Factors That Influence Attitudes To, and Engagement With, E-Textbooks Assigned as Required Course Readings Among Mid-Career Learners in Online Graduate Studies.

Abstract

E-textbook reception and use by mid-career learners enrolled in online graduate courses has received scant research attention. Using a sequential, exploratory, mix-methods approach, this study used demographic and attitude surveys (N=25) followed by 23 telephone interviews to examine how a variety of factors affect attitudes and engagement strategies. Respondents were found to be: computer savvy, but much more inclined to choose printed textbooks over e-textbooks; negative about most of the supposed affordances of e-textbooks; convinced that they learn less from e-textbooks than from printed textbooks; and dissatisfied with the support they received from instructors and the university. Pre-existing attitudes to e-texts were a good predictor of attitudes to course e-textbooks. Women were found to be statistically significantly more likely to hold negative attitudes towards e-textbooks than men. The study concludes that many of the factors contributing to negative attitudes to e-textbooks can be overcome by means of specific corrective actions.