Printed textbooks versus E-text: Comparing the old school convention with new school innovation Matty Haith & Rich Rogers III This paper was completed and submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master Teacher Program, a 2-year professional development program conducted by the Center for Faculty Excellence, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY 2015 Abstract Teachers often face the difficult decision of choosing which textbook to use for their course. A teacher may review several titles and authors, trying to determine which one is most relevant to course material or easiest for students to read and understand. The introduction of electronic texts has made this decision even more challenging. Now the teacher must decide whether to advise students to buy a printed version of a book or purchase the digital version. It is a decision faced not just by teachers, but also students who often have the option of both forms of media. Market sales indicate that e-reader devices are on the rise. Many of the e- reader devices come with amenities such as wireless internet connection, electronic note taking applications, and the ability to play media. With the advent of e-text, it is relevant to analyze whether these features enhance learning, or if are merely distracters. Many students and teachers alike have a bias towards one format or the other. Certainly learning and comprehension depends on personal preference and habits, but on the whole, does one format outperform another? The research in this paper examines the version of the text purchased by students enrolled in EV450 Environmental Engineering for Community Development at the United States Military Academy. Instructors in the course encouraged students to obtain either format, electronic or printed version. At the end of the course, the students were asked to take a survey in which they answered questions pertaining to which version of the text they owned and what features they liked and did not like about it. Based on students responses to the survey, we compared performance and version of the text the student used. Overall, we found most students preferred hard copy textbooks and that those students possessing the hard copy outperformed students with the e-textbook (p-value = 0.005). Although these students generally performed better, when reevaluating our t-test to determine how much better, the results concluded that the students with the printed text did not score significantly higher above the other population in terms of a letter grade. Instead of version of the text, student performance was more strongly linked to the ownership of the textbook; students that owned the textbook (either e-text or printed copy) outperformed those that rented or borrowed the text by 4% in their course average (p-value = 0.12).
Background The market for e-readers is growing. The price for the devices has decreased and their popularity has increased (Figure 1). Figure 1: E-reader market and drivers of growth (Lardinoise, 2009) Exclusive electronic reading of textbooks has been slow to catch on over the past several years. In one study of an introductory economics class with a custom, professor-written online textbook, the proportion of students choosing to read the text exclusively from a computer ranged from 20 31%, without a clear increasing trend. Accounting for mixed use, where students both printed the text and read from the computer, does reveal a downward trend for those students who chose only to print the text (from approximately 60 40%, Miller, Eveleth, 2010). Several explanations could be offered for the limited pace of adoption. Adult readers were trained to read using paper books (Carlson, 2005). They may find reading from a screen a source of strain to their eyes, neck, and back (Crawford, 2006), or an inconvenience if they must move to a computer in order to do it. From an economical standpoint, physical textbooks can be passed along to other students in ways that are prevented by publishers of online books (unless students go to the trouble of printing the e- text, Carlson, 2005). The lack of sharing or reselling options may lower the perceived value of
online versions. From the perspective of the teacher, an extended power outage could prevent entire classes from reading their electronic texts and force instructors to adjust their syllabi. Open book exams using electronic devices increase the possibility of students cheating by accessing unauthorized content. The traditional book is, itself, a technological improvement over the scroll. Similar to the modern book, the codex was a set of pages, hand-written on both sides, stitched to a cover along one side of the pages. The codex, which allowed access to random pages along with sequential access, replaced the scroll during the first through sixth centuries due to its convenience (Roberts, Skeat, 1987). Reading from a computer screen or handheld device has properties of both methods of writing. To the extent that readers navigate solely by means of the scroll bar, they face the limitations of sequential access; those users that employ bookmarks to jump directly to their destination in the text enjoy the benefits of random access. Of course, the content search functionality of many electronic readers enables students to locate material they may have never seen in the document, provided they can pose appropriate search queries. Comparing modern e-documents with scrolls and codices suggests that increased facility in navigating text using electronic readers may increase convenience for students. There are trends that indicate that the e-book format may overcome some, if not all, of