The document discusses a study investigating Estonian students' preferences for print or electronic formats when engaging with academic readings. The study surveyed 1260 students from Estonia's four largest universities. It found that most students strongly prefer print formats over electronic formats. They find it easier to focus, remember information, and review materials in print. While laptops are commonly used, students report that electronic formats provide too many distractions and it is harder to reference materials later. The results suggest Estonian students' preferences are similar to other studies and that universities should continue providing materials in print despite a push for more digital learning.

1. Mai Põldaas,
University of Tartu & Tartu Public Library
@ECIL, October 11, 2016 in Prague

2. The territory of Estonia covers 45,227 km2 and
Estonian population is 1.3 million people
Map is taken from Wikipedia

3.  Politics and urban legends
 Small progressive country with e-
Government solutions and e-
Residency services
 The Tiger’s Leap project in the
1990s and the vision about the
Nordic Tiger for 2018
 ’digital natives learn differently’
 ’young people prefer everything
electronic’
 vs the reality
 a lot of learning material made
available in digital format gets
printed out on paper for learning

4.  to investigate Estonian students’ preferences in their academic
reading formats
 What is the situation in Estonia?
 What are students’ format preferences, when engaging with
academic readings?

5.  part of a multinational research project Academic Reading Format International
Study (ARFIS)
 the same survey instrument was used to get comparative results in LimeSurvey
 16 Likert-style statements about the format influence on students’ reading habits +
a possibility to comment every statement
 the questionnaire was distributed to students in Estonia’s four largest universities:
 University of Tartu (number of students: 13,750),
 Tallinn University (number of students: 9,000),
 Tallinn University of Technology (number of students: 12,000) and
 Estonian University of Life Sciences (number of students: 3,700)
 the data was gathered in February 2016 and 1,260 completed questionnaires were
received
 the data was analysed using descriptive statistics methods in MS Excel and free
comments were analysed qualitatively

6.  Of the 1260 completed
questionnaires received,
 83.49 % (n 1052) were answered by
females and
 16.51 % (n 208) by male respondents
 All study fields are covered:
 48.89 % are from social sciences,
 22.63 % from humanities and
 28.58 % from sciences
Age n % Study
level
n %
-19
63 5.00 First
year
240 19.05
20-24 544 43.17 Second
year
205 16.27
25-29 269 21.35 Third
year
242 19.21
30-34 136 10.79 Fourth
year
76 6.03
35-39 112 8.89 Master
student
380 30.16
40+ 136 10.79 PhD
student
79 6.27
Other 38 3.02
Total 1260 100.00 1260 100.00
Respondents by their age and study level:

7. Statement Strongly
agree
Agree Neither
agree or
disagree
Disagree Strongly
disagree
Total
Q: I prefer to have
all my course
materials in print
format (e.g. book,
course reader,
handouts)
n 289 455 236 215 65 1260
% 22.94 36.11 18.73 17.06 5.16 100.00
Q: I prefer
electronic
textbooks over
print textbooks
n 53 105 213 496 393 1260
% 4.21 8.33 16.90 39.37 31.19 100.00

8.  “too many distractions for
reading electronically”
 “Print is better, because
otherwise computer needs to be
used all the time anyway.”
 “Digital materials are more
difficult to make reference to,if
needed.”
 “for electronic device loaded
battery is needed”

9. Statement Strongly
agree
Agree
Neither
agree or
disagree
Disagree Strongly
disagree
Total
Q: I remember
information from my
course readings best
when I read them
from printed pages
n 471 508 206 58 17 1260
% 37.38 40.32 16.35 4.60 1.35 100.00
Q: It is more
convenient to read
my assigned
readings
electronically than to
read them in print
n 42 131 268 536 283 1260
% 3.33 10.40 21.27 42.54 22.46 100.00
Q: I can focus on the
material better when
I read it in print
n 614 427 139 56 24 1260
% 48.73 33.89 11.03 4.44 1.90 100.00
Q: I am more likely to
review my course
readings (after I've
read them at least
once) when they are
in print
n 241 533 345 109 32 1260
% 19.13 42.30 27.38 8.65 2.54 100.00

10. Statement Strongly
agree
Agree Neither
agree or
disagree
Disagree Strongly
disagree
Total
Q: I usually
highlight and
notate my printed
course readings
n 673 426 73 62 26 1260
% 53.41 33.81 5.79 4.92 2.06 100.00
Q: I usually
highlight and
annotate my
electronic
readings
n 86 310 156 426 282 1260
% 6.83 24.60 12.38 33.81 22.38 100.00

11. Statement Strongly
agree
Agree Neither
agree or
disagree
Disagree Strongly
disagree
Total
Q: I prefer to print
out my course
readings rather
than read them
electronically
n 367 466 198 161 68 1260
% 29.13 36.98 15.71 12.78 5.40 100.00
Q: I like to make
digital copies of
my printed course
materials
n 35 155 207 440 423 1260
% 2.78 12.30 16.43 34.92 33.57 100.00

12.  The most commonly used device for
electronic course readings is a laptop
computer: 93.17 %
 ‘that is the way we’re going to read in
the future anyways,so why resist?’ vs
there is something to deep reading
and deep thinking that is worth
making an effort to preserve
 preference for print format - the
nature of the electronic books, which
are not dynamic enough or
interactive like they could be

13.  Estonian results are similar to other reading preference studies: students prefer to
read in print
 young people do not want everything digital, they want a change from their
constant computer usage
 There is a demand by students to purchase academic literature in print still and
university libraries cannot yet shift from acquiring printed materials to electronic
ones instead
 With a push to move toward digital learning materials should come the knowledge
about learner-friendly textbooks
 The bottleneck of the problem seems to be in e-reading, where the digital
environment does not offer the possibilities and convinience the print does

14.  Any comments, questions?
 Thank you!
 All photos used, are taken by the
presenter