questionnaires were delivered through Blackboard, a method similar to that of a web-based questionnaire (Cooper & Schindler, 2003); completion of the questionnaires was both voluntary and anonymous.
Questions
Although there was not sufficient time to pretest the questionnaires, they were reviewed by the Network and Systems Manager who was involved in the pilot program. Every effort was made to ensure that the meaning of each of the questions was clear, that the sequence of the questions made sense, that the questionnaires were an appropriate length, and that respondents (students in the course who completed the questionnaires) were given sufficient time to complete the questionnaires (Cooper & Schindler, 2003). The questions were focused on the iPad and eTextbook as separate concepts and were grouped in the general categories of knowledge and opinion of Apple devices, knowledge and opinion of eTextbooks, and impact of eTextbook use on ability to learn.
On the first questionnaire, completed prior to the start of the pilot program, Questions 1 and 2 asked respondents to identify the frequency with which they had used an Apple computer or an Apple device. Question 3 asked respondents
to identify which, if any, Apple devices they had used. Questions 4 through 6 used a Likert scale ranging from 1 (definitely not) to 5 (very) to determine perception of the usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyableness of Apple com-puters; Questions 7 through 9 asked the same about Apple devices. Questions 10 through 12 used the same scale to determine perception of the usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyableness of printed textbooks, and Questions 15 through 17 asked the same about eTextbooks. Questions 13 and 14 asked the respon-dents to identify the frequency with which they had read an eBook or eTextbook. Question 18 used a Likert scale ranging from 1 (really not looking forward to it) to 5 (excited for it) to determine the extent to which respondents were looking forward to using the iPad and eTextbook in the course during the semester. For all questions which used a Likert scale, there was also a “No opinion” response. Question 20 was open-ended and asked respondents to explain their thoughts and feelings about using the iPad and eTextbook in the course for the semester.
On the second questionnaire, completed after the respondents had been using the iPad and eTextbook for 3 weeks, Questions 1 and 2 asked respondents to identify the frequency with which they had used an Apple computer or an Apple device prior to the start of the semester. Questions 3 through 5 used a Likert scale ranging from 1 (definitely not) to 5 (very) to determine perception of the usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyableness of the iPad. Question 6 asked respon-dents to identify the frequency with which they had used an eTextbook prior to the start of the semester. Questions 7 through 9 used a Likert scale ranging from 1 (definitely not) to 5 (very) to determine perception of the usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyableness of the eTextbook. Questions 10 through 14 were open-ended. Question 10 asked respondents to state the most useful thing about using the iPad in the course; Question 11 asked respondents to state the least useful thing about using the iPad in the course. Question 12 asked respondents to state the most useful thing about using the eTextbook in the course; Question 13 asked respondents to state the least useful thing about using the eTextbook in the course. Question 14 asked respondents for any additional comments about the iPad or eTextbook.
On the third questionnaire, completed during the final class of the semester, Questions 1 through 13 were the same questions as on the second questionnaire. Question 14 used a Likert scale ranging from 1 (made it very difficult) to 5 (made it very easy) to determine the extent to which respondents felt that using the eTextbook instead of a printed textbook affected their ability to learn. Question 15 asked respondents to identify if they would prefer to use a printed textbook, an eTextbook, or if they did not have a preference for either type of textbook. Question 16 asked respondents if they would like to have more course textbooks available as eTextbooks or not. Question 17 was open-ended and asked respondents to make any additional comments about the iPad or eTextbook.
Results
As the responses for the questions based on a Likert scale are presented and described, it is assumed that a response of 1 or 2 on the scale is a negative response; a response of 3 on the scale is a neutral response; and a response of 4 or 5 on the scale is a positive response. The responses to the open-ended questions were coded and then summarized (Robson, 2002); the most frequently mentioned topics are presented and discussed. For the first questionnaire, completed prior to the start of the pilot program,N= 25; for the questionnaire completed after the respondents had been using the eTextbook and iPad for 3 weeks,N = 23; for the questionnaire completed at the end of the pilot program,N= 22.
eTextbook Results
All of the respondents had used printed textbooks prior to the pilot program, so they were asked their opinions of printed textbooks as a basis for comparison with their opinions of eTextbooks. The respondents were also asked about their familiarity with eBooks and eTextbooks. As Table 1 shows, the majority of respondents thought printed textbooks useful, while fewer respondents thought them easy or enjoyable to use. As Table 2 shows, almost half of the respondents had never read an eBook and more than half had never used an eTextbook. Table 3 shows that prior to the pilot program, two-thirds of the respondents were looking forward to using the eTextbook in the course during the semester.