the limitations discussed above. Smart phones and tablet computers have become almost extensions of college students bodies. Manufacturers vie with each other to produce models that are easier to view, lighter, operate for longer periods on battery power, and integrate themselves into the lives of their owners. Young readers may feel comfortable using these devices to study since they have been exposed to them early in life. Additionally, they have ample motivation to try alternatives to textbooks, which have been rising in price. According to the Government Accountability Office, college textbook prices rose 82% from 2002 2012 (2013), while tuition and fees rose 89% during the same period. By comparison, overall consumer prices rose 28%. The price surge may be an opportunity for innovative methods of course content delivery that increase the electronic portion of the textbook market. For the foreseeable future, it is likely that different learning styles will cause different students to prefer various combinations of traditional and electronic textbooks, all of which will have a place in the classroom. The challenge to instructors will be to integrate them effectively. Methodology The present study involved a senior-level course of 183 students at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, and was about environmental engineering in the developing world. It was announced to students at the outset of the course that the textbook was available
as both a printed book and an electronic edition, and that either would suffice for class purposes, including for use during open-book exams. USMA cadets were issued ipads, which many of them carry to every class meeting. As a result, many students who chose to use the electronic version of the text used their ipad to access it. A survey was developed to discern student preferences and the reasons behind them, and to determine if any association existed between the type of textbook used and the performance in the course. Additional questions investigated how often cadets would print electronic readings that supplemented the course text, whether they took notes in their book or device, and if students who rented the textbook performed differently than those who purchased it. The course utilizes questions delivered prior to class meetings using Blackboard to encourage students to prepare for discussion. The survey results, which follow, will consider the average performance of each of the sample populations, because the Blackboard questions cover concepts that come directly from the assigned reading. By contrast, projects and in-class examinations incorporate material discussed in class as well as that found in the reading assignments. Further, cadets had two opportunities over several days to answer these questions, unlike the single opportunity under time-pressure, as in an exam. The survey was made available within the last few weeks of the semester. Taking the survey was voluntary, but with the incentive that its completion would grant full credit on one of the Blackboard lesson preparation assignments. For example, a student who had skipped one of those assignments but completed the survey would get credit for the missed assignment, which in this case would represent a 1% increase in overall course grade. The instructors did not feel that this represented a penalty for students who chose not to participate, because other opportunities existed to improve the lesson preparation score. The survey was not anonymous, in order that textbook preference could be compared to performance in the course. Results The results show that students who used the printed version of the textbook had higher course averages than students that used the e-text version (Table 1). A two-variable t-test comparing course averages and the two versions of the text book resulted in extremely significant correlation that students with printed textbooks had higher course averages than students with the e-text version (p-value = 0.005). Students with the printed version also outperformed students with e-texts on required lesson preparation questions that were completed prior to class through the online site, Blackboard (Table 1). Students with the printed version were more likely to read in preparation for the lesson (Table 2) and take notes in their textbook (Table 3). In addition to the textbook, the course also utilizes supplemental readings that were posted to the course Blackboard page in electronic.pdf format. Not surprisingly, the students that possessed printed textbooks were more likely to print off versions of the supplemental
readings. However, after manipulating the t-test to determine how much better students with the printed version performed over those without the e-text, we determined that it was not significantly higher (p-value > 0.3). In other words, students with the printed text may have a higher percentage on average, students with both versions are still very likely to end the course with the same letter grade. Table 1: Student performance and version of the text Category Number of Students % of students Avg in Course Std Dev of Course Avg Lesson Prep Average LSN Prep Std Dev Students w/ hard copy Text Books 131 77.1% 82.9% 6.9% 81.3% 18.4% Students w/ e-text 39 22.9% 79.9% 6.1% 75.0% 19.0% Table 2: Student response to the amount of course material they read What percent of the assigned lesson readings did you read? [0, 25, 50 100%] Mode average Std Dev Students w/ printed texts 50% 41.6% 23.6% Students w/ e-text 25% 36.5% 20.3% Table 3: Student responses to printing off supplemental readings and taking notes in their version of the book Do you print off the lesson readings posted to blackboard? For the assigned reading and during class, do you take notes in your version of the book? Category Value assigned to response Value assigned to response 3 2 1 0 3 2 1 0 More Avg Avg (0-3) More often (0-3) Always Rarely Never Always often Rarely Never than than not not Printed 0.76% 7.6% 31.3% 60.3% 0.49 3.8% 24.4% 42.0% 29.8% 1.02 e-text 0.00% 5.1% 23.1% 71.8% 0.33 5.1% 15.4% 28.2% 51.3% 0.74
