E-book Usability in Educational Technology Classes
This study was designed to enrich the learning experiences of in-service and pre-service teachers in two educational technology classes by adopting e-books as the course material. Graduate students were more positive about their e-book reading experience than undergraduate students, but, surprisingly, more undergraduates (63.6%) became interested in checking out e-book readers from the school library than graduate students (51.9%). Over three-quarters of undergraduates (78.6%) responded positively about the use of e-book readers by the end of the study. Despite their appreciation of e-book features, more than half of both undergraduate and graduate students preferred print books but were willing to use e-books and e-book readers for their readings. Shortcomings of e-books were eye-strain and the limitation of e-book collections.