Thursday, May 5, 2011

E-readers not suitable for US students, study finds

The Independent reporting:
The results of a long-term study in the United States has found that students throughout America are not yet ready to adopt e-readers into their academic lives, despite sales of digital books rising elsewhere in the world.
The study into the integration of e-readers into students' academic projects was conducted over the past year by seven universities throughout the United States.
The study focused specifically on the Amazon Kindle DX e-reader and, of the seven participating universities, the University of Washington (UW) conducted the most in-depth research, interviewing 39 students on their reading habits (with or without the e-reader) over a nine-month period. Despite focusing on the DX, researchers state the aim was not to evaluate the device but students' electronic reading habits.
The results of the study released by the University of Washington on May 2 found that e-readers were not yet suitable for replacing academic books due to a number of reasons including the lack of support on e-readers for notetaking and the difficulty in looking up academic references.
According to the results of the study, one of the major obstacles in integrating e-readers into academic studies was the disruption of a learning technique called 'cognitive mapping.'
According to the University of Washington, 'cognitive mapping' involves the students using physical cues - such as page numbers or the location of text on a page - as a means to re-locate that information and even as a means of recalling it at a later date.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ereaders-not-suitable-for-us-students-study-finds-2278700.html

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