Descriptive Observations of Tool Functionality and Application for Assessing Digital Reading Program Quality.

Access to books for students' independent reading practice is undergoing a profound shift from print to digital books in cloud-based digital reading programs. Tools for assessing the qualities of these programs as curriculum products are limited. This study describes a set of analytical tools for reviewing digital reading program software and investigates the learning management system (LMS) qualities of six commercial digital reading programs using these tools. Results examine tool functionality qualitatively and describe the product qualities of programs at platform, dashboard, digital book, and screen page levels. Descriptive observations highlight the need for cross-disciplinary and collaborative research work to improve analytical tool design. Overall product quality of the programs was in the average range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]