Electronic vs. Traditional Textbook Use: Dental Students’ Perceptions and Study Habits

Abstract

This descriptive study assessed dental students' attitudes about computer use as it relates to study habits and use of e-textbook technology. Academic deans and student leaders at all accredited dental education programs in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada were asked to forward an e-mail to students explaining the purpose of the study and asking them to participate. The e-mail included an embedded URL link to the survey. A total of 703 complete responses from twenty-four dental schools were received and used in the inal analysis. Because the number of students contacted could not be determined, the overall response rate cannot be calculated. Over 65 percent of the respondents reported spending >11 hours per week studying although over 75 percent said they spent little time studying from their textbooks. Over 55 percent were from schools that use e-textbooks exclusively, with 25 percent from schools that exclusively use print textbooks. One-fourth indicated they purchased a traditional printed textbook even when an e-textbook was provided; more than one-third printed information from the e-textbooks rather than reading on the computer. A majority (59 percent) preferred traditional textbook resources over e-textbooks, with over 50 percent reporting not using the required e-textbooks at all. E-textbooks were used by students in this study less frequently than materials/notes provided by dental school faculty. The majority preferred to use traditional resources as references and for augmenting lecture material.

Online Interactivity – A Shift towards E-textbook-based Medical Education

“…The authors conducted research on the implementation of online interactive multimedia materials in medical education. The data was collected through a review of literature (Ditmyer et al, 2012;Sandholzer et al, 2014), discussions with e-learning specialists and medical students, as well as an analysis of examples of good practices (Harvey et al, 2016). An online survey into the types of educational materials to support students of medicine and health sciences targeted Polish medical institutions of higher education.…”

E-learning: a tool for teaching, marking a new era in pathology A study among the students in NBU, KSA

“…In our study, the students agreed that learning pathology course through Electronic Learning System (Blackboard) of the university made them encouraged as they could have frequent access to the resources which helped them in effective learning of the course and has boosted their self-confidence. Similarly, some other series revealed that by using multimedia programs to teach the courses dependent on the usage of images and picture was very useful [14]. Majority of our students have found that understanding the pathology lesion was easy from the images posted on Electronic Learning System (Blackboard) of the university than studying them through the glass slides on a microscope.…”

“…In our study, many students preferred it, as it has given them their own time and space to learn while others stated that it is difficult for them to understand, as they have no direct contact with the teacher. Earlier studies have shown that E-learning has merits as well as demerits in the teaching process as compared to the traditional teaching [14]. One of the important advantages of E-learning is that the student has access to teaching material round the clock.…”

Instructors’ Perceptions and Experiences Re: Creating and Implementing Customized E-Texts in Education Courses

“…Applying digital media technologies 5 to traditional print textbooks has resulted in the emergence of e-texts (Stone & Baker-Eveleth, 2013a), which can be accessed via the Internet and downloaded onto personal electronic devices such as the laptops, tablets, e-readers, and smartphones that are owned by the vast majority of learners today (Rockinson-Szapkiw, Courduff, Carter, & Bennett, 2013). In fact, even though e-books have existed in some form or other since the 1970sstarting with Michael Hart launching his Project Gutenberg in 1971 that led to the creation of electronic versions of thousands of print books (Embong, Noor, Hashim, Ali, & Shaari, 2012)they only started being adopted in significant numbers after the development of the aforementioned devices (Ditmyer, et al, 2012) and their subsequently ubiquitous penetration into human society. Devices such as iPads are increasingly playing a leading role in the educational process within developed/affluent nations, and along with ematerials/e-texts are forming the basis of electronic education in these societies (Laketa & Draculic, 2015).…”

“…Multiple higher education institutions including the University of Liverpool (Barker, 2015), University of Idaho, Northwest Missouri State University, and for-profit entities like the University of Phoenix have been experimenting with e-text programs (Miller, Nutting, & Baker-Eveleth, 2013). The rise of e-texts has been accompanied by the decline of traditional print media, as well-known brick-and-mortar bookstores declare bankruptcy and shut their doors after losing millions of dollars (Ditmyer, et al, 2012), and prestigious print newspapers either downsize or go out of business entirely (Miller, et al, 2013).…”