Role of Electronic Books in Traditional Learning Process and E- Learning in Higher Education: A Croatian Survey

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1 Role of Electronic Books in Traditional Learning Process and E- Learning in Higher Education: A Croatian Survey NIKOLA VLAHOVIĆ, ANKICA BREKALO Faculty of Economics and Business University of Zagreb Trg J. F. Kennedyja 6 CROATIA nvlahovic@efzg.hr; abrekalo2@efzg.hr Abstract: - The electronic books are receiving increasing attention in the recent years. There is also an increasing number of stakeholders that are supporting e-books as legitimate or even as preferred media of dissemination of written works. The trend of growing popularity of e-books has also been perceived and supported by educationalist both for informal learning but also for formal learning allowing for a new medium of distribution of teaching material. The goal of this paper is to examine if this trend has been accepted by students in formal higher education and what is the potential of introducing the e-book resources as official literature in formal education. For the purpose of this paper an extensive survey was conducted among the students of a major Croatian university. The results have showed possible advantages of the usage of e-books. Also results indicate what the possible weaknesses in introducing the electronic form of books as learning material in formal education are. These results may be used as guidelines in planning future steps in inclusion of e-book resources that may provide additional benefits both for the students but also for other stakeholders such as publishers, authors, educators and scientists etc... Key-Words: - e-books, e-learning, ICT, higher education 1 Introduction The growing interest in e-books is a trend that has been observed in recent years. There is a number of indicators that witness this growing trend from a number of perspectives such as the changes in e- books market revenues, increase of available titles, increase of e-book collections in libraries, but also higher diversification of supply on e-books and related markets such as e-readers, e-technology and e-textbooks. Since e-textbooks are becoming more and more prominent in universities in different regions of the world it may appear that the traditional learning process is becoming transformed and the impact of e-learning practices has created new trends in various aspects of learning, both formal and informal; both at basic levels in primary and secondary education and in higher education and lifelong learning. Questions about the reach of these trends have been put forth: Will the e-book substitute the printed book? Will the e-book become official and obligatory coursework due to its higher cost efficiency for educators and education institutions? In this paper we will try to find possible answers and potentials of the e-textbook as a valid form of learning material in higher education from the students perspective since recent studies show that popularity of e-books is growing primarily amongst both college and university users, and then public library users [3]. The goal of the paper is to examine if the electronic content contained in e-textbooks has enough potential to be accepted by students in traditional formal higher education learning process and what are the advantages or challenges of introducing the e-book resources as official literature in formal education. In order to reveal the attitudes of student population a survey research was conducted among the students of University of Zagreb in Croatia. The results have showed possible advantages of the usage of e-books and indicated what the possible weaknesses in introducing the electronic form of books as learning material in formal education are. They have also confirmed the changes that are evident in traditional learning process evolution fuelled by introduction of e-learning initiatives over the past decade. Structure of the rest of the paper is as follows. In Section 2 background on traditional learning process and e-learning will be given with special respect to properties of learning materials for each. Also e- books will be presented, with the possible benefits, advantages and drawbacks but also potential as e- textbooks in formal education. In Section 3 research ISBN:

2 methodology, data and results of the conducted survey will be presented. In Section 4 discussion of the presented results will be given, outlining guidelines for introduction of e-textbooks in to learning process in higher education and guidelines for governance on encouraging educators, students and publishers in adoption of the e-textbook concept. Finally, in Section 5 conclusions will be given. 2 Background Knowledge sources and learning materials have made the biggest change during the transition from traditional learning processes towards ICT supported teaching and finally e-learning. At first the change pertained primarily on the introduction of new distribution channels, but later new forms of learning materials become available. This initiated changes both in traditional learning process and created new approaches to implementation of e-learning systems. In order to review the evolution of traditional learning process we will first define and describe approaches to learning and next we will take a closer look at electronic books that are recently generating a lot of attention of scholars, but also academia, educators and students for the possibilities they provide for overcoming some of the shortcomings of printed books and other learning material available. 