Don’t throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension.

Pablo Delgado, Cristina Vargas, Rakefet Ackerman, Ladislao Salmerón.  Doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.09.003. Educational Research Review.Volume 25, November 2018

Meta-analysis
These days, it is very common for students to bring their laptops to school, and for many, reading and writing are mostly done digitally.

• What effect does this have?

• Do you learn more when reading from a printed text or from reading on a digital device?

Delgado, Vargas, Ackerman, and Salmerón (2018) attempted to answer these questions in a meta-analysis of the literature.

Results are mixed
With the increasing dominance of digital reading over paper reading, understanding the effects of the medium on reading comprehension has become critical. However, research results comparing learning outcomes across printed and digital media are mixed, making conclusions difficult to reach.

For this meta-analysis, the authors examined recent research (2000–2017) comparing the reading of comparable texts on paper and on digital devices. They found that independent of the research design, reading from paper leads to more significant learning gains than reading the same texts from a digital device.

Furthermore, they found three variables that moderate the advantage of printed text over digital mediums.
First, they found that paper-based reading is stronger in time-constrained environments. When people only have a fixed and limited amount of time to read a text, reading from paper is even more important. However, it is less critical for self-paced reading (although printed text still has an advantage even in this scenario).

Second, they found that printed text is superior to informational text and that informational and narrative texts are mixed. However, when reading only narrative texts, the advantage of printed text over digital text disappears.

Third, the authors found that the advantage of paper-based reading seems to have increased over the years. Specifically, more recent studies show a more significant benefit. The reason for this is not entirely understood but is further discussed in the paper.

Some more background information can be found in the texts below:

Technology and Reading eBooks in Education

• What is an Ebook? How do Ebooks Work?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages?
• Where do Ebooks come from?
• Ideas for using Ebooks in teaching.
• More resources.

Students’ E-Textbook Practices in Higher Education,

Key Takeaways of this article

• A two-year university-wide study of students’ e-textbook practices found that e-textbook use has increased and become broader demographically.
• Lower cost and convenience remain why students purchase an e-textbook, not the interactive features designed to enhance learning.
• The instructor’s role has not changed significantly in the past two years, suggesting the need for further professional development, including increased awareness, instruction, and active modelling.