TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Students favor e-books over paper books in yet another BSU study: Lesson for K-12 and publishers?

By Prof. Richard Bellaver

No large study has definitively proven that e-books are superior for learning, according to Richard Bellaver at Ball State University. But his small-scale projects continue to suggest the enthusiasm of young students for e-book-style devices, which, if nothing else, are easier on the students’ backs than heavy piles of books. What’s more, the technology could drive down the costs of books, and his work so far indicates that comprehension does not suffer. Video is from last year. – David Rothman.

Following is a synopsis of our continuing attempt to use e-books with elementary school children. We now know that we are really working with WHDs (Wireless Hand-Held Devices) since Dieterle, Dede, & Schrier of the Harvard Graduate School of Education in a forthcoming book chapter have a new definition for us. I will use WHD from now on to describe what we used to call e-books. The activity I will describe was completed by my graduate students with the help of a grant from the Indiana Campus Compact.

Originally for the grant I had planned to get new WHDs, and outfit a whole class with all the textual material needed for an entire semester. The children would take the WHDs home (get rid of their backpacks) and use them in class. Planning and preparation began in the summer of 2006. Devices would have been obtained and loaded with all reading material needed for the class in the fall. Usage of the devices would begin with the January 2007 semester.

Challenges

Key to the proposal were two essential activities; permissions to use the established Indiana public school third grade materials, and suitable new devices. I received permission from only one publisher to buy their content. I was refused by nine publishers of third grade text and reading books. I tried to follow the rules with these companies and got no content and not very good excuses.

My disappointment was intensified when I discovered I couldn’t get any new devices to use either. Intense negotiations with Sony and iRex Technologies proved unsuccessful. I negotiated in person with the American representatives of these two corporations but couldn’t convince them to lend me any devices for research purposes. I could have bought them for full price but funds were not available.

Changing the plan

All plans for converting content and training students, parents and teachers were dropped in November. We decided to use old devices at the same school that we used last year (Repeat Study). All devices contained a dictionary and the one reading book for which we had permission. The general plan was to repeat the dictionary study conducted last year (”eBook Dictionary Studies,” September 1. 2006, Richard Bellaver & Nicole Adams, http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5423) and to expose the third graders to additional WHD reading.

Early in the Fall Semester contact was made with teachers at another elementary school. There was a good deal of interest in using WHDs with a group of disinterested readers in the fourth grade. A teacher had been using a copied book as an extension to the prescribed reading to give this group of students something different to gain their interest. That document was scanned and converted for the e-book. Funds from the grant were used to buy access to the Reading A to Z TM web site. The other book for which we had permission was also used. The general goal of the study was to allow the disinterested readers to use WHDs to see if their reading interest could be stimulated (Reading Study).

When my Spring class started six graduate students were assigned to developing the Repeat Study and five more started working with the Reading Study. In order to keep the new device momentum going another five students were assigned to develop a (Teacher Opinion) project. This activity involved eight teachers from two elementary schools. The goal of this project was to gather input as to the how WHDs could be used in class. Following are the edited results of the student research. (The complete reports are available upon request).

Repeat Study

In 2006 (referenced above) elementary students, along with other children and adults took part in a dictionary study. The conclusion of that study was that children who had some experience with WHDs consistently had faster look-ups using the WHD dictionary compared to a conventional dictionary. Children who didn’t have any previous experience had mixed results. The children consistently had favorable opinions about using WHDs. The study focused on comparing the Random House Webster’s Concise Dictionary (provided in digital form by eBook Technologies Inc.) and the same conventionally printed edition. The WHD platform was the REB 1200 (RCA).

The testing mythology this year was very similar to that done in 2006. The difference this year was that all students had used the WHDs for reading purposes and were much more familiar with the content and the “feel’ of the electronic platform. Our hypothesis was that based on that exposure the students would have better look-up times using the eBooks. Twenty students were tested using only three words to look-up. On the average, two-thirds of the words were found faster by all students on the WHDs rather than in the conventional dictionary. It appears that the previous year’s conclusion that experience with the eBook is the key to dictionary speed.

Twenty students participated in a post-use satisfaction survey:

1. Seventeen of the students expressed a good interest towards reading books. The rest said that they did not like reading.

2. Fifteen preferred reading the WHD and the rest preferred hardcover books.

3. Five students clearly stated that they find dictionary words faster through the WHD.

4. Most felt the dictionary was fun and has “an interface like a computer which makes it more interesting for them to learn”.

The teacher is still high on the use of WHDs and wants to participate in further studies. We have converted four additional books for her to use this fall semester.

Reading Study

The goal of this study was to allow disinterested fourth grade students to read from a WHD and find out if they might be stimulated to do more reading. The graduate students talked to the students about the WHDs and found that they were very eager to listen and to try something new. They didn’t need explanation of the features; they had them figured out pretty well on their own. They were very comfortable with the technology, and one of the kids even thought that they were “a lot like PDAs.”

While walking through the various features and functions of the eBook, the students were highly proactive and asked good questions. They were all very thrilled about the fact that they could draw on the WHD with the stylus and also use the highlight option to mark important words. Many of them were sharing their ideas and showing each other how to draw, highlight and use the other features. They were especially excited that they could take them home and show them off to their families. There were only two or three students in the entire class who were indifferent to the WHDs.

Fifteen students used the WHDs in class and at home for a period of two weeks. The teacher also used the device to teach in class. They read two books. At the end of the reading time the students answered a survey’s with questions focused on learning about their experience and any opinions or suggestions they might have. A 1-5 Likert scale was used with 5 as the highest rating.

