E-book Features Research Articles

Ebook Features in Mathematics Education

This article presents a theoretical study of the ebook for teaching mathematics in a mixed environment, which became ubiquitous as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper shows the typical features of ebooks, which reveal the advantages and disadvantages of their use. The main opportunities for their development are presented, such as training techniques and additional support materials to improve the maths lesson. In literature, the ebook in mathematics education is considered in various forms and aspects, with the main advantage being their ability to illustrate dynamic mathematical learning content with the help of ICT, while respecting the principles of multimedia and the requirements for accessibility, ergonomics and visual design.

Awareness, use and attitudes of students towards e-books: differences based on gender, discipline and degree level

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the level of awareness, use and attitudes of students regarding e-books.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a quantitative research design based on the survey method. A structured questionnaire was designed and used for data collection from four different universities of Pakistan. A total of 305 responses were collected from a sample of 400, and 303 of those responses were used for data analysis.FindingsThe results of this study indicated that students were aware of e-books and used them in their daily lives. Most of the respondents had a positive attitude towards e-books and indicated that they considered e-books are easy to find and support them in their assignments. Online features of e-books were important to them. There was a significant difference of opinion found among students of different disciplines regarding the use of e-books.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was limited to four disciplines in four universities, one discipline per university. Therefore, its findings may not be applied to other universities or other disciplines.Practical implicationsThis paper offers a new idea to academic libraries related to purchasing e-books. This study will provide guidelines to information professionals for development of their e-book collection and implementation of innovative approaches in library services or e-books services to facilitate their users according to their need.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on the level of awareness, use and attitudes of university students towards e-books in Pakistan.

Interactive e-book reading vs. paper-based reading: Comparing the effects of different mediums on middle school students’ reading comprehension

This exploratory study compared the effects of two different mediums of reading—interactive e-book reading and paper-based reading—on learners’ reading comprehension. A specific focus was placed on literal vs. inferential comprehension. Thirty Korean middle school English language learners were randomly assigned to an interactive e-book reading (treatment) group or a paper-based reading (control) group. A pre-test and five comprehension tests were administered to both groups over a total of six reading sessions. A survey was also conducted to investigate students’ perceptions of how helpful interactive e-book features were in aiding their reading comprehension. Results from the reading comprehension test scores showed no statistical differences between the groups across the five tests. Analysis of literal and inferential questions also showed no significant difference overall. Findings from the survey data along with researcher observation notes suggest that interactive features that are not designed to aid students’ understanding can distract students from the task of reading which may hinder their comprehension. The overall results of this study suggest that it may not be the medium of reading, but how students engage with each medium that can affect their comprehension of text.

Determinants of the Adoption Academic Electronic Books by University Students in a Developing Country

Higher education institutions worldwide are transitioning to electronic books which have become a standard platform in providing reading materials. This study investigated the determinants of the adoption of academic e-books by university students in Nigeria. Results showed that a majority of students were aware of electronic books but only 44.5% of students used them often. Despite the availability of these resources, more than 50% of students did not use e-books, also surprising was that majority of students discovered e-books from their lecturers. The study further revealed that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions were major determinants in the adoption of e-books by undergraduate students. However, social influence and gender did play a significant role in the intention to adopt electronic books by undergraduate students. This study has practical implications on academic institutions and electronic book publishers in encouraging e-book use and improving e-book features to align with the needs of the millennial students and also providing reliable internet facilities and improving lecturer and institutional support in driving e-book adoption by undergraduate students.

