Obstacles to Using E-Books in Higher Education

Abstract

Electronic books provide learners, lecturers and universities with an extra tool of instructions that can encourage or improve the learning process. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate obstacles students face in using e-books at the Saudi Electronic University. A mixed-method research design was used. Thirty students participated in two focus group sessions and 215 students participated in a self-developed survey designed to confirm the existence of obstacles revealed from qualitiave data. Results suggest that cost, eye-strain, and distractions were regarded as obstacles. Practices such as highlighting and taking notes were found to be limited. With the trend toward implementation of e-books in learning, e-book developers should consider factors that help students enjoy using the devices in education. Integrating multimedia, hyperlinks and other features of using technology in reading should be considered. Recommendations have been included in this study.