Material Detail

When compared to their traditional print-based counterparts, electronic texts often fall far short of the mark in readability, portability, rapid access to information, and the ability to personalize a printed text by highlighting and jotting down notes in the margin.  Given these advantages, readers typically exhibit a strong preference for a print-based text instead of its electronic counterpart.  The authors propose that these deficiencies derive from an inappropriate model of an electronic text, utilize psychological principles to suggest how to improve electronic texts that are difficult or impossible to reproduce in print media, and describe student reactions to an electronic text, ePsych, that employs these principles.  A survey revealed that students in a variety of classes reacted positively to ePsych and rated it better than traditional print-based texts.

Disciplines:

• Education