Students' Learning Outcomes Influenced by Textbook Selection: A Gamification Method Using Eye-Tracking Technology

In today's society, how humans go about their daily lives is becoming more and more intertwined with digital culture, online networks, and social media. In the contemporary era, students are leaning more towards e-learning and online textbooks compared to physical texts. E-textbooks will be here to stay, and this has raised questions about whether they will replace traditional textbooks indefinitely for the near future. In order for e-textbooks to remain relevant, these digitized textbooks must meet the needs of both students and teachers naturally. This study will utilize eye-tracking technology to present an innovative gamified approach to measure and assess the real-time learning process and learning outcomes from undergraduate students, to compare the effectiveness of three types of textbooks. The results conducted from a pilot study shows positive learning outcomes from the e-textbook reading. Implications for both academic research and practice, as well as suggestions for future studies will be discussed.