Ease of use and usefulness as measures of student experience in a multi-platform e-textbook pilot

As the use of electronic textbooks continues to expand and we approach the point where dominance of digital over print is becoming increasingly inevitable (Reynolds, 2011), research is needed to understand how students accept and use the technology. This is especially critical as we begin to explore the electronic format for required textbooks in higher education. The current study evaluates university students’ experiences with electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) during a pilot project with two textbook publishers, Flat World Knowledge (FWK) and Nelson Education (Nelson). Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a framework, we examine the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the technology. While previous research suggests that students have a general preference for textbooks in print rather than electronic format (Allen, 2009; Parsons, 2014; Woody, et al., 2010), our study suggests that preference may not dictate the likelihood that students will seek out and use print options. Our study also indicated that student experience with the open/affordable textbook (FWK) was very comparable to that of the high cost commercial text (Nelson). Despite overall positive reviews for the etextbooks across both platforms, students experienced a drop in enthusiasm for e-textbooks from the beginning to the end of the pilot.