Research Article: “Undesirable Difficulties: Investigating Barriers to Students’ Learning with Ebooks in a Semester-length Course” (Preprint)

The following article (preprint) was posted to the University of New Mexico Digital Repository and will be fpublished in a forthcoming issue of College & Research Libraries.

Title

Undesirable Difficulties: Investigating Barriers to Students’ Learning with Ebooks in a Semester-length Course

Authors

Cindy Pierard
University of New Mexico – Main Campus
Vanessa Lynn Svihla
University of New Mexico – Main Campus
Susanne K. Clement, University of New Mexico – Main Campus
University of New Mexico – Main Campus
Bing-Shan Fazio, University of New Mexico – Main Campus
University of New Mexico – Main Campus

Source

via University of New Mexico Repository
College & Research Libraries (Forthcoming)

Abstract

Our ability to make informed decisions about ebooks is constrained by our limited understanding of how students perceive and use them. A team of librarians and a professor in learning sciences asked graduate students to serve as informants on student experience with ebooks. In two semester-long studies we analyzed student work, focusing on barriers and affordances they identified. In the first cohort, students who chose to explore ebooks uncovered affordances. In the second cohort, student comfort levels with PDF formats increased, while comfort with ebooks decreased. We discuss strategies for minimizing challenges and increasing desirable difficulties to support ebooks as learning tools.

Direct to Full Text Article (Preprint)
46 pages; PDF.

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