DIscovering the Potential of e-books as Effective Learning Tools

Electronic books have been identified as a current trend in education and are being increasingly adopted by students as their textbook format of choice. This pilot study used a single class to compare the use of e-books and traditional books on undergraduate students’ learning. It answers the research question: Is there a difference in undergraduate students' learning, as measured by perceived learning and grades, when using a traditional textbook for classroom sessions as opposed to e-books for classroom sessions? Findings demonstrated that students using an e-book demonstrated higher psychomotor learning than those using traditional textbooks. No difference in actual learning was found between the two groups. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide evidence to guide faculty and students decisions about text book adoption.