How Students Choose E‐learning Resources ‐ The Importance of Convenience and Familiarity

Abstract

Electronic learning technologies are popular with today's generation of students. However, how they choose their favored resources from the plethora of available e‐learning tools has not been investigated in much detail and therefore is not sufficiently understood. A popular electronic self‐assessment resource was offered in three different formats to students participating in two histology courses at the University of Michigan (an introductory histology summer course for first year dental students and a full‐term histology course for graduate and undergraduate students). The SecondLook™ Histology review tool was available to them in the form of PowerPoint files, as an interactive website, and as a mobile smartphone and computer tablet app. Identical in content, each format had its specific advantages and disadvantages, specifically the types of compatible devices and access limitations. After the conclusion of both courses, students were surveyed about their format choices and reasons for selecting their favorite format, as well as usage patterns. The overall survey participation rate for both courses was 91.8%. Only one out of 156 participating students reported not having used the SecondLook™ resource. The majority of students (over 54%) tried only one resource format, with PowerPoint being the most popular final choice (58%). Although the interactive website and mobile app offered several user‐friendly features not available with the PowerPoint files, they each only garnered around 20% final popularity. Ease of access and familiarity with the PowerPoint software were given most often as reasons for students' choice of resource format. The availability of and preference for specific devices (laptops, smartphones and computer tablets) and the flexibility of time and place to use the resource were also named as factors in the final format selection. The availability of mobile learning resources encouraged some students to use the tool in environments with many distractions which may interfere with learning (commuting, gym etc.). It also encouraged some students to forgo other learning opportunities, specifically textbooks, the course website, and other supplementary learning resources. In conclusion, my results suggest that today's students are less motivated to actively seek out novel learning resources and formats than commonly believed and instead often select familiar and convenient approaches and study tools.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.