Digital Textbooks vs. Traditional Textbooks: A Qualitative Analysis of Seventh-Grade Students' Perceptions During Their Transition From a Traditional Science Textbook to a Digital Science Textboo

After the turn of the 21st century, digital open educational resource (OER) textbooks began to emerge as an alternative medium to traditional print textbooks in the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to narrow the gap in available research that examined junior high students' perceptions as they transitioned from using traditional print textbooks to digital OER textbooks, as these perceptions needed to be taken into consideration by schools when making textbook adoption decisions. The research study, which also included perceptions of teachers and parents, followed seventh-grade science students for one semester as they used a digital OER textbook, published by CK-12, for the first time. Twenty seventh-grade students were randomly selected and divided into focus groups that met at the beginning (prior to implementation), middle, and end of the semester. In addition to conducting classroom observations, the researcher interviewed teachers and surveyed parents of the students. The use of multiple data sources throughout the semester allowed the researcher to conduct a triangulation of data to provide coherence with the findings. The research data indicated students, teachers, and parents generally perceived the digital OER textbook to be more beneficial than traditional print books. Based on the data, the researcher recommends that schools transition to digital OER textbooks by following nine conditions that address the benefits and weaknesses that emerged from the study. Of those conditions, the researcher emphasizes the importance of ongoing professional development for teachers so they may teach the proper use of the digital OER textbook to students.