Should Teachers Use a Textbook for Teaching Reading

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• Published: 20 January 2015

Research on teachers' needs when using e-textbooks in teaching

Smart Learning Environments volume ii, Commodity number:1 (2015) Cite this article

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Abstract

The major purposes of this report were to understand teachers' definitions of e-textbooks, to identify teachers' needs when using e-textbooks and to explore the relationships between teachers' needs of using e-textbooks and teachers' attributes. To reach these major purposes, an open up questionnaire was proposed to experts to obtain their requirements of using e-textbooks. A needs of using e-textbooks perception scale (NUEPS) was so synthetic based on teacher interview results, the literature review and the results of the open questionnaire mentioned above. In the formal study, 378 unproblematic and secondary school teachers were selected to consummate NUEPS, and the reliability and validity of the scale were checked. The results indicated that the teachers' needs when using e-textbooks comprised three factors: (1) to support education activities (STA); (two) to support reading and presentation (SRP); and (3) to support learning activities and parental interaction (LAPI). As well, the findings of the study showed that the Taiwanese schoolhouse teachers' perceptions of using e-textbooks were positive in boilerplate. There were no pregnant differences in terms of gender and age, but at that place were differences regarding teachers' school level, and awarding experience in both the STA and SRP sub-dimensions. The results of this study can be used to offering a improve understanding of teachers' needs of using e-textbooks, and to help novice teachers' application in e-textbook.

Introduction

In this digital age, the usage of east-textbooks in the classroom is becoming increasingly popular (Woody et al. 2010; Shepperd et al. 2008; Tees, 2010). Eastward-textbooks can exist seen every bit e-books that contain educational materials and functions, and which tin be used for educational purposes (Landoni & Diaz, 2003). Yet, the definition of e-textbooks frequently changes because the development of technologies and the new awarding of these technologies in education are progressing at such a rapid charge per unit (Jung & Lim, 2009). Currently, e-textbooks usually offer various major features which are described every bit follows. First, e-textbooks can display various digital resources, such as digital texts, photos, animations, simulations, videos, sound and other resources (Chen et al., 2013; Shepperd et al. 2008; Woody et al. 2010). Second, e-textbooks can support learning with some basic text functions such as highlighting, annotating, searching, bookmarking, referring and editing (Chen et al., 2013; Lam et al. 2010; McFall et al. 2006; Woody et al. 2010). These functions brand the usage of east-textbooks more convenient. Besides, the contents tin exist easily updated past publishers, and the functionality allows students to access the latest knowledge at any time and in whatever identify (Brusilovsky et al., 2004). Third, due east-textbooks provide students an easy access to Internet resources (such equally websites and online quizzes) (Chen et al., 2013; Lam et al. 2010; Nelson & Webb, 2007; Woody et al. 2010). This characteristic also enables teachers to hands assign relevant materials to students according to the students' levels (Brusilovsky et al., 2004; Chen et al., 2013; Nelson & Webb, 2007; Everett, 2009). Finally, e-textbooks permit students to share what they practice in their due east-books (e.thousand., annotations and highlight) and what they think (east.g., reports and notes) with other students. This feature tin can heighten students' collaborative learning or interaction (Chen et al., 2013; Huang et al., 2008 & Huang et al. 2009; Järvelä et al., 2007; Kodippili, & Senaratne, 2008; McFall & Dahm, 2004; McFall et al. 2006; Ravid et al. 2008).

In the past at that place take been many scholars reporting in-depth enquiry on due east-book's functions and features. For example, Chen et al. (2013) accept used Delphi method in Beijing for schoolhouse administrators, teachers, students, parents and researchers, etc. These studies explored the concept of eastward-textbook in elementary schools, which declared a number of e-textbook in features and functions. In addition, Taizan et al. (2012) compared digital textbooks in Japan and Korea from the viewpoint of functions and issue. The study on e-book offered a great help of agreement in this realm. Some applications in the classroom, such as recent learning innovation in instructional technology, and emerging technologies with education (e.g., IRS, classroom direction systems, and mobile devices) accept become increasingly popular. The combination of the context taught in the class and the use of due east-textbook makes the e-textbook possible. The features and functions are better than those in the past. The success of information integration in teaching, teachers play a primal role in this new education era (Liu, 2007; literature). Therefore, what teachers' needs regarding the features and functionality of eastward-textbook accept become an interesting event for the researchers to explore.

