eStudying for Electronic Education: an Instructional Design Project

Abstract

Traditional studying systems based on print media historically involved bookmarking, highlighting, and underlining passages for future reference. As technology changes the way we read information from print to electronic media, traditional studying practices will need to change as well. This study asked college students to use an electronic studying system with a variety of applications including GoodNotes, Web to PDF+, To PDF, Zotero, PaperShip, and Google Drive on a personal computer and an iPad. Six College of Education graduate students learned how to use the electronic studying system through an online instructional module. They then applied what they learned to their graduate coursework over a span of at least a week. Results from the pre and post-survey's showed that participants were not initially familiar with note-taking apps and after participating in the study, were considering changing their current note-taking strategies to better accommodate electronic materials. Survey results revealed a positive correlation between participant's previous note-taking strategies and most useful features in the note-taking app GoodNotes. Even though the electronic studying system was used over a limited time, participants found it very useful and some even purchased GoodNotes to use in the future.