THE USE OF THE E-BOOK AS A TEACHING RESOURCE IN THE UNIVERSITY

The new model of university education developed in The European Higher Education Area (E.H.E.A.) requires the design of intervention programs that facilitate the development of cross-curricular competences in the students. This change implies a deep review of teaching methodologies and materials in order to adapt the current education system to the correct development of these new competences.

This work shows some aspects related to the critical analysis of the use of new Technologies related to the Information and Communication (I.T.C.) as a teaching resource in university education. The data have been obtained from the evaluation of the project called “Implementation of e-book pilot experience at the University of Jaen (Spain) integrated with the platform for virtual teaching” (Implantación de la experiencia piloto del libro electrónico en la Universidad de Jaén (España) integrado con la plataforma de docencia virtual).

The study was carried out with students registered in the subjects “Access to Information” and “Language Engineering” that are taught at the University of Jaen.

The steps of the research have been: first, raise the problem under study. Second, define the objectives of the research. Third, make a bibliographic review that indicates the best procedure to be followed.

The main objectives of this research are "Find out the knowledge that university students has about e-book” and “Know the opinion of university students about e-book as teaching material”. The procedure of systematization and analysis of the data followed is based on a quantitative paradigm. The method used is hypothetical-deductive. Thus, a descriptive study (a survey) has been done using the technique of the questionnaire to obtain information about the use of the e-book by students. Two dimensions, one concerning didactic aspects and other related to technical factors involving the use of the e-book have been selected.

As conclusions, almost 100% of students prefer to use the e-book, and only a few students opt to use the hard copy as support material in lessons. It also notes that the use of the e-book facilitates the study of the subjects.