Literature review

The awarding of e-textbook in learning and education activities

With the development of mobile devices, IRS combining with the learning system increased the diversity of teaching and learning in the application of e-textbook. Many previous studies have demonstrated students' usage of e-textbook (Daniel, & Woody, 2013; McGowan et al. 2009; McFall et al. 2006; Nicholas et al. 2010; Quan-Haase & Martin, 2011; Rose, 2011; Rockinson- Szapkiw et al., 2013; Dominicus et al. 2012; Weisberg 2011). For example, McFall et al. explored university teachers' usage of e-textbooks in reading courses and reported positive responses from teachers. They tin can assign the students reading assignments and know which office requires more than attention too as who have a correct understanding of the textile. Furthermore, it can assist teachers allocate misunderstandings and designate students to assist their classmates. For their efficiency in instruction, teachers argued that the use of eastward-textbooks had fully changed their teaching approaches, providing them with a better connectedness to the students and their learning, and enabling more effective use of grade fourth dimension for teachers who do not like to requite lessons using traditional books (McFall et al. 2006). In recent years, not simply the trend of using e-textbooks in m-learning has appeared, just also the birth of many opinions on improving students the reading and learning efficiency past using of e-textbooks, has showed up. It provides the students with higher learning desires, greater cocky-motivation, and enhanced learning capacities (Woody et al. 2010; Shepperd et al., 2008; Korat & Shamir 2008; Luik & Mikk 2008; De Jong & Bus 2004; Maynard & Cheyne 2005). In the classroom, information technology is the teachers who generally decide whether and how to adopt information technologies (innovative technologies) and often the teachers' attitudes towards technologies determine whether the technologies tin arm-twist the expected effects in the classroom (Hew & Castor, 2007; Keengwe & Onchwari, 2008; Liu, 2007; Teo, 2008; Ertmer, 2005). For example, practice these functions fit teachers' requirements? What functions practice teachers mostly need? Practise teachers with different attributes need east-textbooks with unlike functions? To explore these questions, the following sections firstly review the related literature to explore the possible relationships between teachers' attributes and their perceptions of the employ of technology.

Nonetheless, much of the literature on e-textbooks is from the researchers' perspective, while only a few studies have examined how teachers perceive east-textbooks. Thus far, we have no proper tools available to study teachers' perceptions of e-textbooks. Furthermore, different studies take shown that gender, historic period, school level, application experience and other background factors may affect users' awarding of technologies. However, few studies exploring teachers' opinions of their e-textbook needs have been carried out, and thus information technology is of great significance for both theoretical and teaching practice purposes to construct reliable and valid tools to sympathize the teachers' perspectives on east-textbooks.

Teachers' attributes and their perceptions of the use of technology

Previous studies have shown that users with different attributes may concur varied perceptions of the use of technologies (Liu et al. 2010; McGowan et al. 2009; Wang et al., 2009; Uzunboylu & Ozdamli 2011). Information technology is known that teachers play a critical role in determining whether and how to apply technologies in their classrooms, However, students are commonly the ones, rather than the teachers, who have served as the subjects of study in previous relevant enquiry. In this study, we consider the literature on gender, age, schoolhouse level, and awarding experience factors.

Outset, considering few studies take explored the relationships between teachers' gender and the use of due east-textbooks, several studies related to the event of students' gender on the usage of e-textbooks are also reviewed here. Some studies have found that male students are more likely to read e-textbooks. For example, Liu and Huang (2008) surveyed the effect of undergraduate students' gender on their reading behaviors and experiences regarding printed materials and electronic media. They found that female person students preferred reading printed materials while male person students were more satisfied with electronic learning materials. In addition, McGowan et al. (2009) found that male students from universities and graduate schools were more likely to utilise e-textbooks. However, some other studies (e.yard., Wang et al., 2009; Liu et al. 2010) found that males and females have very like perceptions of or ways of using mobile devices. In addition, in that location are few studies on gender differences in teachers' perceptions of the use of due east-textbooks. In one written report that did investigate this issue, Uzunboylu and Ozdamli (2010) found that male teachers' perceptions of mobile technologies were comparatively more than positive than those of female teachers; for example, male teachers were more probable to believe that mobile technology-based learning systems improve the quality of their lessons, teachers tin have instant access to materials, the appliances can exist utilized every bit a supplement to traditional educational activity, and teacher-student advice can be enhanced by means of m-learning tools.

