Improving

Learning with eTextbooks

Alan R. Dennis
Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

Kelly O. McNamara
Mulligan Partners LLC

Stacy Morrone
School of Education, Indiana University

Joshua Plaskoff
Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

Prof. Dennis is also the co-Founder of Courseload, the company that makes the etext software used in
this study.

Introduction
A new generation of students is arriving at universities: the Millennials students born from in the
1990s (Pew Research Center, 2010; Strauss &Howe, 1992). This generation of digital natives embraces
new technologies and information sharing, and they are astute networkers (Pew Research Center,
2010). But this is not just about gadgets; Millennials have fused their social lives and use of technology in
ways that are new and fundamentally different. They are characterized by: a) use and fluency with
multimedia; b) comfort with expressing thoughts and feelings online; c) collaboratively seeking and
synthesizing information and experiences; and d) co-designing learning experiences personalized to
individual needs and preferences (Dede, 2005; Dieterle, 2009).
Yet when they reach college, they are greeted with paper textbooks many pounds and many dollars
worth of them and approaches to learning that their grandparents would recognize. These approaches
to learning do not meet their expectations and more importantly do not take advantages of current
technological capabilities for digital communication, something that Millennials have come to expect
and value. There is broad agreement that the move to electronic textbooks is inevitable (Kincaid, 2011;
Knowledge@Wharton, 2010; Young, 2010); whether in two years or 10 years, at some point, the paper
textbook will be a relic of the past.
So one key question is how can we use technology to improve teaching and learning? In this paper, we
examine the use of one etext system called Courseload which is in use at several dozen colleges and
universities. Prior research using this system has found that students prefer it to paper textbooks
(Dennis, 2011; Dennis and Morrone, 2012). In this paper, we examine how the use of this etext system
affects student learning.

Prior Theory and Research

There have been high expectations for leveraging technology to improve education outcomes by
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transforming textbooks from paper to electronic. Most initiatives have taken one of two approaches.
One approach has been digitizing existing flat print books. Most publishers now offer electronic versions
of their books (e.g., PDF), and several vendors have emerged to sell these (e.g., VitalSource.com,
Coursesmart.com, CafeScribe.com). The Kindle and the iPad also create opportunities to deliver these
flat electronic books in new hardware formats. There have been several electronic textbook initiatives
aimed at increasing the implementation and deployment of these flat e-books (e.g., Rickman et al.
2009). These projects have met with a modicum of success because they were designed to provide
access to a limited set of textbooks and materials. They offer limited cost advantages, but little promise
of leveraging technology to improve learning outcomes.
Other projects have focused on completely rethinking what a textbook is. These projects have
redesigned the textbook into a multimedia learning resource (e.g., CeLCAR Projects, 2005, Learn NC,
2010; and Texas Politics, 2008). Many of these approaches have shown learning advantages but their
high cost of production make them hard to scale (McLeod, 2007). These approaches may be useful for
large market textbooks (i.e., for freshman courses) where their cost can be amortized over many users
(McLeod, 2007), but their cost makes them unrealistic for most traditionally sized courses. These
projects are grand undertakings that are not scalable; it is difficult to rapidly deploy and integrate
electronic materials using this model of building new content for each new textbook.
In our work, we adopt a different approach from these two. Research on the information technology has
shown that it is best to never build new systems unless there is a clear competitive advantage to be
gained (Hung & Low, 2008; Keil & Tiwana, 2006). Individuals and organizations are better off buying or
re-using existing systems, even if they are not a perfect fit. Innovation research has repeatedly shown
that firms that focus on producing the best technology usually fail and are beaten by firms that focus on
producing cheaper technologies that are good enough (Christensen, 1997). There are more than 1

trillion pages of material on the web (Google, 2008), so for all but the most esoteric subjects, useful
good enough multimedia content already exists, albeit scattered around the web.
Thus we believe the key to providing richer, more engaging multimedia content in a scalable way is not
to create ideal new materials independent of the students in a one-size fits all model, but rather to
enable instructors to easily find and embed existing content into textbooks (and remove content) to
tailor those books to the needs of their students. That is, to enable instructors to tailor their textbooks
to the learning needs of their students by finding the most appropriate good enough resources on the
Web and integrating them directly into the textbook wherever they like.
The transformative aspect of information technology is not just in the way it changes the nature of
content, but how it changes the way students and instructors interact with the content and with each
other. Our vision for the rapid integration and deployment of electronic texts and other materials is not
grounded in the traditional approach to developing new multimedia electronic textbooks. Instead, we
build on sociocultural theories of learning (e.g., Brown, et a., 1993; Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989;
Jonassen, 2000; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Scribner, 1990; Wenger, 1998) to exploit the social aspects of