Table 4 shows a comparison of respondents’ opinions on the eTextbook’s usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyableness as the pilot progressed. Prior to the pilot program, almost half of the respondents thought eTextbooks useful, and this percentage grew throughout the pilot program. By the end of the pilot program, almost all of the respondents also thought eTextbooks easy to use, and just fewer than half thought them enjoyable to use.
At the conclusion of the pilot program, the respondents were asked if the eTextbook impacted their ability to learn relative to a printed textbook and also their opinion about using an eTextbook again in the future. As Table 5 shows, most of the respondents felt that using the eTextbook instead of a printed textbook made it easy for them to learn, and none of the respondents felt that using the eTextbook made it difficult for them to learn. Table 6 shows that the majority of respondents would prefer to use an eTextbook in their courses. When asked to decide whether or not they would like to have more course textbooks available as eTextbooks, 86% responded that they would like to have this option.
On the first questionnaire, the respondents were asked to write a few sentences to explain their thoughts and feelings about using an eTextbook during the semester. Almost all of the comments mentioned that the respondent was looking forward to a new experience and to trying something new or mentioned that the respondent liked using an eTextbook because of the convenience of carrying it on an eReader and also because of the search functionality.
Table 3. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Attitude toward Using the eTextbook Prior to Pilot Program Really Not At All Not Neutral Yes Excited About It No Opinion Looking Forward to Using eTextbook 0 0 16 28 48 8 Table 1. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Opinion of Printed Textbooks Prior to Pilot Program Definitely Not They Are Not Sometimes Are/ Sometimes Not They Are Very Much No Opinion Useful Easy to Use Enjoyable to Use 8 4 24 8 12 40 24 36 12 32 20 8 24 20 12 4 8 4 Table 2. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Use of eBooks/eTextbooks Prior to Pilot Program Never Only Once A Couple of Times A Few Times Many Times All the Time Read an eBook Used an eTextbook 44 56 4 16 8 8 24 16 12 0 4 4
Table 4. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Opinion of the eTextbook Definitely Not It Is Not Sometimes Is/ Sometimes Is Not It Is Very Much No Opinion Useful Prior to Pilot Three Weeks End of Pilot Easy to Use Prior to Pilot Three Weeks End of Pilot Enjoyable to Use Prior to Pilot Three Weeks End of Pilot 0 4 4 0 4 4 0 4 14 0 4 9 0 0 0 0 9 0 12 22 9 16 13 4 16 40 40 28 44 41 24 57 60 28 26 23 20 22 32 12 22 32 8 17 23 40 0 0 48 0 0 48 0 0 Table 5. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Opinion of Effect of eTextbook on Ability to Learn Very Difficult Difficult Did Not Affect Easy Very Easy No Opinion Using eTextbook Instead of Printed Textbook 0 0 14 64 18 4
On the second and third questionnaires, the respondents were asked to comment on the most and least useful aspects of using the eTextbook in the course. The comments regarding the most useful aspects emphasized the functionality of the eTextbook including the highlighting, annotating, note-taking, and search features; the facts that the eTextbook was easy to carry and lightweight were also mentioned. The comments regarding the least useful aspects focused on glitches with the accessibility of the eTextbook when the iPad was not on a network, the slowness of opening the eTextbook and moving between pages, and the lack of eTextbook interactivity. A couple of the respondents also men-tioned that they would prefer to have a printed textbook so that they could keep it after the conclusion of the course.
iPad Results
Before discussing respondents’ opinions of Apple computers and devices, it is interesting to understand how many respondents had used Apple hardware prior to the pilot program. As Table 7 shows, prior to the pilot program most of the respondents had used an Apple computer at least once and almost all had used an Apple device at least once. When asked which Apple device(s) they had used, 46% of respondents reported using an iPhone, 83% had used an iPod, and 37% had used an iPad.
