Researchers and educators progressively acknowledge literacy as plural and varied in nature, a process which encompasses the production and understanding of multiple forms of representation, deeply rooted in the social contexts and practices of a given society. The technologies of the digital society offer different potentials for learning. E-books are one of such new technologies. This article presents an exploratory study on the use of e-textbooks in a primary education classroom. It examines student’s meaning making practices and the perceptions that teachers and students have towards their engagement in learning activities in this context. In the analysis of the data generated, the classroom is considered as a multimodal learning space, where virtual, physical and cognitive environments overlap. Students negotiate meaning across multiple contexts and reflect upon it. Our results show that however e-textbooks favour a communicative active style of learning, there still are real challenges to be overcome by e-textbook editorials so that it does not become the next forgotten fad.

1. EXPLORING
STUDENT AND TEACHER
ENGAGEMENT IN LEARNING
ACTIVITIES WITH E-
TEXTBOOKS

2. INFINITE VARIETY OF
RESOURCES
Educators
use tools
that
enhance
social
networking
and
knowledge
sharing
on a global
scale.

3. WHAT ABOUT
TEXTBOOKS?
Textbooks
have been
acknowledged
as having a
role as a
driver of the
classroom
experience.

4. NEW KINDS OF READING
EXPERIENCES
According to
the
2011 Horizon
Report,
electronic
books are
moving
closer to
mainstream
adoption for
educational
institutions.

5. TEXTBOOKS DON’T
PRECISELY BOOST
POPULARITY
Textbook
choice is
 Still image of
said to knowledge .
often be
made in  Restricted source of
haste, information.
based on
personal  Theoretical-only
preference
approaches to
and
affected by learning.
factors
unrelated to
pedagogy .

6. E-TEXTBOOKS DO!
E-textbooks
address a
generation of
students that
values rapid
information
exchange,
instant
gratification,
and a
tendency
towards
reduced or no
textbook
reading.

7. OR DON’T THEY?
Many now
believe
creative
educators do
not need
e-textbooks.
Such
educators
can find in
the Internet
all they need
to develop
the
curriculum.

8. A MULTIMODAL LENS ON
LITERACY AND LEARNING
Pedagogical
practices and
learning
processes are
seen as a
design
process: we
are constantly
making
conditioned
by many
circumstances
.

9. A CASE STUDY
How are e- The data
textbooks
being used in  Video recording and class observational notes.
classroom and
how is their  In-depth focus group interviews.
use perceived
by teachers  E-textbook online platform.
and students
engaging in
learning
activities with
them?

10. SOME RESULTS 1/3
Hardly any time
of all students
concentrating
in the teacher.

11. SOME RESULTS 2/3
Plenty
reciprocal
interactio
n and
support
between
students.

12. SOME RESULTS 3/3
Coexistence
of traditional
and digital
literacy
technologies
in the
pedagogical
practice.

13. A SHARED VIEW,
DIFFERENT PERCEPTIONS.
‘I like it because you have everything at hand, then it is
Both the easier to use the digital textbook than other things.’
teacher and (Student)
the students
think the e- ‘I like very much to use this (e-textbooks) because it is new. I
textbook like to use these things that are new and besides, when you
used in class
have doubts you can search in Wikipedia and things like
presents
very specific,
that…’ (Student)
concrete
information.
One of the bad things about this digital text (e-
textbook) is that it is too concrete. I mean, it gives
you little opportunity to make a more
comprehensive reading. I don’t know, it is too
literal, like, I read it here, I write it there.’ (Teacher)

14. THE ECONOMIC ASPECT
‘You can find it all on the Internet, and here (e-
Not textbooks) you have to pay. You have to pay for
really the platform and for the educational resources. If
a you have it well structured, you can find it all on
transition
the net.’ (Teacher)

15. THE TECNICHAL ASPECT
Many of the students complained about the
The need to
Internet being too slow, which can make the
have flash presentations, animations and videos of the
enough new desired generation of e-textbooks more
broadband difficult to access.
width to be
able to
access the
e-textbook.

16. CONCLUSIONS
 E-textbooks favour a rich supportive distributed
learning environment.
 The students seemed to have a more positive
perception of e-textbooks than the teacher.
 E-textbook users’ perceptions greatly depend on
the institutional culture in which they are
embedded.

17. IN SUMMARY
 Although e-textbooks favour a communicative
active style of learning, there still are real
challenges to be overcome by e-textbook
editorials so that it does not become the next
forgotten fad...

18. janaina.oliveira@urv.cat
mar.camacho@urv.cat
merce.gisbert@urv.cat
UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI
FACULTAT DE CIÈNCIES DE L’EDUCACIÓ I PSICOLOGIA
APPLIED RESEARCH GROUP IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY ARGET