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Humanities
- ISSN: 2155-7993
- Journal of Modern Education Review
Do Students Use eTextbooks Meaningfully? Lessons Learned from Four Online University Courses
Sanaa Riaz1, Mingzhen Bao2, Barbara Zorn-Arnold2, Jamie Weitl3, Jeral Kirwan4
(1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Metropolitan State University of Denver, USA;
2. College of Liberal Arts, Ashford University, USA; 3. Division of General Education, Ashford University, USA;
4. College of Health, Human Services, and Science, Ashford University, USA)
Abstract: The steady increase in online education options has led to a simultaneous increase in the integration and use of eTextbooks. Faculty investigators representing different Colleges at Ashford University, a for-profit online institution, examined the degree to which student engagement with eTextbooks used in four online undergraduate lower-division courses correlated with their performance as indicated by students’ weekly quizzes and final course grades. Instructors were trained to increase accessibility of the eTextbook in the observed sections. Next, students’ scrolling and note-taking activities, and time spent reading eTextbooks were calculated against their grades. The total user activity within the eTextbook did not significantly correlate with the final grade. However, it significantly correlated with the average weekly quiz grades. Investigators suggest the reason for this being the direct coorelation between weekly quizzes and eTextbook content, as opposed to other course activities, such as discussions and paper assignments, counted towards the final grade. Poor correlation between students’ eTextbook engagement and final grades also highlights the need to apply Bloom’s critical thinking taxonomy levels more effectively to course tasks. The investigators recommend making lower tier critical thinking skills based activities and students’ mastery of content and concepts from the eTextbook and ability to extract information effectively from them to complete course tasks central to course learning outcomes in required General Education and other lower division undergraduate courses.
Key words: student eTextbook engagement, critical thinking, assessment