As Table 8 shows, prior to the pilot program respondents’ opinions regarding the usefulness of Apple computers were mixed, but half of the respondents thought Apple devices useful. Slightly more than a third of the respondents thought Apple computers easy to use while a majority thought Apple devices easy to use. Half of the respondents thought Apple computers enjoyable to use, and more than half thought Apple devices enjoyable to use.
As Table 9 shows, prior to the pilot program many respondents were looking forward to using the iPad in the course during the semester. As Table 10 shows, both after 3 weeks and at the conclusion of the pilot program the respondents were mixed on their perceptions of the iPad’s usefulness; however, most of the respondents thought the iPad easy to use, and a majority of the respondents also thought the iPad enjoyable to use.
On the first questionnaire, the respondents were asked to write a few sentences to explain their thoughts and feelings about using an iPad during the semester. Many of the comments mentioned that the iPad would be a new technological
Table 6. Respondents’ (Percentage) Preference for Type of Textbook Printed Textbook eTextbook No Preference
Table 7. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Use of Apple Hardware Prior to Pilot Program Never Only Once A Couple of Times A Few Times Many Times All the Time Used an Apple Computer Used an Apple Device 20 8 8 8 24 12 16 20 20 20 12 32 Table 8. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Opinion of Apple Hardware Prior to Pilot Program Definitely Not They Are Not Sometimes Are/ Sometimes Not They Are Very Much No Opinion Useful Computers Devices Easy to Use Computers Devices Enjoyable to Use Computers Devices 0 0 0 0 4 0 12 4 4 0 8 4 52 32 28 16 16 20 0 24 8 48 24 40 20 32 32 20 24 24 16 8 28 16 24 12
Table 9. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Attitude toward Using the iPad Prior to Pilot Program Really Not At All Not Neutral Yes Excited About It No Opinion Looking Forward to Using iPad 40 8 2 0 6 4 4 Table 10. Respondents ’ (Percentage) Opinion of the iPad Definitely Not It Is Not Sometimes Is/ Sometimes Is Not It Is Very Much No Opinion Useful Three Weeks End of Pilot Easy to Use Three Weeks End of Pilot Enjoyable to Use Three Weeks End of Pilot 4 4 0 0 4 4 4 14 0 5 4 0 44 36 13 9 26 23 26 27 48 50 26 41 18 14 35 36 35 27 0 0 0 0 0 0
experience; some of these respondents indicated excitement about using this new technology, while some respondents indicated trepidation about using a technology that they understood to be very different from the Windows-based technology they were familiar with. A couple of the comments referred to the greater cost of the iPad relative to other eReaders, and these comments are especially interesting since the respondents knew that they would be using the iPad without charge.
On the second and third questionnaires, the respondents were asked to comment on the most and least useful aspects of using the iPad in the course. The comments regarding the most useful aspects emphasized the portability, handiness, and light weight of the iPad, as well as the usefulness of some of the Apps for note-taking, communicating, using the eTextbook, and playing games. The comments regarding the least useful aspects of the iPad focused on some of the glitches present in some Apps during the pilot program, as well as on some of the inherent limitations of the iPad such as its inability to run Flash-based applications and the lack of support for printing. Some of the respondents’ comments at the end of the pilot program indicated that they had struggled to find the iPad’s place among their technology devices, since the iPad was not as functional as a personal computer and yet not as simple as some of the other eReaders they had used. There were also many comments about the relatively high cost of the iPad compared to a simpler eReader device, and respondents indicated that they did not believe that the iPad’s functionality and usefulness justified the cost.
As a basis for a discussion of student success, the course grades of the students in the pilot program were compared to the course grades of the students who had taken the course in previous semesters. As Table 11 shows, the overall course grade mean and median at the conclusion of the pilot program were approxi-mately the same as the median and mean the two previous semesters the course was offered.
DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS
The students who participated in the pilot program and responded to the questionnaires were generally not familiar with eTextbooks or iPads before the
Table 11. Final Grades for Course (Percentage) for Pilot and Previous Semesters
M Median Fall 2011 (Pilot Program)
Fall 2010 Fall 2009 83.7 82.6 81.8 88 87 82
pilot program, but they were looking forward to using both the eTextbook and the iPad for the semester. During the pilot program, their perceptions of the usefulness and ease of use, as well as the extent to which they enjoyed using the eTextbook, increased. At the end of the pilot program, they felt that the eTextbook made it easier for them to learn, more than half preferred the eTextbook to a printed textbook, and almost all wanted the option to use an eTextbook in other courses. Before the pilot program, they felt that Apple computers and devices were easy and enjoyable to use, but that Apple computers were not necessarily useful while Apple devices were useful. Their perception of the iPad throughout the pilot program was similar to their initial perception of Apple computers; they were relatively neutral about its usefulness, but they did find it easy and enjoyable to use.
The final course grade average for the pilot program semester was slightly better than the final course grade during the two previous semesters the course was offered. This indicates that the use of the eTextbook and iPad did not have a negative impact on the students’ grades and may have had a positive impact on the grades. This finding is in keeping with the conclusions of other studies (Murray & Perez, 2011; Shepperd, Grace, & Koch, 2008).
The comments about the cost of the iPad relative to a simple eReader indicate that even though the students were lent the iPad for the pilot program at no cost, they were clearly assessing its value compared to that of an eReader. Several students commented that they did not feel the iPad added enough value to their experience in the pilot program to justify its cost.
Limitations
In addition to the relatively small class size of the course section selected, a few aspects of the pilot program may limit the applicability of the conclusions reached to other situations. For example, the students in the pilot program were loaned the iPad and eTextbook at no cost; this may have positively impacted the students’ reported attitudes toward using the eTextbook and iPad prior to and during the pilot program. Also, the students in the pilot program already owned laptop computers and were familiar with information technology prior to the pilot program. This familiarity with technology may have affected their reported understanding and use of the iPad and eTextbook. Finally, the distribution of the iPads and eTextbooks, during the second class meeting of the Fall 2011 semester, was attended by journalists from local newspapers and television stations. Several of the students were interviewed, and a segment showing these interviews along with footage of the class during the distribution process aired on the local TV newscast. The students had already completed the first questionnaire prior to the distribution, but the attention received may have impacted the students’ perceptions as reported on the second and third questionnaires.
Recommendations
Based on the experience of and results from the pilot program, several recom-mendations may be made. These recomrecom-mendations concern the selection of an eTextbook and the integration of the eTextbook and iPad into a course.
The eTextbook was easy to integrate into the course; it was easy to use and project on the screen during class and was a welcome alternative to writing notes on the whiteboard. It was more of a challenge to integrate the iPad into the course; to integrate it completely would have required re-designing the course content and identifying software both compatible with the iPad and with the functionality of Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project. While the short lead time for this pilot program did not permit this level of course redesign, approaching the course design and content with this perspective would greatly improve the coherence of the course and the usefulness of both the eTextbook and iPad or other tablet computer. In fact, while an effort was made to separate the concept of the eTextbook from the concept of the iPad on the pilot program questionnaires, there are indications that it may be difficult to do so. There is evidence that the line between the eTextbook itself and the eReader device it is delivered on is blurred (DeSantis, 2012; Mulvihill, 2011; Tees, 2010) and is likely to vanish altogether with Amazon’s recent development of the Kindle Fire (Kindle Fire Holds, 2011) and Apple’s foray into the eTextbook market (Mantell, 2012). As eTextbooks and eReaders become more tightly integrated and appear to be a single entity, course content will have to be altered to accommodate this unified view of the technology.
Assignments may be crafted to give the students direction in their exploration of the eTextbook and eReader, so that they have an incentive to become com-fortable with both, knowing that they are earning course credit for doing so. Some class time should also be allocated to providing visual direction to the students on the use of the eTextbook and eReader, since many questions are easily answered through demonstration.
The eTextbook used in the pilot program course was not interactive, but a digitized version of the printed textbook with “page-fidelity” (Chesser, 2011, p. 33). The college bookstore subsequently examined alternative eTextbooks in the Systems Analysis subject area, but was not able to find a suitable interactive eTextbook. The students’ written comments noted the lack of interactivity in the eTextbook as an issue (Confronting Opportunities, 2011), so it is recom-mended that an interactive eTextbook be used if possible.