2.1 Traditional learning and E-learning processes Traditional learning process is a process where individuals are only passively involved in the process. For instance, they passively listen to a teacher s lecture, look at the presentation slides, watch video presentations, etc. while memorizing the learning matter from the presented study material, mostly written texts. The acquired knowledge is then faithfully reproduced without any deeper analysis or inference. According to the cone of learning [4] in a fortnight s time after passive learning, individuals tend to remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they heard, 30% of what they saw and 50% of what they simultaneously saw and heard. This combination of knowledge acquisition and reproduction is a typical example of the classical education system that does not fulfil the educational requirements of contemporary societies. Furthermore, this approach to the learning process does not harness the potential of various possibilities made available through the readily available information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet. Active learning arises as a complementary counterpoint to passive learning. An individual that learns directly is an active participant of the learning process. Instead of passive adoption of verbal and visual information, an individual is actively included in the learning process by using given information, his or her own knowledge and skills in terms of sharing it with others, engaging in discussions and finally supplementing his or her own experience and cognition. According to the cone of learning [4] in a fortnight s time after active learning, an individual can recall 70% of what he or she talked about or what he or she discussed and 90% of what a person said while simulating the real experience or doing the real thing. E-learning is an umbrella concept which comprises almost anything related to learning in combination with information and communication technology [6]. It represents a collection of teaching and information packages that are available at any time and any place, delivered to learners electronically [5]. The introduction of the e-learning concept is strongly associated with the organisation of the distance learning process. The development from distance learning to e-learning in its present form undergone three different stages: (1) stage before digital era; (2) digital era of the Internet and World Wide Web; (3) Web 2.0 stage and E-learning 2.0. In the first stage distance learning was carried out throigh correspondence learning limited only to remote locations using traditional communication channels such as mail, telephone, telex or analogue technologies (radio teaching, radio-television teaching). Even though this technology introduced additional benefits for overall learning process, learning still remained passive in its nature, limited to a particular audience and with limited communication possibilities. More radical advancement of the learning process was introduced with the appearance of the Internet and World Wide as a new medium of distribution of course materials. In addition to printed books available for purchase or for lease from libraries or teaching institutions, some of the content become available in digital form. Learning process started to change not only for distance learning but also for traditional learning process. Additional teaching and learning resources become available in basic digital form, later on even stored in databases. In the third stage and the appearance of true e- learning systems new possibilities were given: ISBN:

3 availability of a variety of learning materials in variety of presentation types, learning at one s own convenience in terms of time and place of learning, unlimited possibility of repetitive learning (re-learning). Learning process is enriched with simplified, user-friendly communication possibilities, sharing of information and opinions among students and teachers through , chat, instant messaging, file sharing, etc... The high diversity of learning material in digital form may raise the issue of information relevance and standardization of format of key information. This is where e-books may hold the potential of becoming common denominator for a variety of learning materials in form of e-textbooks. 2.2 E-books and their advantage as learning resource Various attempts to define e-books usually pertaining to one of four key aspects such as media, content/file format, device and delivery [2]. The definition of e-book as a digital version of a book is mainly abandoned since there is a number of e- books that do not have their printed [8] counterparts. E-book can be defined as a digital object with text and/or other content, which arises as a result of integrating the familiar concept of book with features that can be provided in an electronic environment (Vasileiou & Rowley, 2008, [from 7]). Some of the most important advantages of e-books are (1) their availability around the clock, (2) easy navigation, (3) diversification of content selection, easier search through content, and so on [9, 10]. Some of the disadvantages that e-books may have such as the requirement to use computers, use Internet connection, strain on the eyes of readers and similar features may present limitations of e- books. Dedicated portable devices for reading this type of content may remove these limitations. Portability