2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The use of digital learning materials has garnered attention in recent years in an attempt to increase higher-education student engagement with course materials. These materials include, but are not limited to, online lecture videos, online homework assignments, and digital textbooks. Of the latter, some textbooks have merely been converted into a portable document format (i.e., a static textbook), while others have been developed using various pedagogies and educational theories to increase student learning and satisfaction through the incorporation of various interactive features (i.e., an interactive textbook). Although the intent of these different online textbooks is to augment student learning, their efficacy has not thoroughly been scrutinized. To this end, a comparative study between the use of a traditional static textbook and an interactive, online textbook on student performance is presented.

The authors of this study previously developed an interactive online textbook titled “Statics and Mechanics of Materials: An Example-based Approach” using Top Hat’s teaching and learning platform [1]. The organization of the textbook followed Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) [2]. Using a concept-example-question format throughout the textbook, learning was compartmentalized. Students were presented with theoretical constructs and governing equations, followed by an in-depth, illustrative example. Immediately following the illustrative example, students would be presented with embedded questions. Embedded questions are interactive questions that exist within the body of the textbook. There was a myriad of embedded question types: multiple choice, word answer, numeric answer, fill-in-the-blank, matching, click-on-target, sorting, and long-answer. Regardless of the question type, students would answer multiple embedded questions related to the preceding material where both their basic understanding of the underlying concepts and ability to work through the presented problem-solving methodology were evaluated. By answering the embedded questions, students would receive immediate feedback on their
understanding and problem-solving abilities. Previous studies concerning this interactive, online Top Hat textbook have indicated that students found the online textbook more engaging than a traditional textbook [3], and showed a positive correlation between engagement with the textbook and final course grade [4].

The current study consisted of two groups of undergraduate students enrolled in a Statics and Mechanics of Materials course. This course is administered to sophomore, junior and senior students from a variety of different engineering majors. One group (n = 73) used the curriculum-specific Top Hat textbook, while the other group (n = 109) used a traditional textbook, which was an abridged version of “Statics and Mechanics of Materials: An Integrated Approach” by W. Riley, L. Sturges and D. Morris [5], and “Mechanics of Materials” by W. Riley, L. Sturges and D. Morris [6]. Student performance was quantified through graded assessments, namely midterms and a final exam, and as well as their overall course grade. The effect of the assigned textbook on student performance was then compared using t-tests. Student perceptions of their respective textbooks were also collected through surveys and analyzed using qualitative methods. There was no statistically significant difference in student performance considering the use of the Top Hat textbook in comparison to the traditional textbook. However, students felt more engaged with the course and material when using the Top Hat textbook.