Finally, students may be given a choice of textbook format; those that like the traditional printed textbook may choose it while others may select the eTextbook. In a previous study (Shepperd et al., 2008), students who selected an eTextbook reported studying more but did not receive course grades that were significantly different from those who used a printed textbook. Another study (Murray & Perez, 2011) also found no significant difference in the performance of
students who used an eTextbook and those who used a printed textbook. It is notable that eReader technology is improving rapidly; many of the weaknesses only recently reported (Tees, 2010) have already been eliminated by new versions of eReader devices (Kindle Fire Holds, 2011; Mantell, 2012). The availability and interactivity of eTextbooks is also increasing (Mulvihill, 2011). Therefore, allowing students to choose may be the best alternative in this current period of rapid technological development.
Implications
The decision to use an eTextbook and the associated tablet computer or eReader device has several implications. The use of an eTextbook requires a digital mindset and drives the course delivery toward computer and device-based formats. There is still some room for printed material given the idea that some aspects of the teaching and learning experience might work best in electronic format and some might work best in a traditional printed format (Reitz, 2011); however, since tablet and eReader devices generally provide limited ability to print and encourage use of the device to view the eTextbook and other materials, a Learning Management System or other electronically-accessible method should be used to deliver course information to the students and accept course work from the students.
In a digital environment, there is the possibility that a device or software application may malfunction, and this type of situation requires creativity and patience in order to keep the class moving forward until the issue is resolved. In this pilot program, minor issues occurred in both the Blackboard MobileLearn App and the CourseSmart App and also in the way Google Docs interacted with the iPad when documents were edited in Google Docs. The issue in the Blackboard MobileLearn App was reported to the Technology Services Department which reported it to Blackboard technical support, and it was quickly fixed. The issues with the CourseSmart App and with Google Docs have been improved or eliminated in the many upgrades to both products since the pilot program. The availability of technical support for the eTextbook is critical, and technical support should also be available for any eReader device that has been selected as an organizational standard.
When the students are using an eTextbook on an eReader, they will use the eReader during class. When the eReader is a tablet computer with additional functionality, the question arises of how to ensure that the students are only using the eTextbook on that device and are not doing other activities. The author has not found a way to control what the students are doing in class other than to make the class as interesting as possible so that the content and presentation engage them and hold their attention; the author also engages the students in the class by asking them to work individually or in teams on assignments and projects. The author did find that by projecting the eTextbook in class and by
highlighting, annotating, and discussing important items in the eTextbook, the students seemed more engaged because they worked along to highlight and annotate their own eTextbooks. This is in keeping with the questionnaire responses gathered during this pilot program, which indicate that use of an eTextbook may make it easier and more enjoyable for students to use and to read the textbook.
As technology becomes more prevalent and the use of technology in education becomes more common, it is worthwhile to periodically evaluate the impact of the technology on the students and to seek feedback on the students’ perspectives of the technology. There is certainly room for replication of the study done by Shepperd et al. (2008): new technology has become available since this study was conducted (Kindle Fire Holds, 2011; Mantell, 2012), and student perceptions may have changed as well.
The pilot program was deemed a success; it demonstrated that the students liked using the eTextbook and would like to have the option to use an eTextbook in other classes, and it showed that using the eTextbook and iPad did not nega-tively impact students’ course grades. As a result of this pilot program, the Morrisville State College bookstore now alerts faculty when eTextbooks are available for their courses, and if a faculty member agrees to allow students to use an eTextbook, the bookstore makes it available for the students to purchase. Many of these eTextbooks are available for use on a variety of eReader devices, so the bookstore will offer a tablet device and possibly other eReader devices for students to purchase. MAC is also investigating a business model which would allow it to sell an eReader device in combination with students’ eTextbooks as a complete eTextbook delivery solution. The students’ preference for the eTextbook and desire to have eTextbooks available in other courses, along with the proliferation of mobile devices at the college, indicates that mobile devices are here to stay. In this context, it makes sense to embrace the eTextbook and eReader as the next phase in the integration of technology into the classroom.
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