COLLEGE STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF E-TEXTBOOKS AND E-READERS: NEW WAYS TO LEARN?

E-textbooks provide flexibility for individuals, especially college students, when purchasing textbooks for college classes. The purpose of this study is to determine if e-textbooks affect college student learning. However, additional research questions must be answered: what percentage of college students is purchasing e-textbooks? Do college students prefer using e-textbooks to a print/physical textbook (p-textbook)? Will e-textbooks replace p-textbooks within the next five years? Does owning an electronic reader affect student learning? Answering these five research questions, as well as three additional questions, involved comparing data collected via survey from 395 students at two academic institutions during the Spring 2013 semester. This explanatory study yielded five significant findings; however, the main result concluded that 37% of college students feel e-textbooks have a positive effect on their learning and 41% state no difference on the effect of their learning. Overall, the research in this study should be used to inform the information systems community and individuals working in education because students' study habits will change dramatically within the next five years. These changes result from the majority of students owning an e-reader, purchasing e-textbooks, and the positive impact these two technologies has on education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]