2d, from the perspective of age, McGowan et al. (2009) indicated that older students showed a stronger preference for due east-textbooks than younger students. In 1 of the studies investigating the determinants of grand-learning usage intention which explored how age difference moderates the influence of these determinants on usage intention, the results indicated that age difference moderated the furnishings of effort expectation and social influence on m-learning use intention (Wang et al., 2009). The teacher group most inclined to apply figurer-based technology to teachers' classroom education was the heart-anile group in a technology-rich environment (Hung & Hsu, 2007).

Third, but a limited number of studies on school levels have been performed and are bachelor. And then and Swatman (2006) studied primary schoolhouse teachers in Hong Kong and compared them with teachers in secondary schools. They institute that teachers in primary schools were less familiar with the utilize of technologies in teaching. Hsu (2010) investigated 3,729 teachers from grades i through ix in Taiwan in terms of six aspects, namely (1) information collection and preparation; (2) material producing and troubleshooting; (3) communication and sharing; (4) planning, educational activity and evaluation; (5) professional development and self-study; and (six) ideals, wellness and rubber bug, and found that elementary school teachers had a higher level of preference for the use of technologies in instruction compared to teachers in center or high schools. Teachers at unlike levels accept been institute to have varying opinions on the use of technologies in educational activity, and this may besides be true for the use of east-textbooks in the classroom. According to International Order for Technology in Didactics (2003), there was no significant differences were constitute in computer availability between differenct school types (elementary vs. secondary schoolhouse).

Fourth, regarding teachers' application experience, computer experience has a significant effect on attitudes toward technology (Levine & Donitsa-Schmidt, 1998; Smith et al. 2000; Woodrow, 1992). There was pregnant positive correlation betwixt teachers' level of ICT use and their attitudes towards ICT (Al-Zaidiyeen et al. 2010). Teachers' competency in using ICT has also been found to exist a strong determinant of their level of applied science employ in the classroom (Bauer & Kenton, 2005; Wozney et al., 2006). If teachers accept more experience with instructional design, they would be able to deport better grade preparation (Gong et al. 2013). Therefore, teachers' attributes and their perceptions of the utilize of e-textbooks should be cleared.

Purpose

On the footing of the literature review, this written report aims: (a) to construct a needs calibration of using e-textbooks and to test its reliability and validity; (b) to survey teachers' needs when using east-textbooks; and (c) to explore the relationship betwixt teachers' needs and other variables that are related to the teachers' personal characteristics, such as gender, age, school level, and application experience in the classroom.

Methodology

Participants

This inquiry involved 415 teachers from 22 elementary and secondary schools in Taiwan every bit subjects. The teachers were enrolled in a instructor educational activity plan that was held in three areas in Taiwan. The return rate was 91.1%, with 378 usable questionnaires available for assay.

Evolution of NUEPS

Co-ordinate to the bones aims of this inquiry, a calibration was used to make up one's mind the teachers' perceptions of their demands for using due east-textbooks. Based on the literature review, nosotros identified iv stages in the evolution of the needs of using e-textbooks perception calibration (NUEPS). In the first phase, 6 open questions relevant to instruction using due east-textbooks in real-life situations were proposed on the basis of the literature review. These questions, which were prepared for five teachers who worked as experts in the field of integrating technologies in elementary or secondary school teaching, involved how teachers should present their materials, and how to act as coaches and facilitators to better students' learning (see Appendix A). The v teachers are experienced in using due east-textbook. Their education feel in the application of technology in the classroom is 10 years at average. After the interviews, the teachers' definitions of eastward-textbooks were evaluated and used in the follow-upward written report.

