Date of Degree

12-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program

Education

Advisor

Noah Kasraie

Advisor

Norman St. Clair

Advisor

Osman Özturgut

Abstract

Over the last several years, use of e-books in higher education has increased significantly and is projected to continue through the next decade. Institutions of higher learning have implemented use of e-books without any data that verified the impact on student learning outcomes. The purpose of this ex post facto, quantitative study was to compare student learning outcomes in Human Anatomy and Physiology I courses using e-books versus using traditional textbooks at a two-year public community college in South Texas. With a participant population of 686 students, data were analyzed by their final grades comparing the differences between those who used an e-book with those who used traditional textbooks. Analysis of the data indicated that student learning outcomes (success) in Human Anatomy and Physiology I were independent of the type of book used. Whether students used a traditional textbook or an e-book, no significant difference was found for student learning outcomes (success). Student learning outcomes in Human Anatomy and Physiology were at the same level for students using e-books because of built-in features of the books. These features, which have been termed the e-book effect by this author, combine aspects of constructivist, social constructivist, and active learning that allowed a student to progress through Bloom’s Taxonomy to gain mastery of the subject matter.

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