of e-book reader devices, user friendliness and convenience of use anywhere at any time provide e-books with additional advantages. This is one of the reasons recent studies show that e- textbooks are being used extensively in some academic and learning institutions [11]. Some studies of e-textbook use have showed that e-textbooks are becoming popular even due to their lower cost than printed editions of books which make obtaining course material more cost efficient for academic libraries, promoting acceptance of e- textbooks of their students [12]. On the other hand some studies have shown that students simply do not prefer e-books [13]. However, there is indication that in long term a positive trend of e-textbook acceptance is present [14]. In order to determine current trend and acceptance of e-textbooks by their main users the students a survey was conducted at the University of Zagreb in Croatia in order to determine if there is acceptable level of incentive to promote e-books as obligatory course material. 3 Investigating Role of Electronic Books in Higher Education: A Research Methodology The survey was conducted among the students of undergraduate and graduate studies at main constituates of the University of Zagreb. Survey included 328 students primarily from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Faculty of Electronical Engineering and Computing, Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies and Faculty of Law. The most of respondents are aged between 18 and 27 years (97%) and only 3% are older. 32 % of them are male while 68% are female. Structure of respondents in terms of undergraduate and graduate studies is shown in Fig. 1. where 40% of students are graduate students (of the fifth year of study and for some courses fourth year of study) while 60% of students take undergraduate courses (first through third and for some courses the fourth year of study). These demographics approximate the overall student demographics of the University of Zagreb. Figure 1. Structure of surveyed students by year of study Survey consisted of three different groups of questions. First part of the survey was concerned with the habits in Internet usage. Second part of the survey was concerned with the students inclination towards electronic books. Third part was concerned with the issues in e-learning and final part of the survey that examined most important indicators and attitudes towards using e-books as course materials in from of e-textbooks and e-manuals. ISBN:

4 For the first part the research has shown that over 96% of student population uses Internet. Majority of them access the Internet from their homes (94%) and most of them access the Internet on the daily basis. More than 56% of students spend more than three hours online on daily basis while 38% of students spend one to three hours online which makes more than 94% of student population access the Internet for more than one hour every day. This can be explained by the fact that even though most of the students use personal computers to access the Internet (94%) there is a growing part of the population that is starting to use the Internet through mobile devices such as mobile phones (over 4%). In comparison to previous research conducted in 2009 there is a pronounced positive trend in the amount of time students spend online [1]. Even more encouraging is the fact that when asked about the most important purpose of using the Internet more than 18% of students responded that the main purpose of the Internet is the educational purpose along with personal communication (49%) and entertainment (38%). In accordance to this most of the time they spend online is dedicated to educational purposes as a learning tool for finding information and additional learning material (Fig. 3). Figure 3. The most frequent activities students use Internet for For the second part of the study students do not show much interest in electronic books which is expected. Only 10% of students use the Internet to buy e-books. Reading of e-books is also not popular among the population as 15% of respondents read e- books only on daily basis, 10% at least once a month, and only 11% of students have contact with e-books on weekly or daily basis. This is also a good reason why students do not use e-book devices and additional explanation is that they find screen resolution unsatisfactory (34%), high prices of devices available on the market (31%) and short longevity of battery (18%) in comparison to other portable devices. When asked if they would prefer e-books to printed books for learning purposes only 14% of students opted for e-books. These results show that the awareness of the digital alternative to printed editions is not very well known and the students have not yet developed habits neither in using e-books in general nor for learning purposes. However they seem to be well informed about the term e-books and the possible formats and software required for reading this type of material. Over 88% of respondents understand that the e-books is a term denoting digital form of written material and most of the respondents are familiar with the Adobe reader for reading Portable Document Formats as main tool for reading e-books. Students also say that they would be inclined to using e-books due to much better browsing and searching through digital content than in printed books (70%), their improved portability (11%) and ability to copy most important information more easily (4%) than in printed form of books. For the third part of the survey students were asked about the possibility of using e-textbooks and e-manuals as obligatory course materials for their university courses. First, their attitudes towards teaching methods and their support of ICT were examined. 