In the second phase, on the basis of the opinions of these v educational technology experts and the literature review, 27 items were synthetic. For content validation, three unproblematic school teachers, two secondary school teachers, and one university professor who had experienced using east-textbooks were consulted to assess the quality of each particular, ostend their classification in the NUEPS, and suggest necessary particular revisions. The v teachers take experienced in the awarding of applied science in the classroom. The professor'due south experience in integration engineering in didactics and research were 13 years. Some experts were invited to help measure the validity of the six questions. A 4-bespeak scale was used. The adding of this questionnaire content validity index value is 0.96. In line with CVI value should exist 0.8 or more than of the requirements (Flit, et al., 2010). This shows the validity of the questionnaire in this study is adequately skilful. Lastly, five items were added to the questionnaires every bit a result of the specialist reviews. Thus, the scale consisted of 32 items. All of the items were measured using a five-indicate Likert scale, where 5 indicated "strongly hold" and 1 indicated "strongly disagree".

In the tertiary stage, this pilot instrument was administered to 95 teachers to perform the reliability and validity analysis. Data collected from the pilot instrument helped to determine the scale's items, and the average, standard deviation, and the full item correlation of each parameter were calculated. The boilerplate item grades were between 3.92 and 4.41, whereas the standard deviation was between 0.84 and 1.02. Analysis results of the item assay, which was testify to determine the discrimination of the items, revealed that the total item correlation was between 0.45 and 0.88. No items were removed from the original questionnaire. The reliability coefficient of the unabridged scale was measured as Cronbach's α = 0.98.

In the 4th stage, the final questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first function, which consisted of questions, focused on the demographic data of the teachers, including their gender, age, length of pedagogy experience, and school level, among other factors. The second office consisted of the 32 items related to the needs of using east-textbooks. The questionnaires were delivered to the teachers who attended the training programme on using technologies in the classroom. Completion of the questionnaire was completely voluntary and anonymous. Frequency analysis of the data was used to demonstrate the teachers' distribution in this stage. Coefficients of regression and MANOVA were calculated using SPSS 12.0. A level of 0.5 was established as a priori for determining statistical significance. The whole stage was shown in Effigy i.

Figure 1

Experimental procedure.

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Results and Word

In this study, questionnaires were distributed to teachers who applied east-volume in learning activities. Teachers enrolling in a free and voluntary plan were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Among the participants, 55.30% were female (169 males and 209 females); the teachers (uncomplicated school teachers: 71.9%, secondary schoolhouse teachers: 28.1%) were from 24 to 58 years old with an average historic period of 38. The percentage of participants with experience using e-textbooks in teaching was 68.5%, and those without such feel comprised 31.five%. Teacher'southward background varied from subjects (e.grand., Chinese languages, English, mathematics and other 10 subjects) to grade level (i to 9). Too, sometimes they are required to take turns to teach the dissimilar subjects and the target students' grade level. The boilerplate of educational activity feel is 13.51 years.

Teacher'southward views on the requirements of eastward-textbooks

In the interviews performed during the first stage, the teachers expressed their views regarding their due east-textbook requirements:

Teacher one: "Teachers should choose e-textbooks based on curriculum outlines for use in teaching. East-textbooks should have some functions which repeat the curriculum outlines similar to how teachers should teach and consistent with the requirements of the curriculum outline, which are used to gear up lessons following the teaching manuals or guidance, and to provide students with corresponding assignments and quizzes, etc. Thus, in addition to the same contents in traditional textbooks, due east-textbooks should provide convenient and more than easily integrated multimedia functions".

Instructor two: "Basic functions included in eastward-textbooks for students' apply should provide no answers for students' assignments, offer supplementary explanations, hyperlinks and favorable settings, while those for teachers' utilise (a version that differs from the students' version) should have supplementary teaching explanations, such as answers for assignments, assessments and other things, and instructional videos integrated in one identify".

Teacher 2: "Nosotros still cannot do without canonical versions of materials consistent with the textbook review and approval policy. Due to unified assessments and things such as these in canonical versions of the materials, such materials fail to meet the students' private needs. To cope with individual needs, e-textbooks should have additional supplements".

Instructor iii: "The schoolhouse bought some books once, and these were non reviewed and approved versions of the materials, if you lot teach using such books, what would parents say? … We received disapproval from the parents".

