An Investigation of the Digital Teaching Book Compared to Traditional Books in Distance Education of Teacher Education Programs

The present study aimed to investigate the efficiency level of digital teaching materials for higher education programs. The present study had a mixed research methodology to gather in-depth and rich context. Twenty participants were chosen from a distance education program of the Pedagogical Formation (2014-2015) at Near East University in Nicosia in North Cyprus. The sample of the present study was selected by using the purposeful sampling method. The participants who took the course (instructional technology and material design), half of them used electronic sources and the other half used traditional sources during the distance education. The participants' answers were categorized into who was taking distance education with digital materials and who was taking distance education with non-digital materials. The results indicate that the participants were aware of the facilities of using e-books and they were content with the facilities of using an electronic book. The participants' view show that using electronic book has function on being successful and interactive in their education. At the same time, using electronic book provide chances to students reach multiple sources. Thus, the participants' answers in qualitative data also indicate that using multimedia is necessity to increase level of motivation students in their study and using electronic book and electronic sources provide unlimited learning platforms for students. Thus, students' level of attention and permanent learning are increased.