information technology, to enable instructors and students to tailor the learning experience to their
needs, to expand education beyond the classroom setting, and to take advantage of Millennials comfort
with technology and their expectations for social interactions, Our goal is to improve learning outcomes
while lowering costs and without requiring existing textbooks to be rewritten.
Research suggests that the more students have the opportunity to think about and apply what they are
learning, the greater the positive impact on learning as measured both by self-reports and objective
tests (Kuh, et al., 2005; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Pedagogical approaches that utilize student-
centered active learning strategies as opposed to traditional teacher-centered strategies have been
found to encourage greater cognitive effort on the part of students that can result in increased student
4

learning (McKeachie, 1999; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Typically, this includes all subject-matter
related learning activities and experiences in which students are actively thinking about and engaged in
both inside and outside the classroom (Chickering & Gamson, 1991). Experimental studies that have
compared the performance of students assigned to classes taught using traditional methods and those
using methods that promote active learning have found that students who are more actively involved in
the learning process have higher scores on objective tests (McCarthy & Anderson, 2000; Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005 Tudor & Bostow, 1991).
We believe that electronic teaching and learning can improve learning in four distinct ways.
1) Electronic devices and the pervasiveness of network access enable the use of much richer, more
engaging multimedia content than the traditional paper book and enable the instructor to tailor that
content to the students learning needs. Providing multimedia content with different types of resources
in different formats can help more students succeed (Dunn, 1984; Mayer, 2003) because instructors
(and students) can tailor the learning experiences to better fit students learning needs (Lajoie et al.,
2001)]. Mayer and Moreno (2003) did extensive research on multimedia learning and found that in
general students remembered material better if it was presented both verbally and visually.
2) Electronic content with instructor annotations creates new opportunities for instructors to
communicate with students as they experience the textbook. Instructors can annotate electronic
textbooks with their comments and share those comments with their students. These comments are
scaffolding that can provide guidance to students beyond the classroom setting so that they focus their
efforts on important content (Gee & Rakow, 1990). Instructors can augment the textbook with their
interpretation and views, making it easier for students to understand and interpret the content.
Annotations also provide opportunities for instructors to model expert practices by making their own
practices visible to students (Linn & Eylon, 2011). The capability for students to experience instructor
5

advice and commentary that is integrated with the reading of the electronic textbook provides
opportunities not easily possible with paper textbooks that can improve learning (Gee & Rakow, 1990).
3) Electronic content with student annotation enhances student interest, comprehension, and critical
thinking. Learning is not a passive process where students simply receive information, but an active
process in which students co-construct knowledge (Brown, et a., 1993). They build upon prior
knowledge and experience as they make sense of the textbook, revising their own current
understanding as they encounter new ideas and information and as they test their current schema
(Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000; Sawyer, 2006). Annotation of texts can make an important
contribution to both the cognitive and metacognitive aspects of learning. Underlining and highlighting
may assist in recall (Flavell, 1981; Lee, Lim, Grabowski, 2010). More complex annotation strategies, such
as summarizing, paraphrasing, finding examples, and generating questions, contribute to metacognitive
monitoring and feedback and enhance learners self-regulation, recall, and comprehension (Flavell,
1981; Lee, Lim, Grabowski, 2010 Leutner, Leopold & Den Elzen-Rump, (2007).
4) Electronic content with shared annotation as a social medium enables students to communicate with
each other and instructors in ways that create new opportunities for active learning. Social media have
been embraced by Millennials through Facebook, blogs, and Twitter. Annotation becomes a social
experience when students can share those annotations and ask questions of one another and their
instructors directly within the electronic textbook. When they share those annotations with other
members of the class, students may feel more conceptual control (Greeno, 2006). This also has the
potential to increase engagement and active learning by inducing discussion and participation around
the intellectual content in the textbook.
This technology was tested over a three year period at Indiana University (Dennis, 2011; Dennis and
Morrone, 2012). Most students (60%) said they preferred the electronic textbook to a paper textbook,
6

but this choice varied dramatically from course to course (min 36%, max 84%). Students were
significantly more likely to prefer e-textbooks when the instructor actively used the e-textbook (e.g.,
added their own annotations); student preferences were the lowest in courses where the instructor
viewed the textbook only as a reference and made no use of it when teaching. There were no gender
differences. Students were more likely to prefer e-textbooks in their second and subsequent courses in
which e-textbooks were used, suggesting increased satisfaction as students became more familiar with
the technology.
This prior research was able to examine student reactions to using the etext system, but did not
examine student learning because it did not compare a course using paper textbooks to the same one
using etextbooks. So one unanswered question is whether etext technology that provides these four
capabilities to faculty and students can affect student learning.
In this paper, we present the results of a controlled laboratory experiment comparing students using
paper textbooks to students using this etextbook system. This is an incomplete comparison of the
etextbook system because we did not examine students abilities to make annotations or share those
annotations with others because of the short duration of the experiment. Nonetheless, we believe that
the use of the etext system should improve student learning.