Teacher 4: "Why do we trust textbooks? They have definitely been reviewed and have met approval standards. Thus, if we make due east-textbooks in Taiwan, so their review and approval are a must. In reality, parents adhere smashing value to such things (textbooks)—review and approval will give parents reassurance regarding their children'southward use of e-textbooks, but self-prepared ones (education materials) are susceptible to the parents' disapproval".

Teacher 5: "We should non only add multimedia and hyperlinks to existing textbooks, but also put in teacher-student interactions and overall support of learning records and assessments".

Taken together, the teachers' views on the requirements of e-textbooks are summarized equally follows: (1) use approved eastward-textbooks; (2) e-textbooks should have non only textbook contents but also digitalized assessments or education materials such as assignments and academic records; (iii) e-textbooks should have multimedia presentation functions to help the students acquire. Nosotros distributed these three perceptions and questionnaires to teachers and performed descriptive statistics after retrieving the questionnaire responses. We found high levels of understanding among the teachers for these three items, with values for "agree" and "strongly agree" ranking above 81.1%, and with all the means higher than 4.12(Cronbach's alpha (α) = 0.953) (run into Tabular array 1). Both the uncomplicated and secondary school teachers surveyed thought that east-textbooks were positively defined equally "ones whose compilations follow the teaching objectives, contents, ability indicators and so on in the Form 1–9 curriculum outlines, that have passed review and approval, and that are equipped with multimedia presentation functions plus digitalized assessments or teaching materials, such as assignments and academic records". This definition requires conformity with the Course i–ix curriculum outlines and approvals, which varies from the definitions in the existing literature (Shepperd et al. 2008; McFall et al. 2006). The teacher thought that content and version of e-textbook could be better if these could be accredited or reviewed by the official. The findings in this study are coincident with the claims found in Chen et al. (2013) study.

Table one Teacher's perceptions of their requirements for using e-textbooks (n = 95)

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Needs of using eastward-textbook perception scale (NUEPS)

Our study provides the commencement findings on teachers' perceptions of e-textbooks in Taiwan. The information in the scale were generated to determine the teachers' perceptions of their needs when using e-textbooks.

Validity

In this study, the NUEPS Scale was validated by using factor analysis. Through the method the study can identifying items whose removal would raise the internal consistency reliability and the scale'southward factor structure. The results of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's Test reveal p = 0.00, and the values of the KMO were to a higher place 0.90. According to these assay results, it conclude that the sample data were adequate for cistron analysis. Next, principal component assay was performed on the data to explore the component construction underlying the instrument. The boilerplate of the scale items was between 4.06 and iv.47. Also, the standard deviation was betwixt 0.72 and 0.91. The analysis results of total item correlations, which were used to decide the discrimination of the items, all items were above 0.40, ranging from 0.40 to 0.81. Three factors were found in the teachers' perceptions of the e-textbook scale. The total variance obtained by the 3 factors was estimated as 63.554% subsequently the Varimax rotation (in Table ii). Table 2 represents the items included in the factors after the Varimax rotation.

Table ii NUEPS mean, SD, cistron, and reliability results

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According to the results of the analysis, nosotros have three components. The items' contents, which were obtained from the factors and their appropriateness to the theoretical structure, were taken into consideration in providing titles for these 3 sub-dimensions: 'Supporting Didactics Activities' (STA, 13 items), 'Supporting features and functions of Reading and Presenting' (SRP, 13 items), and 'Learning Activities and Parent Interaction' (LAPI, half-dozen items). Pearson correlation of the dimensions was calculated to observe the human relationship amongst the dimension of the scale after factor assay. It ended that the interactions amid all dimensions were stiff, ranging from 0.77 to 0.87. In this context, upon examining the correlations regarding the total points, the scale measures have the desirable features.

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability of the three scales in NUEPS was determined in the report by calculating the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the in a higher place sample. The results in Tabular array 2 indicate that the internal consistency reliability ranged from 0.91 to 0.95 for the three NUEPS scales. For the whole scale, the Cronbach's alpha (α) value was 0.98, and the half-divide reliability of the scale was 0.93. For the 'STA' sub-dimension, the Cronbach'south alpha (α) value was 0.95, with a half-divide reliability of 0.93. For the 'SRP', the Cronbach'due south alpha (α) value was 0.95, and the one-half-split reliability was 0.90. Finally, for the 'LAPI' sub-dimension, the Cronbach'southward alpha (α) value was 0.92, and the half-separate reliability was 0.90. Thus, the internal consistency reliability of the measures used in this study can be considered as favorable.

