Turn on the book: Using affordance theory to understand the adoption of digital textbooks by university lecturers

Debborah Smith; Jeffrey E. Brand; Shelley Kinash

Turn on the book: Using affordance theory to understand the adoption of digital textbooks by university lecturers

Debborah Smith^*, Jeffrey E. Brand, Shelley Kinash

^*Corresponding author for this work

Faculty of Society & Design

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Research › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

142 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Adoption of digital textbooks in higher education has been slower than was expected. This paper presents preliminary findings from a study conducted at a small Australian university looking into how lecturers use digital textbooks. The pilot research indicated that the slow uptake may be explained by academic perception; participants indicated a strong preference for printed books, particularly related to capacity for accessing content. This pointed to a definitional property in that they largely conceived of an etextbook as a digital replica of a printed book. Not all lecturers were aware of enhanced digital textbooks, but generally agreed that it could be advantageous to have such content integrated into a central resource. Lecturers furthermore acknowledged the need to understand the affordances of educational technologies and their application to learning and teaching. Affordances theory is used to consider the knowledge required to effectively implement the full range of resources available in digital textbooks.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Electric dreams
Subtitle of host publication	30th Ascilite conference proceedings
Place of Publication	Australia
Publisher	ASCILITE
Pages	812-820
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Electronic)	9781741384031
Publication status	Published - 2013
Event	Annual conference on Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education: Electric Dreams - Sydney, Sydney, Australia Duration: 1 Dec 2013 → 4 Dec 2013 Conference number: 30th

Conference

Conference	Annual conference on Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
Abbreviated title	ASCILITE 2013
Country/Territory	Australia
City	Sydney
Period	1/12/13 → 4/12/13

Access to Document

Turn on the book: Using affordance theory to understand the adoption of digital textbooks by university lecturersFinal published version, 638 KBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

@inproceedings{5113cebb312d42e38fd6a8c2d0470603,

title = "Turn on the book: Using affordance theory to understand the adoption of digital textbooks by university lecturers",

abstract = "Adoption of digital textbooks in higher education has been slower than was expected. This paper presents preliminary findings from a study conducted at a small Australian university looking into how lecturers use digital textbooks. The pilot research indicated that the slow uptake may be explained by academic perception; participants indicated a strong preference for printed books, particularly related to capacity for accessing content. This pointed to a definitional property in that they largely conceived of an etextbook as a digital replica of a printed book. Not all lecturers were aware of enhanced digital textbooks, but generally agreed that it could be advantageous to have such content integrated into a central resource. Lecturers furthermore acknowledged the need to understand the affordances of educational technologies and their application to learning and teaching. Affordances theory is used to consider the knowledge required to effectively implement the full range of resources available in digital textbooks.",

author = "Debborah Smith and Brand, {Jeffrey E.} and Shelley Kinash",

note = "Copyright (c) 2013 Debborah Smith, Jeffrey E. Brand, Dr Shelley Kinash The author(s) assign to ascilite and educational non-profit institutions, a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction, provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author(s) also grant a non-exclusive licence to ascilite to publish this document on the ascilite web site and in other formats for the Proceedings ascilite Sydney 2013. Any other use is prohibited without the express permission of the author(s). ; Annual conference on Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education : Electric Dreams, ASCILITE 2013 ; Conference date: 01-12-2013 Through 04-12-2013",

year = "2013",

language = "English",

pages = "812--820",

booktitle = "Electric dreams",

publisher = "ASCILITE",

}

Turn on the book: Using affordance theory to understand the adoption of digital textbooks by university lecturers. / Smith, Debborah; Brand, Jeffrey E.; Kinash, Shelley.
Electric dreams: 30th Ascilite conference proceedings. Australia: ASCILITE, 2013. p. 812-820.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Research › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Turn on the book: Using affordance theory to understand the adoption of digital textbooks by university lecturers

AU - Smith, Debborah

AU - Brand, Jeffrey E.

AU - Kinash, Shelley

N1 - Conference code: 30th

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - Adoption of digital textbooks in higher education has been slower than was expected. This paper presents preliminary findings from a study conducted at a small Australian university looking into how lecturers use digital textbooks. The pilot research indicated that the slow uptake may be explained by academic perception; participants indicated a strong preference for printed books, particularly related to capacity for accessing content. This pointed to a definitional property in that they largely conceived of an etextbook as a digital replica of a printed book. Not all lecturers were aware of enhanced digital textbooks, but generally agreed that it could be advantageous to have such content integrated into a central resource. Lecturers furthermore acknowledged the need to understand the affordances of educational technologies and their application to learning and teaching. Affordances theory is used to consider the knowledge required to effectively implement the full range of resources available in digital textbooks.

AB - Adoption of digital textbooks in higher education has been slower than was expected. This paper presents preliminary findings from a study conducted at a small Australian university looking into how lecturers use digital textbooks. The pilot research indicated that the slow uptake may be explained by academic perception; participants indicated a strong preference for printed books, particularly related to capacity for accessing content. This pointed to a definitional property in that they largely conceived of an etextbook as a digital replica of a printed book. Not all lecturers were aware of enhanced digital textbooks, but generally agreed that it could be advantageous to have such content integrated into a central resource. Lecturers furthermore acknowledged the need to understand the affordances of educational technologies and their application to learning and teaching. Affordances theory is used to consider the knowledge required to effectively implement the full range of resources available in digital textbooks.

UR - http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/sydney13/about/proceedings.pdf

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84913591759&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:84913591759

SP - 812

EP - 820

BT - Electric dreams

PB - ASCILITE

CY - Australia

T2 - Annual conference on Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education

Y2 - 1 December 2013 through 4 December 2013

ER -

Turn on the book: Using affordance theory to understand the adoption of digital textbooks by university lecturers

Abstract

Conference

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this