Student Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Digital ...

Student Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Digital Textbooks Mitchell Weisberg Department of Strategy & International Business Sawyer Business School Suffolk University Boston, MA 02108 and Health Informatics and Management School of Health & Environment University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA 01854 Abstract: The purpose of this article is to add to the collective body of knowledge on student behavior and attitudes relative to the adoption of digital textbooks. The article summarizes an ongoing research project that examines past, current and evolving behavior in the classroom related to digital textbooks and school. It includes students, faculty and administrative attitudes behaviors and perceptions. This research was undertaken at the Sawyer Business School of Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. Student attitudes and behavior toward their use of digital textbooks (eTextbooks) in higher education was examined in an ongoing longitudinal study over two years at Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University. Students in the class were divided into six teams. Five of the teams were assigned an eTextbook device and the sixth team was given a paper textbook for use through the semester. The digital technologies examined were: Amazon Kindle, Sony eReader Touch, Apple iPad, enTourage eDGe, CourseSmart. Student attitudes and behaviors were examined pre and post class by survey each semester, and during the semesters through quizzes, journals and classroom discussion. Differential learning was measured between the six teams. Student attitudes and behaviors are becoming more receptive to and accepting of using digital textbooks each year. There was no significant difference in learning between the eTextbook devices teams or between them and the paper textbook team.

Keywords: digital disruption, publishing industry, industry transformation, Apple, iPad, Amazon, Kindle, enTourage eDGe, Sony, eReader, CourseSmart, student learning, eTextbook, digital textbooks, eBook, user adoption, readiness, Weisberg, distribution, longitudinal study, textbook industry, higher education, attitudes, behavior, learning, informatics.

Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 Ph +1 781.894.9202 cell +1 781.249.3750 [email protected] 1

Introduction: As education has become a higher priority for the country there has been a greater focus the quality of learning and on the economics providing learning tools and equipment (textbooks). In the 21st-century there is a clear and emerging desire by all stakeholders to take advantage of rich media and access to information provided by the Internet to provide better education. Concurrently the textbook industry and the broader industries of all print media are being disrupted and transformed by digital technology in the form of e-books and eReaders. The challenges facing each of the major stakeholders in textbook industry transformation are relatively similar, whether they are on the supply side or the demand side the equation. All stakeholders are facing significant disruption in the marketplace that will profoundly affect their economics, operations and business models. Distribution of printed content is a highly integrated system facing business transformation on the supply-side mediated by adoption rates on the demand side. The dynamics and rate of transformation are being both mediated and catalyzed by a series of social, economic and technology forces.

Model of Publishing Industry Transformation and Student Adoption


Students in today's classroom are becoming much more technologically savvy every year. This comfort with technology comes from growing up in an environment where they have encountered, and in fact been bombarded with new technologies at an ever-increasing pace. Digital technology has pervaded every aspect of their lives: how they play, how they socialize, how they communicate, and how they learn. They've grown up with digital devices, and the students are on the cusp of expecting technology to be integrated seamlessly into most experiences of the personal, professional and social aspects of their life. It is a foregone conclusion that they are looking to further integrate technology into their academic life as much as possible. These cultural forces counterbalanced meeting head-on with the traditional academic environment. The academic environment can be characterized as a dynamic tension between tradition and innovation, i.e. balancing enhancing the foundation of existing knowledge, while pushing the frontiers of new knowledge. These forces are relevant both content and the media and academia. In the Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, Department of Strategy and International Business, Boston, MA, a section of the strategic management class students are participating in research and exploring the technology disruption and industry response in the publishing market. They are focusing particularly on the textbook segment of the market which is being significantly disrupted by the advent and influx of electronic readers, tablet-like devices, and digital textbooks. The class, Management Strategy 429 is the capstone course at the Sawyer Business School. The Sawyer Business School focuses on global business education and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Suffolk University is a private, non-sectarian university. Suffolk employs nearly 800 full-time and adjunct faculty members, who instruct approximately 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Mitchell Weisberg teaches this section of the course with a focus on business and industry responses to disruptive technologies.