Based on the results of this report, it is suggested that the reliability and validity criteria for the scale were high. The sub-dimension of 'STA' contained statements that described the e-textbooks' application modes, cess and needs of the implementing remedial learning and studies, which share functional needs among students when teachers are using due east-textbooks in education. The sub-section of 'SRP' contained statements on features that supported e-textbook reading and the presentation of functions and operations, a function to enable network admission, a teaching-presenting function in addition to a content and style integrative office when the teachers are using e-textbooks in didactics. In the dimension of 'LAPI', statements on the students' needs to make marks, accept notes or transmit assignments, and the parents' needs to manage their children'due south learning activities were constitute. The details of each subscale are provided in Table 3.

Table 3 Descriptive data of the NUEPS

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Teachers' scores on the three perception dimensions of NUEPS

Iii subscales may be observed in Table ii, which presents the teachers' mean scores and standard deviations. The results showed that the teachers' mean scores were 4.26 to iv.xl on a five point Likert-type scale, and the standard deviations were 0.62 to 0.71. We used multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine whether differences existed in the perceived needs between male and female person teachers in uncomplicated and secondary schools, teachers of different ages, teachers with awarding experience and those without such experience.

Gender difference in the perception of using e-textbooks

To identify whether there was a significant gender divergence in the needs of using e-textbooks, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized (Table 4). We institute that gender (F = ane.863, P >0.05; Wilks' Lambda (Λ) = 0.985; fractional eta squared = 0.015) had not reached the significant level when MANOVA was conducted at the significant level α = 0.05. The findings of this report revealed no significant departure amongst the 'STA', 'SRP', and 'LAPI' dimensions, suggesting that male person and female teachers in Taiwan have the same perceptions regarding the utilize of e-textbooks in the classroom. It appears that the findings of this study are consistent with those of Liu et al. (2010), and Wang et al. (2009), who previously claimed no gender bias in teachers' utilize of thou-learning. However, some studies have reported gender divergence in their results. For example, Uzunboylu and Ozdamli (2010) found that male teachers' perceptions of m-learning technologies were comparatively more positive than those of female teachers. All Teachers have the same opportunity to join training or professional evolution courses most integrating technologies every semester in Taiwan.

Table 4 Descriptive statistics and F-examination of gender on NUEPS dimensions

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Historic period deviation in the perception of the need to use due east-textbooks

This report further analyzed the relationship between the teachers' historic period and the perception of using e-textbook sub-dimensions. According to the study of Hung & Hsu (2007), the participating teachers were divided into four groups: (i) up to 30 years onetime, (2) between 31 and forty years former, (iii) between 41 and 50 years one-time, and (4) over 51 years old. The findings showed that no pregnant difference (Wilks' Lambda = 0.957, P > 0.05) existed in teachers' different historic period (see Table 5). The finding of this report is consistent with of Hsu et al. (2008), who claimed no age difference on the teacher's proficiency of ICT integration.

Table five Results of the MANOVA and mail service hoc tests on age difference in the NUEPS dimensions

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Elementary and secondary school teachers' difference in using e-textbooks

The MANOVA test showed that there were statistically significant differences in elementary and secondary school teachers in the NUEPS (F = iv.671, P <0.05; Wilks' Lambda (Λ) = 0.963; partial eta squared = 0.037). In the findings shown in Table 6, a meaning difference in the elementary and secondary school teachers' needs when using e-textbooks can be observed in the sub-dimension of STA. As illustrated in Table 6, elementary schoolhouse teachers held statistically significant perceptions that differed from those of secondary schoolhouse teachers in the sub-dimension of SRP. There were significant differences in the needs of the teachers' instruction activities, assessment and remedial learning, and students' group learning activities in STA, with the secondary school teachers having patently fewer needs compared to the elementary schoolhouse teachers. This was also true for the needs in the SRP dimension (including interface presentation and operation, network functions, pedagogy demonstration and data updates when elementary and secondary school teachers used e-textbooks in teaching). In the LAPI dimension (including needs for learning activities and parent direction), the results of these sub-dimensions showed no significant differences, merely the secondary schoolhouse teachers' needs were lower than those of the elementary school teachers. These results differ from those of the survey conducted in Hong Kong, in which the results indicated that primary schoolhouse teachers had no sufficient understanding or mastery of technology use in learning compared with secondary teachers (So & Swatman, 2006). This difference could well be considering Taiwanese secondary school teachers have long been revealed to face higher pressure of college entrance systems and thus seldom utilize technologies in the classroom.

