The document discusses the rise of eBooks and electronic textbooks in education. While eBook reading for pleasure has increased overall reading, students have been slower to embrace e-textbooks due to issues like increased reading time and distractions. However, studies have found little difference in learning outcomes between print and electronic texts. E-textbooks provide opportunities like embedded media and personalized learning, but students need guidance to take advantage of interactive features and read effectively online. Overall, no single format benefits all learners, so educators should recognize students' varied needs in this changing reading environment.

1. eBooks and Student Learning
By:
Roberta Richards
, PCC Faculty Librarian
December 13, 2012
The tide of e-ink is rising. E-readers,
tablets and other mobile devices have
become constant student companions.
eBooks are now the hottest sellers at
Amazon and other book distributors.
Textbook and academic book publishers
are likewise making a dramatic shift
towards electronic publishing. Electronic
textbooks are garnering mixed reviews
from students, but the momentum towards
e-reading is unwavering, and the eventual
dominance of electronic course materials feels inevitable. Some college
classes now require students to buy electronic textbooks as part of
contract deals with publishers that bring students (somewhat) lower
prices. Between the staggering costs of print textbooks, and the potential
for enrichment through interactive media, e-reading will inevitably continue
its march into the mainstream of college life. What does all this mean for
student learning?
Pleasure eBook reading
E-reading falls into several categories. Pleasure reading is the largest
segment of eBook reading, and the rise of recreational reading of eBooks
is almost entirely good news for educators. Research and anecdotal
evidence have shown that e-reading leads to more reading (Haq). Part of
this is a result of the marketing by book distributors to promote hot new
titles. Another part is the ease of access to multiple books – put that seven
ounce device in your bag, and you always have a library at your fingertips,
on the bus, at the coffee shop, and everywhere else. Best of all, this
increase in reading seems to be true even of reluctant readers, as
repeated experiments in the K-12 environment find that reluctant readers
may actually enjoy reading on a device (Miranda et al). Also, both novice
and veteran readers are more likely to use a dictionary when it is built into
the device. While the effect of eBook sales on brick-and-mortar
bookstores is worrisome, the growth of e-reading for pleasure is overall
something that reading advocates can celebrate.
Academic eBooks
The growth of electronic academic and reference books, the next category
of eBooks, is also great news for educators. Academic libraries including
PCC Library are now able to provide current, high-quality titles for a
fraction of the cost and space that a comparable print collection would

2. require. PCC Library currently provides electronic access to over 80,000
academic and reference books, including titles in the humanities,
sciences, social sciences, medical and technology fields, and the whole
range of academic disciplines. These titles provide 24/7 access for
late-night researchers, and most can be used by multiple simultaneous
users and can be downloaded to a computer, tablet or e-reader. Best of
all, PCC Library is able to offer access to a broad selection of titles outside
the expected range of a community college library collection.
E-textbooks
With electronic textbooks, however, the picture is more murky. The
expectations that digitally-savvy Millennial students would embrace
e-textbooks have been repeatedly confounded. The results of a 2011
study by researchers at the University of California, for example, are
typical. While a majority of students (58%) reported that they use eBooks,
only 34% of undergraduates reported preferring them to prefer print
formats, while 49% reported a clear preference for print books for their
academic work. According to the survey report, “many undergraduate
respondents commented on the difficulty they have learning, retaining,
and concentrating while in front of a computer” (Kelley 15). The gap
between students preferring print over electronic textbooks has been
narrowing over the past few years as technology has improved, but the
complaint that learning from an e-textbook takes more time than from a
print text persists. One bookstore representative reports that students
typically purchase e-textbooks only when print is not available and they
are “desperate” for the material (Rooney).
Students’ lukewarm response to e-textbooks stems in part from the
disappointing fact that cost savings over print have been modest.
Textbook prices are driven more by costs related to the creation of the
content than by the physical printing and distributing of the
books, according to publishers’ reports (Malek), so while e-textbooks are
less expensive than a new print edition, a used print edition may still be a
better bargain. Some campuses have been negotiating deeper savings
for students through bulk pricing contracts in which e-textbooks are the
only option, with publishers guaranteed a certain number of sales. Some
faculty are seeking more dramatic savings for their students by using
textbooks licensed through the Creative Commons. Flat World
Knowledge, for example, is a publisher of open textbooks and
supplemental educational materials for the college market that uses expert
authors and peer-review editing to produce online course materials
available to students for free or at very low costs. The great majority of
e-textbook sales, however, still occur through traditional publishers. One
2012 study found that students who purchased e-textbooks saved on
average only $1 (DeSantis).
E-textbooks and student learning – the challenges
Costs are only one consideration when weighing the education value of
e-textbooks. Educators are asking, how does the brain absorb information
based on the medium in which it is presented? Will interactive media

