Academic professor perception of the future of electronic textbooks

Abstract

Electronic textbooks have slowly made their way into regular usage in classrooms, yet many electronic textbooks remain a digital representation of their physical counterparts and an understanding of how they should be organized or utilized is still lacking. In past research, questions to professors have not focused on how electronic textbooks are used in their course, how they believe students should use them, and what they believe is necessary in the future. Semi-structured interviews with design and engineering professors found that generally professors agreed with student ideas regarding future components. They did feel some additional components, such as tagging, would help facilitate student learning. This paper presents an understanding of different disciplines approaches and an understanding of electronic textbooks and what professors think should be included in the future. It also assists in highlighting any mismatch between student and professor perception of future electronic textbook components.