Table half-dozen Results of the MANOVA on elementary and secondary school teachers' difference in NUEPS dimensions

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Experience difference in perceptions of using e-textbooks

The MANOVA test showed that whether or not teachers had previously used an e-textbook made a pregnant difference in the NUEPS (F = ii.662, P < 0.05; Wilks' Lambda (Λ) = 0.978; partial eta squared = 0.022). In the findings displayed in Tabular array 7, teachers with such application feel reported higher needs in 'SRF' than those without such experience. Usually, the teachers with due east-textbook application experience already have a willingness to introduce using technology, and also they express more requirements regarding using eastward-textbooks in the classroom.

Table 7 Descriptive statistics and F test for those with or without experience on NUEPS dimensions

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Conclusion and suggestions

Research contribution

Our research is the get-go report to written report findings regarding teacher perceptions of e-textbooks in Taiwan. The reliability and validity of the NUEPS have been confirmed, thus providing a highly suitable calibration for understanding teachers' needs when using e-textbooks. In previous g-12′s studies (Chen et al., 2013; Gong et al. 2013; Taizan et al., 2012) teachers comments on due east-book features and functions was not indicated. The teaching activity pattern (eastward.k., quizzes, learning to share, class cooperation) was not discussed owing to the lack of large-calibration survey questionnaire tool. In this study, nearly of the teachers who have the experience of e-textbook in principal and secondary schools were recruited and asked to answer the questions. It showed that while implementing a mobile device in teaching the instructional design needs wireless, Classroom Response Systems and cloud computing systems. The real demands for teachers were institute out. NUEPS Scale not only is good for experienced teachers, but likewise helps novice teachers' application of due east-textbook and lesson planning. This serves as a guideline in establishing norms for the official institute, and a reference in constructing the electronic didactics system. In the concurrently, in this study a e-textbook unit which integrated of new technology mobile device, wireless and cloud computing systems for schoolhouse smart learning surround in the new trends of due east-textbook applications was developed.

Conclusion and suggestions

For elementary and secondary schoolhouse teachers in Taiwan, due east-textbooks are "ones whose compilations follow the teaching objectives, contents, ability indicators then on in the Class 1–9 curriculum outlines, have passed review and approval, and are equipped with multimedia presenting functions plus digitalized assessing or teaching materials such as assignment and report lists" and which tin can be matched with mobile devices to facilitate students' ability to conduct and learn at whatever time and place. The purpose of this study was to develop a calibration of perceptions of needs of using e-textbooks (NUEPS). As a result of the four-stage development process adopted in this written report, a NUEPS with 32 items was developed. To determine the factor structure, these items were examined, and regarding the assessed features, these three factors were labeled every bit "Supporting Teaching Activities"; "Supporting Features and Functions in Reading and Presenting", and "Learning Activities and Parent Interaction". We concluded that when using e-textbooks in teaching, teachers hold positive views (all the means of the descriptive analysis were over 4.0) on east-textbook features also as the teachers and students' learning needs. We found that male person and female person teachers in Taiwan maintained no difference in opinions, only for teachers with experience using digital textbooks, their needs for "supporting reading and presenting of e-textbooks and operating functions, network access, teaching sit-in plus different format integrating functions" (SRP) were stronger compared with teachers without such feel. When elementary schoolhouse teachers utilise e-textbooks in educational activity, they have higher STA (including e-textbook's awarding mode, assessment and needs for remedial learning, and students' needs to share studies) and SRP needs (including supporting e-textbook presentation and operation functions, network access, educational activity demonstration plus content and mode integrating functions) than those of secondary school teachers. These may exist related to the fact that secondary school teachers have long been exposed to higher pressure level of school entrance systems and they seldom utilise technologies in assessments, sharing, or collaborative learning. The findings of this research revealed no significant deviation between needs of using eastward-textbook perception of teachers and historic period.