3. enrich learning in a significant way? How do electronic textbooks affect
student engagement? Again, the answers are murky. Vice-chancellor of
Macquarie University Steve Schwartz contends that eBooks “are the
format of the academic future,” primarily because “embedding audio and
video within text makes the book more interactive” and “users can also
personalize their learning experience” (Rooney). These potential
advantages seem to come with a cost, however, as researchers are
finding that concentration may be more difficult on a computer screen
(Sandberg 92). For example, a study of e-textbooks carried out by James
Madison University psychology instructors tracking eye movement of
students using print or electronic textbooks found far more skimming by
online readers. Readers of web pages tend to pick out a line to read, then
skim down to pick out another link, so they are navigating the page in an E
or F pattern (“E-textbook Effectiveness”). Researchers studying student
use of e-textbooks recommend that electronic reading assignments be
accompanied by some sort of assessment or activity to enforce more
consistent attention to text read on the computer screen.
Surprisingly, students using the electronic textbooks are also less likely to
take advantage of the multimedia links, compared to students reading a
print textbook accompanied by a free website. Students report that they
wanted to complete the required reading and not get lost in their
navigation (“E-textbook Effectiveness”). All online readers know well the
experience of following hyperlinks down a path that that leads one far from
the starting point or intended destination. Interestingly, while students are
reluctant to click away from their primary reading for supplemental
educational material, they may be less likely to resist the allure of
Facebook, chat and other distractions while reading online. Student users
of e-textbooks consistently report in engaging in a higher degree of
multi-tasking (Kelley; “E-textbook Effectiveness”). This may be a primary
reason why students report that learning from an e-textbook takes more
time.
E-textbooks and student learning – the opportunities
On a brighter note, several studies comparing student achievement in
classes divided into students using print or electronic textbooks have
shown the differences to be negligible (Murrey and Perez; Sandberg;
Schugar, Schugar and Penny). While students report that comprehending
information through e-reading takes longer, their test scores show that this
comprehension is occurring. Also, e-textbook use receives higher
satisfaction marks when professors guide students through the effective
use of these resources. In a review of the literature on online reading,
Kate Sandberg from the University of Alaska Anchorage concludes that
electronic textbooks can be used effectively, but students need assistance
to improve their comprehension of text read on a computer.
“[R]esearchers and practitioners need to work together to discover what
are the most effective strategies for reading online… Variations of
prompts, matrix notes, advanced organizers, previews, concept maps, and
questions may be among the more important strategies for reading online”

4. (97). Active reading skills such as highlighting, bookmarking and
annotating are important for comprehension, regardless of format.
E-textbooks typically include these features, and while current college
students may be digital natives, they still need guidance to use these
learning tools effectively.
For educators committed to student learning, this rising tide of e-ink
provides both challenges and opportunities. One challenge is to simply
recognize that no medium is best for all learners, and that some students
will need extra guidance to navigate the challenges of the distractions and
unfamiliar formats that eBooks and e-textbooks present. Another
challenge -- and this is a huge one for libraries -- is to navigate the fraught
landscape of licensing agreements, DRM (digital rights management)
technology, platform incompatibilities, publisher boycotts, and other hoary
realities of electronic reading. But the educational opportunities are rich.
The Reading 90 student who might plow stoically through Henrietta Lacks,
not heeding the instructor’s advice to have a dictionary at hand, might truly
enjoy reading the same book on a Kindle and might actually use the
one-touch dictionary. The political science instructor who would never ask
cash-strapped students to purchase a new work of political commentary
just to read two chapters may be able to assign those chapters to read
online, which students can access at no cost with their PCC ID. For the
present, we have the good fortune in living in a both/and world, with both
print and electronic books readily available. As always, PCC librarians are
eager to work with faculty to explore the new learning opportunities in this
changing reading environment.