ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter will be examining the issues surrounding e-Books and e-Textbooks in the university classroom. First, a short history detailing the infusion of e-Books and e-Textbooks into the university classroom will be distilled. Next, students learning experiences related to digital reading from recent scholarly research are examined. Finally, a discussion regarding the nuances of digital versus print reading is presented. Many students embrace and embed technology into their lives in ways that previous generations may strain to even imagine possible. Although e-Textbooks and e-Books have many advantages over traditional paper books (such as being cost-effective, portability, and convenient access across devices), the scholarly community still has unanswered questions about students’ learning experiences with digital books. The research examining this new area is still ongoing and, thus far, has mixed results. This chapter summarizes several of these studies, some of which find no difference in learning between students using traditional books and those using e-Textbooks, and others indicate that e-Textbooks may not be conducive to student learning. Given the increase drive toward reducing textbook cost in higher education, as well as at other educational levels, examining this issues in more depth is an important consideration.
