Slideshow Title To e or not to e? eBooks are the question but what is the answer? Results of a University of Plymouth Help-CETL project November 2010

Slideshow Title Background to the Help-CETL project City of Bristol College was awarded £3,000 by University of Plymouth under its Help CETL Award Scheme (Higher Education Learning Partnerships Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of students and staff on Foundation Degree Courses towards eBooks.

Slideshow Title Aims of Project To investigate patterns of eBook usage & attitudes to eBooks amongst Plymouth FD students at COBC To inform training and support needs, and how LRC staff can contribute Identify barriers to the use of eBooks To assist LRC managers in resource prioritisation

Slideshow Title Project methods Students First year FD Early Childhood Studies Second year FD Early Childhood Studies First year FD Business Second year Foundation Degree Administration and Business Technology Training sessions delivered in October 2009 Students complete online questionnaire Follow-up questionnaire two months later 24 students completed both questionnaires (12 ECS, 12 Business) Staff Mick Landers, FD Business Slavica Talbot, FD Administration and Business Technology Caroline McGrath, FD in Early Childhood Studies Video interview after second student questionnaire

Slideshow Title What did we ask? Q1: Advantages/disadvantages of eBooks? How they thought they would use eBooks? How confident they felt Would they change the way they research? Q2: How many eBooks used How & where accessed Advantages/disadvantages of eBooks? How satisfied & how likely to use eBooks again?

Slideshow Title TRUE or FALSE? More students said they would prefer to use printed books as their first choice. Some students said they would read whole books online. Over 80% of students said they would change the way they studied after their eBook session.

Slideshow Title TRUE or FALSE? More students said they would prefer to use printed books as their first choice. FALSE – 54% said eBooks! Some students said they would read whole books online. TRUE – 17% of year olds did! Over 80% of students said they would change the way they studied after their eBook session. TRUE – A massive 88% did!!!!

Slideshow Title Confidence after eBooks session

Slideshow Title Second questionnaire TRUE or FALSE? The LRC catalogue on the VLE was the most popular way of accessing eBooks Most students preferred to print pages to read them 55% of students accessed eBooks remotely

Slideshow Title TRUE or FALSE? The LRC catalogue on the VLE was the most popular way of accessing eBooks TRUE – 64% accessed them this way Most students preferred to print pages to read them FALSE – 86% read from the screen some or all of the time 55% of students accessed eBooks remotely FALSE – 86% accessed them remotely* *Yes, they are both 86%!!

Slideshow Title Reading from screen / printouts

Slideshow Title Where were eBooks used?

Slideshow Title Use of eBooks by age group

Slideshow Title Age / subject differences Younger students used more eBooks All age groups had the same preferences for reading from the screen / printing to read Business students used more eBooks than print books 80% of the Business students prefer to read from the screen, compared to 0% Early Childhood Studies students (but no-one read a whole book online!) Business students were more likely to use eBooks again

Slideshow Title Perceived Advantages of eBooks  Accessibility (accessible 24/7 anywhere)  Ease of searching (including within books)  Physical advantages (no need to visit library, no fines, no carrying)  Additional source of information to supplement print books  Ease of referencing. These remained unchanged between both questionnaires.

Slideshow Title Perceived Disadvantages of eBooks  Difficult reading from the screen  Technical issues, including unreliability  Not enough relevant eBooks available  Liking for the physicality of print books Technical issues were cited by more students in the second questionnaire, after they had made use of the eBooks.

Slideshow Title Student comments I can search any time of day, unlike the library, which has opening times and is harder to get to Quicker to locate the information and you can search within a book Opens up new ways to research. No library fees!! The introduction was very useful as I doubt I would have thought to use ebooks if we had not had this session. Can’t print out enough pages, or save them Not enough eBooks available!

Slideshow Title What Next? IMPACT OF THE PROJECT 88% will change how they research All eBook users said they were very / quite likely to use eBooks again - even 60% of non-users! eBook workshop incorporated into LRC programme AND FOR THE RESEARCHERS? Dissemination – conference presentations, book chapter Continuation project

Slideshow Title Continuation project Longditudinal study – revisiting the same groups in year 2. Are they still using eBooks? Re-running eBooks workshop and questionnaires with two first year FDs in technical subjects with more questions about how they have used them

Slideshow Title Preliminary results of Year 2 students Half the students had used eBooks since the end of the project Used for assignments, not background reading Preference for printed books overall Main advantage: 24/7 access Main disadvantage: don’t like reading from screen Two-thirds satisfied or quite satisfied

Slideshow Title Preliminary results 2 Non-users: main reasons for not using eBooks: – Prefer print books – Technical difficulties accessing eBooks – eBooks difficult to search Even non-users can see advantages: 24/7 and convenience Almost all (users / non-users) would prefer to access them on Blackboard – only two on an eBook reader!

Slideshow Title Could you do a Research Project? Why do a research project? What would you get out of it? What might be your concerns? What could you do a research project on?

Slideshow Title Over to you! The big idea – what do you want to find out? What are you passionate/curious about? Do others feel the same? Has it been done before? Find a funder - scope and plan project Best laid plans….be flexible! Stick to deadlines Keep it live – disseminate and publicise

Slideshow Title Lee Bryant Sue Caporn City of Bristol College