Connected Knowledge

I am an enthusiastic advocate of electronic book readers.  I’m seldom parted from my beloved Barnes & Noble Nook and spend far too much money on electronic novels and obscure history books.  But when it comes time to prepare a lecture, write a paper or to just do some basic research, I still find myself returning to pulp-based media.  eReaders are great for getting lost in book, but not so great for finding something specific in that same book or jotting down a note in the margin.  I’ve generally assumed that I’m just too old and stodgy to fully abandon hardcopy, but it turns out even young, tech-savvy folks prefer paper for academic work.

Last year Amazon organized a pilot study of using their Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device in place of traditional textbooks.  Oregon’s Reed College was among the seven institutions selected to participate.  This morning I received a copy of the final report of  The Reed College Kindle Study.  Reed’s study took place during the fall semester of 2009 and involved 43 students enrolled in three upper-level undergraduate courses. Participants agreed to use the Kindle DX for these classes, evaluate the features of the device and its impact on the learning experience and to assess the overall prospects of eReaders in higher education.  Reed expected about half of the eligible students would sign up.  They ended up with nearly 95%.  I suspect the fact that participants got to keep the Kindle at the end of the study may have had something to do with the high participation rate.

The students loved the reading experience on the Kindle DX and the fact that it fit so handily in a backpack. These and other perceived benefits, like paper savings and “over-the-air” distribution of course materials, weren’t surprising. What was surprising was that the single-function design of the eReader was perceived as an advantage rather than a drawback.   A multi-function netbook, or a tablet like the recently announced, much-hyped and unfortunately named iPad, apparently offer too many temptations for an easily distracted student.

Faculty in the pilot study noted, however, that use of the Kindle DX in class didn’t lead to the distractions that are typical of laptop use. Students were not tempted to check their email, browse the web, or use the Kindle in class for anything except to refer to course materials. The functional limitations of the platform, generally viewed as a shortcoming, proved to be a real benefit to class discussion dynamics.

So is this a death knell for traditional print textbooks?  Probably not.  At least not yet. In fact both students and faculty involved in the study unanimously concluded that the Kindle DX, at least in its current incarnation, was unable to meet their academic needs.  Many of the challenges reported by participants amounted to little more than annoyances that will likely be overcome as the technology matures. More troubling was the impact on discussion and comprehension of the course material.

All three courses in the study were upper-division seminars centered around careful reading and discussion of assigned texts.  Students are expected to back up their assertions and opinions with supporting evidence from the readings.  During the course of discussion the entire class needs to be able to locate references quickly in order to keep the conversation moving.  The cumbersome navigation in the Kindle and the slow page refresh rate made this impossible.  (To be fair, I have yet to see an eReader, the nook included, that does facilitate this). As a result, students reported that their in-class conversations were “more superficial and less supported by texts” than was normally the case.  After a month, many students abandoned the Kindle in favor of traditional textbooks, even though this meant forfeiting the gadget. The ultimate result of this frustration, along with the difficulty of jotting down notes on an electronic text, was that student’s comprehension of the material plummeted.

By far the most troublesome feedback we received during the study was from a faculty member who felt that his students’ comprehension of the reading materials suffered from use of the Kindle DX. He speculated that the difficulty students encountered with highlighting and taking notes on the device eventually caused them to read passively, thereby reducing their ability to reflect on and retain complex information. He saw evidence of this in assignments as well as in class discussion.

In order for eReaders to truly replace traditional hardcopy textbooks, they need to emulate some of the most basic features currently only available from dead trees.  Namely “the flexibility and ease of jotting notes on paper, flipping from page to page, and spreading multiple texts across a desk.“  Tablet PC’s may be able to take on this role as they mature and students will just have to control their urge to Tweet in class.  The Reed Kindle study does end on a hopeful note for the future of eReaders in academia, concluding that “once technical and other issues have been addressed, eReaders will play a significant, possibly a transformative, role in higher education.”