Transitioning to ebooks: Using Interaction Theory as a Lens To Characterize General Chemistry Students’ Use of Course Resources

This 21-item survey administered at the end of first-semester General Chemistry asked students to estimate their average weekly use of course resources and rate how helpful they find various textbook and online homework features of their current textbook. During data collection, the General Chemistry textbook changed from a print version to one that is primarily electronic. A comparison of previous results of a print textbook semester to a semester using an ebook provided insight into how the equivalent features are utilized in different mediums. In the first three semesters’ worth of data analyzed, General Chemistry I students report relying on their textbook for approximately 5 h of studying per week, regardless of textbook medium; when the ebook was adopted, the homework resource was more frequently used. A comparison of equivalent textbook features between formats revealed that the helpfulness ratings of reading outline and animations increased significantly, whereas worked-examples and end-of-chapter questions decreased significantly. In addition to mathemagenic features, ebook features that help students stay on-task or visualize reactions are significantly highly rated.

Reading Practices of EFL Students: A Survey of Kuwaiti College Students

Reading is important for students by contributing significantly to success in their studies and their career development. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in the English Department of the College of Basic Education, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), in Kuwait. Based on 410 responses of EFL college students in Kuwait on their reading practices, it was found that students read mainly for entertainment, and reading does not appear to be a popular activity among students. Fiction, fashion, and best sellers were the three main types of reading, indicating that academic reading was not a priority. Only a small proportion of students used e-books. Most students perceived such features of e-books as their portability and ability to store more information as likely to attract more students to e-reading, and indicated that they would be attracted to reading e-books themselves if circumstances change. This indicates a good potential to promote e-reading among students if steps are taken to make e-books and e-readers available to them through libraries and academic institutions. E-reading is also expected to become more popular among students if it could be linked to academic reading, particularly to the availability of text books in e-format. Libraries in Kuwait should start more proactive program to promote e-books and e-reading among college and university students.

Children's Learning From Interactive eBooks: Simple Irrelevant Features Are Not Necessarily Worse Than Relevant Ones.

The purpose of this study was to investigate experimentally the extent to which children’s novel word learning and story comprehension differs for non-interactive eBooks and interactive eBooks with simple relevant or irrelevant interactive features that advance the narrative. An original story with novel word-object pairs was read to preschoolers (3–5 years old, N = 103) using one of the three eBook formats: non-interactive control, interactive-relevant, interactive-irrelevant. The book formats differed only in the manner in which the story advanced from one page to the next: children observed the experimenter turn the page (non-interactive), children touched a relevant image on the screen (relevant-interactive), or children touched an irrelevant image on the screen (irrelevant-interactive). Novel word learning and story comprehension were assessed with post-tests in which children picked target objects from an array and sorted story events into their original sequence, respectively. Findings indicate that word learning and story comprehension were similar across all three books, suggesting that simple interactive features – whether relevant or irrelevant to the story – had little impact on preschoolers’ learning in this controlled experiment. Thus, simple interactivity that does not disrupt the story also does not hinder ongoing story comprehension.

Assessing the User Experience of E-Books in Academic Libraries

We report findings from an assessment of e-book user experience (search and information seeking) from usage data and user tests. The usage data showed that most reading sessions were brief and focused on certain pages, suggesting that users mainly use e-books to find specific information. The user tests found that participants tended to use default keyword search and browse the search results. Experience levels with e-books and features of e-book platforms influenced users’ information seeking in e-books. The assessment results have significant implications for designing e-book features to support users’ reading strategies and help libraries create a consistent user experience.

E-Book Features Unrelated to Narrative May Hinder Preschooler Learning

E-Book Features Unrelated to Narrative May Hinder Preschooler Learning

Editorial: Optogenetic Tools in the Molecular Spotlight.

Editorial: Optogenetic Tools in the Molecular Spotlight.