In addition to comparing versions of textbook with student performance in the course, we also asked students which attributes they liked about their version of text (Table 4). For the printed version, the most common response from students was they found it easier to read and reference a tangible book as opposed to a digital version. Students also claimed printed versions were easier to search and take notes in. A few of the respondents replied that they preferred printed versions because the battery can die on e-readers, or programs on the e- reader may not open. Table 4: Responses of why students preferred their printed version Printed % of Reason Version response Easier to read 20 30.3% Easier to search 16 24.2% Easier to take notes 15 22.7% Easier to tab 11 16.7% No technological issues associated with e-readers 4 6.1% Total responses 66 For students who opted for the e-text version, we asked them what features they enjoyed about the digital version (Table 5). Although we received fewer responses from students with e- text readers, it was clear that two prominent benefits of the devices are that e-readers are compact and can carry many textbooks. Students also appreciate e-readers capability to easily search for key phrases. Table 5: Responses of why students preferred e-text version Reason E-text % of response Easier to carry 10 45.5% Easier to search 9 40.9% Cheaper 2 9.1% Access to online course material 1 4.5% In our research, we noticed another variable that had a stronger correlation to course average than comparing versions of the text. Students who purchased the book (either digital or printed copy) outperformed students who rented or borrowed the book (Table 6). Using this variable in a two-variable t-test, we found that students who owned the book were not only likely have a higher course average (p-value = 1.1 x 10-5 ), their course average was likely to be as much as 4% higher (p-value = 0.12) than those students who rented the book.
Table 6: Student performance based on renting versus owning Category Students who rent Students who own Number of Students % of students Avg in Course Stedvp LSN Prep Average (Blackboard questions) Stedvp 41 24.1% 78.1% 6.5% 70.1% 21.4% 129 75.9% 83.5% 6.4% 82.9% 16.6% Conclusion The purpose of this research was to better equip teachers to make decisions about versions of texts to employ in their courses. The collected data supports the finding that students with printed versions will outperform students with electronic versions; however, characteristics inherent to the course may have contributed to the success of the students that possessed the printed version. Students are allowed to write in, tab, and use the text on exams. For many, using a printed version was easier to search, tab, and review notes during exams. There are additionally some factors that are indicative of characteristics of the students that may also contribute to the results. For instance, students that purchase the hard copy book may have a physical reminder on their book shelf that they see and carry, reminding them to conduct the lesson readers, versus an e-book that may be buried in a folder on their e-reader. Students that purchased the book tended to purchase the hard copy book. These owners spent more money for their version of the book, indicating that they value the book and material more and are more likely to spend time reading and studying the material than renters. This may be a self-selecting mechanism, which makes it difficult for us to determine causation between higher grades and the version of the book. Many students that had e-text also did well in the course and provided interesting reasons for why they enjoyed their digital version. Although our results revealed that hard copy text users were likely to do better than e-text students, perhaps, as our literary research suggested, the students have been trained after many years of reading and studying printed textbooks. As e- texts and e-readers become more common place, the shift in habit and early education instruction may make e-readers the preferred textbook version. When deciding which version to adopt for their courses, teachers should, perhaps, leave the option up to the student, unless there is compelling evidence that, given the material and structure of the course, one version is better than another.
References College Textbooks: Students Have Greater Access to Information: GAO 13-368. (June 2013). United States Government Accountability Office Carlson, S. (2005, February 11). Online textbooks fail to make the grade. Chronicle of Higher Education, A35 36. Crawford, W. (2006, October). Why aren t ebooks more successful? EContent, 29, 44, cited in Miller, Eveleth, 2010. Lardinois, F. 2009. Report: ereader and ebook market ready for growth. [Web log post] Accessed November 18, 2013. http://readwrite.com/2009/06/01/report_ereader_and_ebook_market_ready_for_growth#fee d=/search?keyword=ebook+market&awesm=~orchjxrwrsefdo. Miller, Jon R; Baker-Eveleth, Lori, (2010, November). Methods of Use Of An Online Economics Textbook. American Journal of Business Education, Volume 3, Number 11, pp. 39 44. Roberts, Colin H., Skeat, T.C, (1987, 10 September). The Birth of the Codex. Oxford University Press, Oxford.