Overview of Research: The study is a two-year longitudinal study of student attitudes and behaviors towards the use of digital textbooks or eTextbooks in the classroom. It was begun in the fall semester of 2009 academic year. The study population consists of all the members of one section per semester in the management strategy class each semester, beginning in Fall, 2009. All the students are senior undergraduates in business. The core content of the class is much the same as one might find in a class on management strategy in many universities. This is a capstone class of business students, so this class draws upon their experience and knowledge from all previous lessons in their business curriculum. The class follows the traditional pedagogical model of textbook reading, homework assignments and papers, and classroom lecture and discussion. The data is collected in three tiers: student research, observations of student behavior, and learning assessments. The student research was conducted by both myself and the students. Surveys were conducted at the beginning of the semester and the end of each semester on Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 Ph +1 781.894.9202 cell +1 781.249.3750 [email protected] 3

students’ attitudes and behavior. During the semester the students also engaged in research on attitudes behavior their peers, and the literature, and of themselves. This data is collected from student papers, weekly journals, and in anecdotal form from classroom discussions. Attitudes and student actual behavior is measured by the use of textbooks in class assignments, in the classroom, and their purchase behavior of eTextbook devices prior, during or immediately post class. Data on student learning is collected from objective quizzes on readings and assignments, exams, student papers and classroom participation. This article reports preliminary findings from the first semesters of the study; the research is ongoing.

Methodology: The students in this study were randomly divided into teams. Each team was randomly assigned an eReader or textbook device, including one team which was assigned a traditional paper textbook. Students also had a traditional paper textbook as backup to ensure that they were able to accomplish the learning objectives of the course, should the eReader not work out for them. EReaders and tablets were loaned to the students for the duration of the semester-long class. The textbook devices included in this study were: Amazon Kindle, Sony eReader Touch, Apple iPad, enTourage eDGe, CourseSmart, and paper textbook.

Findings: General Findings: Students have become more receptive to digital textbooks in their attitudes towards digital textbooks and their behaviors in their use of them. There has been an observable change in the student attitudes and behaviors during the first two years of the study. When the study was begun the fall semester 2009 eReaders and eTextbook devices were relatively new and unknown to the students. The leading devices at the time were the Kindle and the Sony eReader Touch. The students were relatively unfamiliar with the devices, and the devices themselves offered little more than straightforward reading capabilities. After using the devices for the semester the general attitude of the students in the class was that these eTextbooks or devices were not quite ready for classroom use. It was their general conclusion that the students currently in elementary school would be the ones would be most likely to use eTextbooks; in other words, they felt that students were two generations away from readiness to use eTextbooks. The student consensus was that those students who are currently seniors in high school or middle school would still continue using standard textbooks, and would continue taking notes for classes on paper. There was a significant observable change in consensus of students in the classes of the Spring 2010 and Fall 2010. The students in those classes experienced the initial evolution of the eReader devices which now had basic note taking, highlighting and search capabilities. In the Fall 2010 semester we added iPads and the enTourage eDGes to the set of devices used in the class. The Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 Ph +1 781.894.9202 cell +1 781.249.3750 [email protected] 4

students proved the previous semesters’ students forecast for student readiness to use eTextbooks devices was overly pessimistic; several the students enjoyed the use of eTextbooks and suggested that it was their preferred way to read their textbook felt over a paper textbook. For example, they found value in the ability to use eTextbooks on the train, to read the more easily in bed, and to carry them with them and/or have them available whatever they wanted to study. They also liked the features (e.g. CourseSmart) of being able to access their textbook wherever they were. During the course of the class one student went out and purchased her own device to keep.

Student Readiness and Use is Accelerating

In spring semester 2011 both the students’ technology readiness or awareness and the devices’ capabilities had advanced further. The devices now included more advanced capabilities such as: note taking capability, ability to share notes, ability to highlight and search notes. The students were well aware of digital textbooks and had preferences on which device they wanted. Several of the students already owned digital readers (e.g. Kindles, iPads). Several of the students were also using their phones to read books.


Student Would Choose eTextbook Over Paper Textbook

Detailed Findings:

The textbook devices were new to the students. However they saw the class as an opportunity to explore new technology in a supportive environment while learning the class material. By the end of the semester, over each of the three semesters the students saw the eReaders or tablets to be valuable as either a primary or secondary textbook. Students are used to employing their computers or laptops as research tools. However they do not currently see their laptop or computer as a replacement for the textbook. They do see value in having their textbook available digitally on the computer for research. In the study 71% of the students reported that they would use their computer as a secondary textbook is the textbook were available in digital format. Examples given of the secondary use included researching specific topics for papers or referring back to material when studying for quizzes. The picture is quite different for tablets or eReaders. The students demonstrated a willingness to use the textbook on an eReader as their primary or secondary textbook. Of the students in the class 29% suggested that they would use a tablet device as their primary textbook if it were available, and 54% of the students reported that they would use the tablet eTextbooks as a secondary device, or refer to it as on an as needed basis. The responses for eReaders as textbooks were similar with 26% of the students reporting that they would use eReader as their primary text Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 Ph +1 781.894.9202 cell +1 781.249.3750 [email protected] 6

and 65% reporting that they would use it as a secondary text. Approximately 10% reported that they would not use the device as either primary or secondary textbook.