Student response to e-books: study of attitude toward reading among elementary school children in Kuwait

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the impact of e-books on attitude towards reading among elementary school students. The paper also reflects on issues related to readings and e-books. Design/methodology/approach – Experimental method of research was used to carry out the study. Experiment was conducted on fourth-grade students in an international school in Kuwait. The control group consisted of nine students. The experimental group had 16 students: eight read the book under the “read-to-me” feature and the other half read the book alone. Students in the two groups were assigned readings randomly and their reactions were studied and compared using different methods. Findings – The experiment demonstrated that students enjoyed reading the electronic medium more than the paperback alternative. The difference, however, was not significant. In addition, difference between the comprehension levels of the three conditions was also insignificant. Students did, however, finish reading the paperback book in a significantly shorter time. Research limitations/implications – A pilot study would have been desirable and also the number of questions asked in the comprehension test could have been expanded. The authors were also not able to explore the possibility of using an automated tool to record the reading time. The two reading instruments used (iPads and iPods) might have affected the students’ understanding and enjoyment of the book, although no noticeable differences were found. Practical implications – The experiment indicted that one of the apparent benefits of reading the e-book was its built-in picture dictionary, as the book used in the study incorporated a lot of word coinage in his texts. Lessons learnt from the study can benefit in enhancing features of e-books and designing reading programmes to help build more positive attitude towards reading among children. Originality/value – Little research has been reported in the literature on investigation of e-books towards reading attitude particularly using empirical studies or experimental research. Most literature focuses on availability of e-books and their features. This study makes a good contribution to the literature on this important aspect of research and makes available useful practical information as well.

E-book Usability in Educational Technology Classes

This study was designed to enrich the learning experiences of in-service and pre-service teachers in two educational technology classes by adopting e-books as the course material. Graduate students were more positive about their e-book reading experience than undergraduate students, but, surprisingly, more undergraduates (63.6%) became interested in checking out e-book readers from the school library than graduate students (51.9%). Over three-quarters of undergraduates (78.6%) responded positively about the use of e-book readers by the end of the study. Despite their appreciation of e-book features, more than half of both undergraduate and graduate students preferred print books but were willing to use e-books and e-book readers for their readings. Shortcomings of e-books were eye-strain and the limitation of e-book collections.

A Study of E-Book Readability

Due to the popularity of the Internet and portable readers, the digital publishing market was highly developing. A study from Displayban showed that digital publishing had a market value of 13 billion U.S. dollars and had increased 68 percent of production value compared to that in 2010 globally. Meanwhile, the production value of e-book readers had a market share of 80 percent to the whole digital publishing market. However, reading and manipulating a traditional printed book and an e-book were tremendously different. The design and layout of an e-book definitely affected the readability. Therefore, how to increase e-book readability was a topical concern in digital publishing industry. A content analysis and an in-depth interview methods were adopted in the study. The content analysis aimed to analyze the best-selling car e-magazine, Car News, regarding to its readability. The in-depth interview was to consult the chief editor of the publishing house to understand readability strategies and rules applied in its e-book products. Finally, after the reliability test of encoders passed, and the results from e-book content analysis and in-depth interview were comprehensively compared in every aspects of readability. The conclusions were that the traditional rigorous book layout design principles, such as indent, column, paragraph style, typography, etc. should be applied onto e-books to provide a better readability. Meanwhile, too many interactive or multimedia objects can reduce readability. Although, editors and experts from digital publishing industry were all agree with this, but most of current e-books indeed had too many interactive or multimedia objects. Nevertheless, multimedia and interaction objects were the most important features of e-books in spite of less readability. In short, based on the study and trade off the readability of e-books, publishing companies should not import multimedia and interactive objects deliberately. On the contrary, based on the book content, multimedia or interactive objects could be applied with a proper consideration to achieve their characteristics and strengths. By doing this, subjects of e-book could be emphasized and readability can be remained as well.

Are Students Keeping Up with the E-book Evolution? Are E-books Keeping Up with Students’ Evolving Needs?: Distance Students and E-book Usage, A Survey

Electronic books are evolving at a dizzying pace, challenging academic librarians to keep patrons informed about the growing number of features of these resources and their various and varied limitations. It sometimes seems as if students are pleasantly surprised by the ease with which electronic books are accessible as often as they are frustrated by e-book features that do not satisfy their needs. Librarians receive such feedback readily from local students; distance students’ perspectives are more difficult to keep track of. Pepperdine University Librarians surveyed graduate distance students about their experiences and preferences regarding electronic books. Findings reflect prior studies’ data in terms of desired features, despite the fact that such features actually are available to a great extent. Surprisingly, participants ranked book topic areas and usage preferences identically for both electronic and print books. Answers to the questions posed in the article title are mixed: yes and no.

