https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1449-7751
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ABSTRACT
With the development of educational technologies, electronic books (e-books) have been improved and adapted to cater to new teaching models, as well as to overcome several challenges reported by printed book portability. The literature about the benefits of e-books in education is still fragmented as several studies have reported distinct disadvantages in addition to advantageous of using them. Currently, no prior study has systematically reviewed the research on the ways e-books have been employed in education and the associated benefits and challenges. To address this gap, this study conducts a systematic review of 123 empirical studies on e-books in education. The findings show that the development and adoption of e-books by countries vary, calling for more international collaborations to facilitate the adoption of e-books worldwide. Additionally, several challenges of e-books were identified, such as eye fatigue and lack of knowledge on using e-books in education by both students and teachers. Therefore, it is suggested that more design strategies and training about using e-books can be conducted to enhance both teaching and learning experiences. Finally, it is argued that future research may focus on designing intelligent and open e-books to expand their use in different contexts and provide more personalized learning.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Ahmed Tlili
Dr. Ahmed Tlili is an Associate Professor at Beijing Normal University, China, Adjunct Associate Professor at An-Najah University, Palestine, and a Visiting Professor at UNIR, Spain. He is the Co-Director of the OER Lab at the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University (SLIBNU), China. He serves as the Editor of Springer Series Future Education and Learning Spaces. He is also the Associate Editor of the IEEE Bulletin of the Technical Committee on Learning Technology, and the Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society. Dr. Tlili is also an expert at the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO). He has been awarded the IEEE TCLT Early Career Researcher Award in Learning Technologies for 2020, and the Martin Wolpers 2021 Prize by the Research Institute for Innovation and Technology in Education (UNIR iTED) in recognition of excellence in research, education and significant impact on society.
Jialu Zhao
Ms. Jialu Zhao is a Master student at University of California, Irvine, USA. Her research interests focus on distance education.
Kaidan Yang
Ms. Kaidan Yang is a Master student at University of California, Irvine, USA. Her research interests focus on educational technology and psychology.
Yiping Wang
Ms. Yiping Wang is a researcher and senior project manager at SLIBNU-ALECSO Smart Education Joint Lab of Smart Learning Institute Beijing Normal University. Yiping has studied at Beijing Normal University and The Education University of Hong Kong. Yiping has her research interest in international and comparative education, with a focus on China, the Middle East, and North Africa
Aras Bozkurt
Dr. Aras Bozkurt is a researcher and an Associate Professor in the Department of Distance Education at Anadolu University, Turkey. He has an MA and PhD in distance education. He conducts empirical studies on online learning through resorting to critical theories including connectivism, rhizomatic learning and heutagogy. He is interested in emerging research paradigms including social network analysis, sentiment analysis and data mining.
Ronghuai Huang
Dr. Ronghuai Huang is a Professor in Faculty of Education and Dean of Smart Learning Institute in Beijing Normal University, the Director of UNESCO International Rural Educational and Training Centre and the Director of National Engineering Lab for Cyberlearning Intelligent Technology. He serves as Vice Chairman of China Association for Educational Technology; Vice Chairman of China Educational Equipment Industry Association; Deputy Director of Collaborative and Innovative Center for Educational Technology; Director of Digital Learning and Public Education Service Center; Director of Professional Teaching and Guiding Committee for Educational Technology; Director of Beijing Key Laboratory for Educational Technology. He received “Chang Jiang Scholar” award in 2016, which is the highest academic award issued to an individual in higher education by the Ministry of Education in China.
Curtis J. Bonk
Dr. Curtis J. Bonk is Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University where he has published a dozen books, including his groundbreaking 2020 volume with Routledge, MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South. He has also authored The World Is Open, Empowering Online Learning, The Handbook of Blended Learning, Electronic Collaborators, Adding Some TEC-VARIETY which is free as an eBook (http://tec-variety.com/), and MOOCs and Open Education Around the World (http://www.moocsbook.com/). Bonk has published over 130 journal articles and over 60 book chapters on research related to various emerging learning technologies, online and blended learning, MOOCs and open education, and collaborative technology. In 2020, he was awarded the IU President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Technology. Curt can be contacted at [email protected] and http://curtbonk.com/.
Muhammad Azeem Ashraf
Dr. Muhammad Azeem Ashraf is an Associate Professor at Hunan University, China. His work mainly focuses on educational technology, educational policy and social justice in education.