The students’ behavior was collected on tests, discussion and a survey confirmed that their behavior aligned with and followed their attitudes. 54% of the students read either all or most of the course reading assignments on the eReader device assigned to their team. Another 29% read some or half of the assignments on the eReader textbook device. The number of students who reported that they would not use an eReader device for their textbook even if were available, decreased by over 50% over the duration of the class to less than 10% of the students. Another factor examined in the study is whether there is differential learning between the students using traditional textbooks and the eTextbook reading devices. The data for this assessment was gathered from weekly quizzes given to the students following the reading of the assigned chapters on their devices. In order to account for differences in ability which may occur in the teams, the scores were normalized against a school-wide exam. There was no significant difference in the quiz scores between the different device (or traditional text book) teams. We can conclude that the devices neither improved nor hindered the students’ learning of the course material.

No Differentiation of Learning with Different Textbook Devices Normalized Quiz Scores by Teams

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Devices: Amazon Kindle, Sony eReader Touch, Apple iPad, CourseSmart Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 Ph +1 781.894.9202 cell +1 781.249.3750 [email protected] 7

By making the textbooks available to the students equally with paper textbooks, we removed the question of cost or availability as a determinant of student eTextbooks use. In this environment, 54% of the students reported that they would prefer to use a eTextbook over a traditional textbook if given the choice.

Students Would Use eTexbook as Primary Text

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The research also collected anecdotal information from journals and classroom discussion on factors that led to an increased or decreased attitudes towards use eTextbooks in the classroom. Factors cited for increasing the desirability of the eTextbooks over paper textbooks included opinions that eTextbooks: provide greater convenience and portability are lower cost; less expensive than paper textbook offer a valuable ability to conduct search of the content are appropriate media and desired by the “Y” generation. Factors cited for decreasing the desirability of the eTextbooks over paper textbooks included the opinion that paper textbooks: enable easier concentration the digital readers (i.e. there are less distractions in a paper textbook than on a tablet) provide a greater ability to comprehend the content are personal preference for many students.

In discussions, students consistently focused on the ability or the inability of the devices to increase their learning. They discussed two dimensions on increasing learning: increasing the quality of their learning as demonstrated on quizzes or tests, and increasing the efficiency of their Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 Ph +1 781.894.9202 cell +1 781.249.3750 [email protected] 8

learning by decreasing the amount of time and effort to accomplish the course tasks (e.g. research papers and classroom preparation). In these discussions, and as further demonstrated by the data gathered from student quizzes, there was no increase or decrease in the students’ quality of learning through the use of digital versus traditional paper textbooks. However the students were pleased with the increased efficiency that the digital textbooks provided them.

Students Were Willing to Use eTextbooks as Assigned

Conclusions: In this ongoing study we examined students’ attitudes and behavior towards the use of eTextbooks relative to traditional paper textbooks. We also examined the potential impact of eTextbooks on students learning. Over the past several semesters we've seen an increase in, and an acceleration of the students’ willingness to use eTextbooks. This increase has also been demonstrated in their actual use of digital textbooks in the classroom when the devices are made available. The major factors observed in this study that are driving student acceptance of the digital textbooks in the classroom are economics (i.e. cost) and students perceived impact of the devices on their learning. One last major driving force of the use of digital textbooks in the classroom is whether they are assigned a recommended by the instructor. The researcher also demonstrated that there is no impact on the students’ learning through the use of digital textbooks versus traditional textbooks; there is neither increased nor decreased learning of the course content. Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 Ph +1 781.894.9202 cell +1 781.249.3750 [email protected] 9

Areas for Further Study: Over the next year the study will continue to track students’ attitudes and behaviors towards the use of digital textbooks in the college classroom. Areas of further study will include factors that increase or decrease the desire of the students to use the digital textbooks. We will also study factors that may impact the quality of their learning. In addition, the ongoing study will add numbers of students to the longitudinal study to further map the rate and acceptance of change in the classroom. Contact information: Mitchell Weisberg 16 Arrowhead Road, Weston, MA 02493 office: 781-894-9202 cell: 781-249-3750 [email protected]
