Digital literacy practices: curation and annotation associated with e-textbooks

Abstract

E-textbooks have gained prominence in recent years due to their advanced digital features and accessibility. This evolution has led to innovative digital literacy practices, notably curation and annotation, aimed at enhancing student comprehension of engineering concepts. These practices offer three-fold benefits: they mitigate information overload and provide a systematic learning framework for students. This is crucial in fields like engineering where contextual understanding enhances the practical application of theoretical concepts. By integrating supplementary resources and multimedia elements, e-textbooks provide a richer, more immersive learning experience. This study, focusing on these affordances in e-textbooks, utilised qualitative data from interviews with 12 first-year engineering students at a university of technology. Findings indicate that these new literacy practices hold significant potential for improving student understanding of engineering concepts. The study underscores the need for further exploration into the use of digital tools in education, highlighting their transformative potential in shaping future learning of students.