The digital classroom is a new medium of educational activity for both teachers and students, and is in a state of continuous innovation in Taiwan, whereby textbooks and blackboards are gradually being replaced (Chen, 2010). Many researchers have constructed due east-textbook-based environments with various advanced features and functions. For example, Classroom Response Systems (CRSs) (or classroom communication systems or voting machines) are application in the educational system equally they elicit more interaction between students and teachers (Salemi 2009), and help teachers to conduct formative assessments and to understand the students' prior knowledge and attitudes to facilitate their acquisition of new knowledge (Fies & Marshall, 2006). CRSs also provide an active learning approach in the classroom (Martyn Margie, 2007). Furthermore, progress has been fabricated in context-aware ubiquitous learning environments, which are able to sense the situation of learners and provide adaptive supports (Hwang et al. 2008).

As learning environments are changing and then rapidly, an indispensable learning content in the classroom - e-textbooks, combined with mobile devices and connected to the Internet, is becoming more important for supporting learning and education in the classroom. Due east-textbooks are worth farther study, as they volition guide students into the adjacent generation of learning - smart learning environments.

Adoption of technologies lies in the hands of teachers. To bring due east-textbook multimedia and m-learning features into play, it is advisable to provide customized teaching awarding help for dissimilar teacher groups when promoting the employ of e-textbooks in the future, and involve the students and parents in the preparation of using such teaching application assistance in advance. Moreover, Education Bureaus and schools should provide proper grooming programs about independent thinking and the awarding of new technologies to guide in-service teachers to use e-textbooks to ameliorate cooperative learning, interactions, etc.

Limited by time and resource this written report was for teachers in three areas who attended, cannot exist grouped by age and sample each course bailiwick teachers to assign sampling, therefore, unable to explore the idea of teachers from different disciplines. One limitation is that some teachers who may understand the questionnaire described, but have no practical instruction experience with e-textbooks before. Their awareness of e-volume may not exist mature or sophisticated plenty, which might affect the results of this study. Suggestion for future research is to enlarge the sample size. It will atomic number 82 to a greater extension of exploration and discovery. Further topics regarding teachers and students' awarding quality surveys, awarding of e-textbook assessing tools, and use of multimedia contents and k-learning deserve farther studies to help teachers to understand, assess and improve teaching effects.

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Affiliations

1. Graduate Institute of Learning and Pedagogy, National Fundamental University, Jhongli City, Taiwan

   Yen-chen Lin

2. Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan

   Tzu-Chien Liu

3. Kinesthesia of Scientific discipline and Technology, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, T9S 3A3, Canada

   ᅟ Kinshuk

Respective author

Correspondence to Yen-chen Lin.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors' contributions

YC is the overall e-textbook projection coordinator and in addition responsible for the written report conception and pattern, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of information. Professor TCL and K provide comments and suggestions for this paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Interview questions for experts/teachers (outlines of interviews)

What is your definition of due east-textbooks? (Definition from the teachers' perspective).

If yous use eastward-textbooks in classroom teaching, what blazon of presentation and operation interface features should e-textbooks have?

If you employ due east-textbooks in classroom instruction, do you recall information technology is necessary for portable devices to have network functions?

What is your stance on the presentation, updates and richness of the east-textbooks' contents?

If you lot use e-textbooks in education, do you lot need teaching activities manuals, updated versions at any time and alerts for teaching progress to match the due east-textbooks?

If you employ e-textbooks in teaching, do you think it is necessary to plan and back up educational activity management, students' learning activities and management functions or systems to help the teachers manage their classes?

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Lin, Yc., Liu, TC. & Kinshuk, ᅟ. Inquiry on teachers' needs when using e-textbooks in teaching. Smart Larn. Environ. 2, ane (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-014-0008-1

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• Received: 08 June 2014

• Accepted: 27 November 2014

• Published: twenty January 2015

• DOI : https://doi.org/ten.1186/s40561-014-0008-1

Keywords

• E-textbook
• Mobile learning
• Digital volume
• Educational technology

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