Method
Participants
There were 56 participants, drawn from a general business course taken by juniors. Four participants
had taken the course using the textbook used in this study (see below), so they were eliminated from
the analysis, leaving 52 participants. Approximately 58% of the participants were male. Participants
were randomly assigned to treatments.

Task
Participants read the first chapter in a data communications and networking textbook used in the
business schools networking course and took a quiz on the material. This course is taken by juniors and
seniors and has used etextbooks for three years. The six participants scoring the highest grade on the
quiz received $50 (three from each treatment).
Treatments
Half the participants (27) were given paper photocopies of the chapter. The other half (25) used the
etext software on a desktop computer to read the same chapter. The chapter used in this study
contained the same 13 annotations that the instructor teaching the business schools networking course
provided to his class when teaching the course. Most annotations identified which sections were
important and not important, but one annotation contained a link to a four minute YouTube video
produced by Cisco Systems for use their Networking Academy. This video explained how the five layers
of the Internet Networking Model work together to move messages across the Internet.
Dependent Variables
There were three dependent variables. The first was the score on a quiz, used to measure participants
learning performance. There were 24 multiple choice questions and one open-ended question designed
to test deeper understanding worth three points, for a total possible score of 27 points. All questions
were taken from the Instructors Manual that accompanies the textbook. The remaining two dependent
variables were participants perceptions measured using five-point Likert scale questions on a post-
session questionnaire. They were: ease of use (5 questions, alpha=.75), and met learning needs (5
questions, alpha=.86). See the Appendix for the items.
Control Variables

We asked subjects their GPA. There were no differences in mean self-reported GPA between
treatments and it was not significantly related to any dependent variable, so it was omitted from the
analyses. There were no differences in the proportion of genders between treatments and gender was
not significantly related to any dependent variable, so it was omitted from the analyses. Likewise there
were no differences in the proportion of those who had and had not used the etext system in a prior
course. This too was not related to any dependent variable and omitted from the analyses.
Procedures
Participants first read the chapter either on paper or via an etext for 35 minutes. Participants in the
etext treatment received instruction on how to use the software prior to reading the chapter.
Participants then had 15 minutes to do the quiz. Finally, participants answered post-session
questionnaire.

Results
Table 1 presents the results. Participants using the etext performed significantly better than those using
paper textbooks (F(1,50)=4.14, p=.047). The effect size is .55, which Cohen calls a medium sized effect.
Interestingly, participants perceived paper textbooks to better meet their learning needs (F(1,50)=5.42,
p=.024). The effect size was medium (.70). There were no differences in the perceptions of ease of use
(F(1,50)=2.69, p=.107).

Measure
Quiz Score
Met Learning Needs
Ease of Use

Paper Textbook
Mean
ST Dev
12.96
3.91
3.76
.66
3.99
.53

eTextbook
Mean
ST Dev p-Value
15.44
4.90
.047
3.29
.78
.024
3.67
.77
.107

Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations and Statistical Results

Discussion
The use of the etext with annotations (instructor commentary and one multimedia learning video)
improved participants learning, but, they perceived the etext to be worse at meeting their learning
needs. This is an interesting split outcome, with participants not immediately recognizing the value
from using etexts.
First and foremost, it is encouraging that even a brief use of this etext system that tested only two of the
four possible contributions to learning (instructor annotations and multimedia) had an impact on
student learning. The pattern of learning was consistent for both the multiple choice questions and the
open ended question, with those using the etext system performing better on both types of questions
(means of 14.04 vs. 12.41, and 1.40 vs. 0.56, respectively).
However, participants did not recognize these learning effects. They perceived that the etext system
was not as effective at meeting their learning needs as the paper textbook. There are at least two
plausible explanations for this finding. First, the software enables students to highlight and make their
own annotations in the book. In this study, we did not show students how to highlight or take notes, so
none did. In contrast, we noticed that about a third the students using paper textbooks made some
notes on the paper copies, although most of this was underlining (i.e., highlighting). It is possible that
that the lack of highlighting and annotating resulting the lower opinions of the etext software.
An alternative explanation is that it takes time for participants to effectively use any new technology
after it is initially adopted; there is a learning curve (Lapre and van Wassenhove 2001; Pisano, Bohmer
and Edmonson 2001). When individuals adopt a new technology, they must change their work processes
(learning processes in our case), so initial performance and satisfaction after the introduction of a new
10