Seeking knowledge: An exploratory study of the role of social networks in the adoption of Ebooks by historians

Despite their initial slow diffusion in society, Ebooks have recently garnered renewed interest from academics as part of a move toward the digital humanities. To examine how humanists are adopting Ebooks, we focus on the first stage, the Knowledge Phase, of Rogers' model of the diffusion of innovations. Central to this stage is the study of adopter attitudes toward the innovation and the role played by social networks in the adoption process. Historians were selected as the population of study because of their close relationship to the printed book, both as a research tool and as an academic goal. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with historians and then analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Our preliminary results show that historians had both positive and negative attitudes towards the Ebook. Often the same person showed eagerness and curiosity to adopt certain features of Ebooks whilst showing some degree of reluctance and skepticism. We identified the Role of the Social Network (RSN) as an important factor in the decision-making process of historians. Respondents frequently mentioned the subject specialist librarian for history as a key source of information. In addition, historians went not only to peers inside of the department, but also to friends and colleagues elsewhere when seeking advice on working with Ebooks. As Ebooks gain ground within academia, studies such as this, that focus on a single discipline, will be necessary to understand why scholars make the decision to adopt or reject. The study results found that subject librarians can act as change agents on the university campus. For this reason, the impact they have on the use of new technologies by academics needs further attention.

The Effects of Electronic Books on Pre-Kindergarten-to-Grade 5 Students' Literacy and Language Outcomes: A Research Synthesis

Electronic books (e-books) are a prevalent method for integrating technology in preschool and elementary classrooms; however, there is a lack of consensus concerning the extent to which e-books increase literacy skills in the domains of comprehension and decoding. This article assesses the efficacy of e-books with a comprehensive review method, including a systematic literature search, comparison of outcomes with effect sizes, and discussion of individual studies that met either (a) randomized-trial synthesis criteria, or (b) quasi-experimental/observational narrative synthesis criteria. Seven studies met the randomized-trial criteria and 20 studies met the quasi-experimental/observational narrative review criteria. Results from the randomized trials indicate that the effects of e-books on comprehension-related outcomes were small to medium in size. Only two randomized trials examined decoding-related outcomes, thereby preventing firm conclusions. The narrative review suggests some interactive e-book features support comprehension, whereas other incongruent features may hinder comprehension. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed.

Students’ Reactions towards E-books in an University Library Collection

This paper reports on a study of e-book usage amongst students with an university library collection. The main objectives of this study were to: (i) investigate how easy or difficult students found it to use e-books by giving them the opportunity to interact with e-books in an operational environment; (ii) determine whether any differences existed in ease of use ratings between students that had and had not used an e-book before the survey; (iii) investigate which e-book features users valued in terms of shelf browsing and content browsing; (iv) measure students' preferences between e-books or printed books given several scenarios; (v) establish whether any differences existed in terms of book format preferences between students that had and had not used an e-book before the survey; (vi) explore students' perceptions and impressions regarding specific features, such as browsable and searchable book indexes and table of contents, in an online library catalogue. The respondents were selected using a systematic random approach from a list of respondents from a previous web survey who had agreed beforehand to participate in this study. A total of 18 participants consisting of undergraduate and postgraduate instructional students completed the study. The findings indicated that in general students found that interacting with e-books in the collection was very easy. Students indicated that their preferred book formats varied depending on the context. In general students were positive about incorporating certain additional e-book features into an online library catalogue. Despite their positive reactions and attitudes towards e-books, students commented that e-books needed to be promoted more strongly and that there were limitations with respect to their use.