Abstract
The faculty in a biology department at a four-year public comprehensive university adopted e-texts for all 100 and 200 level biology courses with the primary motivation of reducing textbook costs to students. This study examines the students’ perceptions of the e-texts adopted for these 100 and 200 level biology courses. An online questionnaire was developed and administered in multiple sections of six 100 and 200 level biology courses during the spring and fall semesters of 2014 to measure student perceptions of the e-texts used in these courses. Results suggest a bimodal distribution among our sample (N = 2,152) of student participants. However, there are statistically significant and noteworthy exceptions to this general pattern. Black students reported a significantly higher satisfaction with e-texts compared to white students, and students repeating one of these courses reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with the e-text compared to students taking the for the first time. Additionally, students with lower grade point averages (GPAs) preferred the e-text significantly more compared to those with higher GPAs. Further analyses reveal that the majority of student participants perceived the use of value-added technologies, such as e-homework, favorably.
Highlights
Removing barriers to student success is a goal of most educators
Out of 3,462 students enrolled in these six courses during the calendar year of the study (2014), 2,152 participants completed the online survey instrument, for a participation rate of 62%.The online instrument contained a variety of questions measuring student perceptions of the e‐text and e‐learning materials as well as demographic characteristics and self‐ reported academic achievement measures
Chi‐Sq.= 57.9 p
Summary
Removing barriers to student success is a goal of most educators The role of the e‐text is changing in the college classroom and past student perception data may not adequately reflect the deeper benefits of using these technologies E‐texts have expanded to include the written narrative and explanation but a cadre of adaptive learning tools, animations, simulations, measures of metacognition, and formative assessments (Gurung & Daniel, 2005; Rhodes & Rozell, 2015). These interactive tools (e‐materials) have become a part of the e‐text experience and may be discipline specific. The student perception of e‐text juxtaposed against their perception of these learning tools
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