78% of students find the current predominant practice of organizing teaching as excathedra teaching supported by ICT as most effective while only 5% of students find on-line courses as most appropriate method of teaching. Still there is 15% of respondents that prefer traditional teaching methods, so more than half of respondents find it that on-line teaching will not overtake traditional face-to-face teaching methods (54%). This means that online teaching is perceived as a parallel or additional method of teaching that can supplement current teaching practices successfully. Finally, potential of implementing e- learning in Croatia was examined. Over 63% of students welcome the idea of implementing e- learning in Croatia and perceive some of the benefits from current implementations. Additional 26% of students find current e-learning capabilities unsatisfactory but except that refinement will follow in near future. In comparison to previous research we can see a slight increase in student acceptance and readiness for embracing e-learning initiatives [1]. Finally, the expectations of students from wider incorporation of e-learning in higher education are shown in Fig. 2. As we can see in Fig. 2 41% of students believe that including e-learning as obligatory part of formal education will modernize overall university education system, and 37% of students find it as an useful new source of learning materials that may increase learning material availability. ISBN:

5 Figure 2. Student expectations from e-learning Then students were asked about their prior experience with e-textbooks and their future willingness to use e-textbooks for their learning. Only 14% of students currently prefer having course materials in a form of electronic book and yet 28% of them have used e-textbook or e-manual during their course preparation. Majority of students (59%) do not believe that e-textbooks will replace printed textbooks but 70% of them are inclined to use e- books in the future because it offers better possibilities of search, and provides better portability (11%) than the printed book. Finally students answered what are their thoughts on introducing e-textbooks as obligatory course materials and possible weaknesses that may affect this initiative. The main concern for students seems to be the need to spend even more time using computers and other electronic devices (77%). Other weaknesses are not as pronounced since information reliability and obsoleteness of printed books are perceived as weaknesses by less than 6% each of all the respondents. Respondents were also asked to point out reasons why the use of e- textbooks has not been successful so far: 40% of students believe that there is limited awareness of e- book and software availability, 24% of students feel that they are overly accustomed to printed books, 23% the cost of e-books and portable devices is a limiting factor while 7% of respondents feel that there is a lack of information about availability of e- textbooks and their advantages over printed textbooks. 4 Discussion The purpose of the described research was to determine students attitudes towards e-learning initiatives in formal higher education and especially the potentials of incorporating e-textbooks as obligatory course literature. From the presented results of the survey we may conclude that current student population accepted the Internet as integral part of their studies and day to day lives. This is the main perquisite that is required in order to consider introduction of any type of e-learning initiatives that would be made obligatory in formal education, particularly the introduction of e-books in this sense. Internet accessibility is at high maturity level denoted by lower cost, better coverage and adequate bandwidth nationwide. In turn, over the past 3 years we see an increase in the number of students that access Internet and amount of time both current and new users spend online, in comparison to the research conducted in This is a good basis and incentive for formalizing novel aspects in formal learning such as e-learning. The readiness of students for these incentives should be seen in establishing parallel or additional method of teaching since most of students find excathedra teaching supported by ICT most appropriate. Students are not inclined to substitution of current teaching practices by online courses but are welcoming the idea of using new ways of supporting current teaching approaches by technology and digital content. This may even further develop the student awareness of e-books and encourage them to become more regular e-book readers then they currently are. The task of motivating students to use e-books as a source of learning material is further facilitated by the fact that currently students spend most of their online time for learning purposes and the fact that they generally have a clear understanding of the e-book concepts. This provides an opportunity both for publishers, authors, scientists, educators and students themselves that should be better explored in the future. Limited experience with e-textbooks is also present in the results of the survey as 28% of students have used e-textbooks so far. Expanding the number of students that use e-textbooks should therefore take into consideration previous experiences, both positive and negative. The most important strengths of e-textbooks are the increased portability and better search of the content within the e-textbook in comparison to their printed counterparts. The main concern and weakness of e-textbooks as perceived by students are the requirement to spend even more time online, or using a computer, but also limited availability of titles, working habits that are better matched to printed books (underlining, highlighting, bookmarking, etc ). Costs connected with acquisition of e-textbooks and portable devices for their easier use are also a valid point of concern. Establishing e-libraries or e- departments in current academic libraries would be beneficial both for students since they would be able ISBN:

