For my junior-level project at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, I developed and analyzed an online e-textbook for the introductory robotics course.

My team’s project was to develop the hosting of the electronic textbook and analyze its use. One of my teammates wrote the content of the book. My role was to build the backend website and templates, and to help with research and data analysis. We learned that students did not use the textbook unless explicitly told to, and that the textbook was not sufficiently integrated into the class to be a major tool.

The Website

A screenshot of the Circuits chapter from the RBE 1001 E-Book

We chose to use a standalone website to host the e-book, as it would give us the most flexibility in tracking metrics and interactive tools. The site was built to be easy to read and use. At the end of each chapter there are questions on the material that provide feedback on the learning.

The website and e-textbook content is available on github.

Metrics & Results

We used Google analytics to check the usage of the website. Overall, we found very low usage of the site even when advertised through the professors and the lab. The students were assigned a chapter of the textbook to read for homework and were told there would be a quiz on it. We found that usage spiked from negligible to over 20 sessions in the two days before the quiz.

We also ran surveys and focus groups on the students to measure their opinions on the e-textbook. We found they were generally favorable to the idea of textbooks, but did not feel this textbook was sufficient.

The full report is available from the WPI Library.