technology often drop as individuals adapt their old work processes to effectively use the technology.
Over time, performance and satisfaction gradually improve as practice makes perfect (Pisano et al.
2001, p. 753). Thus measuring performance and perceptions the first time new technology is employed
may lead one to conclude that its use impairs performance and satisfaction, when in fact improved
performance and satisfaction may only emerge after the user has employed it over time and moved
down the learning curve (Heine, Grover and Malhotra 2003; Repenning 2002).
This study measured performance and satisfaction after only 35 minutes of use while participants were
still adapting to the new technology. There was an immediate performance improvement, but
satisfaction was lower. Prior research has shown that satisfaction with etexts is higher the longer
students use it; students who used the system two semesters were more satisfied than those who only
used it for one semester (Dennis, 2011; Dennis and Morrone, 2012)1. Thus we believe that the lower
satisfaction observed in this study reflects an initial drop in satisfaction which is typical following the
introduction of a new technology as students adapt their learning to the new system.
Thus we conclude that student satisfaction is likely to drop immediately after the introduction of etext
software because students must adapt their learning styles to the new processes enabled by the
technology. The short length of the experiment precludes any comment about how satisfaction might
change over time, although past research suggests that students will be at least as satisfied (if not more
satisfied) with etexts as paper textbooks over the long run (Dennis, 2011; Dennis and Morrone, 2012).
Although this study suffers from the usual limitations of laboratory research, we believe it has two
implications for future research and practice. First and foremost, since the provision of a modest
number of instructor annotations and one multimedia instructional video embedded in the text

1

Both of these studies examined courses in which the instructor (not the students) chose whether or not to use
etexts. The decision to use etexts for one semester or two semesters was not up to the student, and thus is
independent of the students opinions of the etext system.

11

improved student learning, we encourage instructors to adopt this style of teaching.

This study used both instructor annotations and one video, because this is how this chapter is normally
taught during the class on this topic. As a result we are unable to determine which had more impact
annotations or multimedia. More research is needed to understand how students respond to both
types of additions to the textbook and how this impacts their learning. It may be both are equally
important, or that one is more important than the other for certain students.
There is probably some ideal number of annotations and videos for any given piece of content. One
might expect a declining marginal benefit for both. This suggests that good practice would be to include
a modest number of annotations and videos, depending upon the nature of the content and the
availability of videos on the Web. This too is a topic for future research; we would hypothesize that too
few would provide limited learning value, but the provision of too many could overwhelm students and
begin to degrade learning. But we need empirical evidence and guidelines for practice.
Second, students perceived that the etext software did not meet their learning needs as well as paper
textbooks. This may be because we did not show students how to highlight and annotate using the etext
software or because user satisfaction often drops after the adoption of new technology as they adapt
their processes to it. Both explanations are plausible. Future research is needed to better understand
which is the primary explanation for this initial drop in user perceptions.
Regardless of which explanation is the best, we believe there are two implications for instructors using
etext software. First, instructors should help students adapt their study processes to the new
technology. The focus here is beyond showing students how to use the software. This is a necessary
but not sufficient first step. The goal is to help students to change their study processes to take
advantage of what the etext software can provide. This means 1) reading instructor annotations and

12

using the multimedia resources instructors make available; 2) making their own highlights and
annotations; and 3) sharing those highlights and annotations with other students and reading other
students annotations to better make meaning of what the text has to say. By taking advantage of the
etext softwares capabilities, students can engage more with the text, and learn more as a result.
Second, instructors should be prepared for an initial stage of dissatisfaction with the etext software.
Change is never easy and changing study habits to encourage students to engage with text materials is
likely to prompt some initial drop in satisfaction. Once this initial change process is past and students
engage more with their texts, satisfaction is likely to increase, as past research on the semester long use
of etexts shows (Dennis, 2011; Dennis and Morrone, 2012). However, some short term discomfort is to
be expected.
Etexts have the potential to change the way faculty and students teach and learn. Past research has
shown that students prefer paper textbooks to etexts when the etext are simply digital reproductions of
the paper textbook (i.e., PDFs). However, past research also shows that students prefer etexts to paper
texts when instructors annotate the text and embed multimedia resources from the Web into the text
and when students highlight and annotate the text and share those with others. This study shows that a
modest number of instructor annotations and multimedia video can improve student learning. Taken
together, we believe these results are encouraging for the future of learning, as it inevitably goes digital.

13

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Appendix Questionnaire Items

Ease of Use
It was easy to use the textbook.
This textbook was easier to read than other textbooks I have used.
The textbook was clear.
I was comfortable using the textbook.
This textbook was more difficult to read than other textbooks I have used. (Reversed)

Met Learning Needs
My learning needs were met by the textbook.
Using the textbook was effective for learning the material.
The textbook was compatible with the way I learn.
The textbook gave me the freedom to learn the way I want.
I was able to learn efficiently using the textbook.

16