Diffusion of E-textbooks in K-12 Education: A Delphi Study

• Main Author: Cartwright, Sheila
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: ScholarWorks 2015
• Subjects: digital content; digital textbooks; e-books; electronic textbooks; e-textbooks; e-texts; Education; Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration; Elementary Education and Teaching; Instructional Media Design
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/256; https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1255&context=dissertations

This basic interpretive qualitative study was conducted to discover why e-textbooks had not been adopted extensively in K-12 education as a replacement for printed textbooks. The objective was to determine the barriers and challenges being confronted by state educational technology directors when introducing this innovative technology in a formal learning environment that could greatly impact teaching, learning, and creative analysis. This research was based on diffusion of innovation theory using a Delphi method of inquiry. The Delphi panel consisted of 12 experts who had knowledge of digital text technologies and were the most influential when making purchasing decisions when introducing new technologies into a K-12 instructional setting. The Delphi questionnaire consisted of 2 initial rounds and the final consensus round (for a total of 3 rounds) that determined the panel's reasoning for the late adoption of e-textbooks in K-12 classrooms. The results of this study clearly identified cost and equipment management in addition to the lack of supportable funding to sustain e-textbook technologies as the major reasons hindering their adoption. This study promotes positive social change by providing decision-makers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges impacting their adoption of e-textbooks in K-12 education so they can work towards a solution. This can be accomplished by appointing visionary leaders on the state and local levels who can develop a strategic plan to initiate the transition from printed materials to digital content that are relevant, flexible, and educational. Thus, new policies could be implemented that would provide funding flexibility to finance the acquisition of devices to support digital content and allocate funding that can help to sustain them.