The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences and attitudes of graduate students toward the use of e-books for college-level courses. Seven students who pursued graduate studies at a midsize university in the Western United States volunteered to participate in semi-structured interviews. A theoretical lens comprised of three supporting learning theories (social constructivism, information processing, and self-efficacy theories) related to the constructivist learning approach was utilized to analyze the results and provide insight about students’ learning experiences with e-books. Students’ responses were categorized in four main areas: (a) they valued using e-books for social interactions and anytime/anywhere sharing and learning, (b) they indicated that e-books offer better information processing opportunities, (c) they expressed feelings of high self-efficacy and convenience, and (d) they indicated reasons of their negative perceptions and provided recommendations that could improve e-books to better support learning. Six out of seven students indicated their preference of using e-books over printed books. However, four out of these six students shifted their preference to printed books when asked if they preferred reading e-books for learning activities that required them to fully comprehend the information. Furthermore, this study provided discussion, limitations, and recommendations for future research.
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