The Surprising Foil to Online Education: Why Students Won’t Give Up Paper Textbooks
Joanne McNeish, Mary Foster, Anthony Francescucci, Bettina West
Purpose of the Study. Digital resources are an integral part of online education. Although advocates of digitized information believe that millennial students will embrace the paperless classroom, this is not proving to be the case. This research addresses gaps in our understanding of student resistance to giving up paper-based learning resources by examining attributes of the paper textbook that are perceived as necessary for knowledge transfer and that are not present in digital information modalities. Method/Design and Sample. Phase 1 used focus groups to identify the content of items that were incorporated into a quantitative instrument in phase 2. A sample of 386 undergraduate students taking marketing courses at a Canadian urban university completed the online survey. We then used Confirmatory Factor Analysis to test the factors linked to resistance to discontinuing paper textbooks. Results. Students’ resistance to giving up the paper textbook positively relates to the way in which the paper textbook facilitate learning and study processes, is permanent and under the students’ control during and after the course is finished. The fluid and dynamic nature of digital content compared to the more consistent and predictable nature of information on paper appears to be a barrier to the acquisition of knowledge for the purpose of assessment. Value to Marketing Educators. This study provides insights into the underlying reasons for student resistance to discontinuing paper-based learning resources, and benefits marketing educators and developers of educational content by outlining ways to improve student learning success. Keywords: Study Processes, Permanence, Resistance, Knowledge Transfer, Electronic Textbook
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