Survey Results – The answers to the questions on the survey were as follows:

1. Seventy-two percent answered 5 and all rated 3 or higher when asked, “Do you enjoy reading from your eBook better than a real book?”

2. Sixty-five percent answered 5 to “Would you read more from an eBook than a regular book?”

3. Seventy-eight percent answered 5 to “Did you use the dictionary?” (The WHD had a look-up feature that allowed the students to find a definition of any word by highlighting the word and clicking on “find.”)

4. Eighty-five percent answered “Yes” to “Were your families happy to see you use the WHD?”

5. A question on your “favorite thing” about the WHD received the following answers.

The teacher felt that the students’ interest increased significantly when the same books were available to them on the WHD. For example, one of the books she used in class the kids didn’t show any real interest towards until it was available to them in the WHD. Some of the students even suggested that the eBooks should have mathematic capabilities on them so they could use it to do their math homework. She felt since they are growing up in an era of computers and technology, they had no difficulty whatsoever in figuring out how to use all the various functions. The teacher said, “They were masters at maneuvering around the WHD and they got accustomed to using them faster than I did.” According to her, the kids especially loved the instant access to the dictionary, the highlighting, and drawing features of the WHD.

For kids who were not motivated enough to read, the teacher felt that the WHD provided lots of motivation. It was a cool “gadget” that they were all proud to have and use. However, for the kids who were struggling with the actual process of reading, she said that it was a struggle whether it was on paper or an electronic gadget.

Conclusion – It appears that from the excitement of the students upon receiving the device, their dedicated usage and their desire to keep them, WHDs might be a help to encouraging disinterested readers. Teacher comments verify the enjoyment of reading by these particular students. This may be a short term phenomena, but if only one student becomes interested this research has served a useful purpose.

Teacher Opinion

For the purposes of this study the graduate students elected to utilize a focus group. Specifically, the goal was to explore potential ways to effectively utilize the WHDs while also considering potential problems and issues surrounding the use for learning. The study team demonstrated potential classroom applications to eight elementary school teachers using the Samsung Q1 Ultra Mobile PC.

Results of the study focus group – the discussion was based on the following questions:

1. What types of technology do you currently use in the classroom? How often?

2. How do you think hand-held computers can facilitate the learning process?

3. What problems or disadvantages do you foresee with the use of the hand-held computers with students?

4. What benefits do you see with the technology of hand-held computers in classrooms with students in the future?

The findings will be presented in order they were discussed. Areas for potential use include computerized testing on the WHD, which could cover a book the child had just read on the device or a lesson recently studied through the hand-held software. Also discussed was the current use of United Streaming through the Discovery Channel which allows the user to find any topic with grade specific information. This service has been implemented with great acclaim at one of the schools in our study. The topic of interactive software was introduced, already in use was the “Power Grade” software which allows teachers, students, and parents to be involved in real time interaction through an online format that provides for grades, reviews, comments, and feedback.

One school is utilizing lap-top computers to teach students about technology skills such as webcasting, iMovie editing, and web messaging. The diverse nature of WHD could be used by the same students also learning how to conduct scientific research. The research skills are beginning to be taught as early as the first and second grades.

The teachers in the group see the WHD as an opportunity to have increased interactions with the students and parents, even beyond class. An example was given of a student who had an important question and was able to contact the teacher after normal school hours through a messaging feature on the device. This feature would certainly be handy over the weekend and breaks when a student may need help prior to returning to class.

Additional suggestions were the potential to use videos in a multimedia learning format, virtual classrooms for sick students, and use of the WHD to develop handwriting skills through on screen character recognition.

Among the problems discussed with the use of WHD were the inappropriate use by students such as playing games and surfing restricted websites. It was mentioned that there is a wealth of software available to restrict and limit not only what programs can be utilized, but also which websites can be visited.

Other potential problem areas included theft, loss, damage, shortage of hand-helds, loss of stylus, lack of keyboard, and small screen size. As with any piece of equipment, it will be subject to theft, loss, damage, and shortage. Specific to the hand-helds are the loss of stylus, which can be replaced inexpensively. In addressing the lack of keyboard and small screen size, it must be kept in mind that this device will be a supplemental learning device and will not necessarily replace to desktop/laptop computers in the classroom. However, there are connectable keyboards available if the need merits.

Conclusions/Recommendations – The teachers in this study were ecstatic about the prospect of bringing WHDs into the classroom. The study team recommend future study to have a classroom of students where each student would have their own hand-held computers to conduct their own research study, documenting progress, methods of study, and so forth. This would not only serve as an educational teaching method, but would likely yield new directions as it is looked at from a first user perspective.

Overall Conclusion

After all the disappointments and false starts, I consider this these projects successful. Almost 50 third and fourth grade students were exposed to electronic reading on a hand held platform. Ten Elementary School educators were involved and got a chance to give opinions on the use of such a platform. Sixteen graduate students were directly involved with the research and 23 more lived vicariously through the experience. The small scale of the effort won’t impress many people. My hope is that with better devices (I am now have a prototype of the Australian built QuokkaPad), publisher cooperation, and more research to discover whether learning is enhanced through the use of technology we can get the backpacks off our children and maybe improve their education.

Related: Earlier mentions of Dr. Bellaver.

Two asides: First, ideally Prof. Bellaver will enjoy more cooperation from the publishing community, Sony and iRex than he has in the past. Second, yes, he is the same Bellaver running for an IDPF board seat and, as a usability expert, could bring some unique perspective to the organization if it truly wants e-books to be more consumer-friendly. He plans later this week to respond to the TeleBlog’s questions for candidates. – D.R.