Abstract
We report on the incorporation of e‐book readers into the delivery of two distance‐taught master’s programmes in Occupational Psychology (OP) and one in Education at the University of Leicester, UK. The programmes attract work‐based practitioners in OP and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, respectively. Challenges in curriculum delivery included the need for more flexibility in the curricula, better access to essential readings and maximising the benefit of learners’ limited study time. As part of a suite of pilot changes to curriculum design and delivery, 28 Sony PRS‐505™ e‐book readers were pre‐loaded with course materials and sent out to students. The evidence suggests that the students’ learning experiences improved as a result of four key benefits afforded by the e‐book readers: enhanced flexibility in curriculum delivery to accommodate the mobile lifestyle of our learners, improved efficiency in the use of study time, especially short breaks during the working day, new strategies for reading course materials and cost. We discuss the opportunities and limitations associated with the e‐book readers used and the challenges encountered in the study.10.1080/09687769.2010.548506
Highlights
This paper reports a study of the incorporation of e-book readers into the curriculum delivery of two distance-taught master’s programmes in Occupational Psychology (OP) and one in Education at the University of Leicester, UK
Research methodology Research questions The central research question aimed to establish the impact of the incorporation of ebook readers on work-based learners’ experiences: how does the incorporation of the e-book reader into curriculum delivery affect the experiences of the work-based distance learners on these three master’s programmes? It was approached through three sub-questions: (1) What does the e-book reader offer in terms of flexibility and opportunities for mobility when work-based learners need access to course materials?
Capacity to accommodate many readings and a user-friendly interface were considered key advantages. These findings suggest that the functionalities and portability of the e-book reader made the curricula more flexible, which catered for the mobility challenge faced by work-based distance learners
Summary
This paper reports a study of the incorporation of e-book readers into the curriculum delivery of two distance-taught master’s programmes in Occupational Psychology (OP) and one in Education at the University of Leicester, UK. An e-book reader is an electronic device designed primarily for reading digital files such as electronic books (e-books) It is smaller, lighter and cheaper than a small laptop computer or netbook and uses black-and-white e-ink technology, as opposed to an LCD or backlit screen. To provide cost-effective work-based learning solutions, higher education institutions need a more flexible approach (Gallacher and Reeve 2002) and more innovation in using new technologies in delivery (Brennan 2005). This will enable students to have greater control over when and where their learning takes place and build their learning around other work and life commitments (Fagerberg and Rekkedal 2004)
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