6 to borrow content and use their current portable devices and thus minimize cost of purchasing their own e-textbooks. On the other hand libraries would reduce their costs of title acquisition since the cost of printed titles is by far higher than of their digital counterparts. Publishers should also take special care with digital rights management in order to promote anti-circumvention of content and author copyrights using digital rights management (DRM). It is important to develop even more advanced portable devices that would allow for better userexperience that is more similar to using printed books as this would additionally motivate students to use e-books. The results also show that some of the possible additional arguments for introduction to e-textbooks may be the effect on the environment as 82% of students believe that e-books are more ecologically acceptable than printed books. 5 Conclusions In this paper main features of electronic books were examined in order to establish whether this type of content is appropriate as obligatory course material for higher education purposes in contemporary learning processes. A number of stakeholders that are connected with development of e-book technologies, e-book content and e-book markets are taken into account. Since e-books have not yet been generally accepted as printed editions but growing trends can be detected in recent studies, a survey was conducted focusing on students in higher education studies. The goal of the study was to determine what the attitudes of students towards e-books and more specifically towards using e- textbooks as their primary course material is. The results have shown that majority of students have high penetration to Internet services and clear understanding of the e-book concepts but they are still not prepared to accept e-books as primary learning material. Some of the most important limitations are the insufficient availability of course material, lack of awareness and information on practical aspects of using e-textbooks and high perceived cost of e-reader devices. In order to promote e-textbooks more information should be offered to students, as well as the availability of e- books through academic libraries. Additional features for more user-friendly use of portable devices that will make the user experience more similar to the use of printed textbooks is also identified as one of key features for accepting this type of course literature. Even with these weaknesses and reluctance in adopting e-textbooks students welcome initiative of introducing e-books as a valid form of modernizing the university and increasing the availability of learning material as means of enhancing the convenience of their learning. References: [1] Pozgaj, Z.; Vlahovic, N. Students readiness for informal learning using Web 2.0 services, International Journal of Knowledge and Learning. Vol. 7, No. 1/2, 2011, pp [2] Vassiliou, M.; Rowley, J. Progressing the definition of e-book, Library Hi Tech, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2008, pp [3] Kumbhara R. E-books: review of research and writing during 2010, The Electronic Library, Vol. 30, No. 6, 2012, pp [4] McKeachie, W.J. Teaching tips: Strategies, research and theory for college and university teachers. Houghton-Mifflin.Dichtanz, [5] Chung Q. B.: Sage on the Stage in the Digital Age: The Role of Online Lecture in Distance learning, The Electronic Journal of e-learning, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 1-14, [6] Vasileiou, M.; Hartley, R; Rowley, J. An overview of e-book marketplace, Online Information Review, Vol. 33, No. 1., Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2009, pp [7] Tedd, L. E-books in academic libraries: an international overview. New Review of Academic Librarianship, Vol. 11, No. 1., 2005, pp [8] Letchumanana, M.; Tarmizib, R. A. Utilization of e-book among university mathematics students. Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences, Vol. 8., 2010, pp [9] Lenart, M.; Masse, C. The digital book: selections and use. Documentaliste-Sciences de l Information, Vol. 5., No. 1, 2010, pop [10] Nicholas, D.; Rowlands, I.; Jamali, H. R. E- textbooks use, information seeking behaviour and its impact: case study business and management. Journal of Information Science, Vol. 36. No. 2., 2010, pp [11] Bucknell, T. ALA 2010 conference: hot spots, hot topics. Information Today, Vol. 27, No. 8, 2010, pp. 28. [12] Woody, W. D.; Banier, D. B.; Baker, C. A. E- books or textbooks: students prefer textbooks. Computers & Education, Vol. 55, 2010, pp [13] Gernsing-Pophal, L. Are textbooks obsolete? An education in the impact of electronic textbooks. EContent, Vol. 33. No. 3, 2010, pp ISBN: