This paper explores the relationships between e-learning and textbooks designed to support student learning in higher education. Ellis and Goodyear, in their seminal publication Student experiences of e-learning in higher education (2010) have sought to re-position research on e-learning in higher education in the context of a broader ecology of learning. This broader learning ecology incorporates other components of both the student learning and course development process such as lectures and textbooks. It especially focuses on how aspects of the learning environment and its learning ecology interact in shaping student experiences of learning – and the way that students shape the opportunities designed by the university and its lecturing and course design staff. This paper reports results from a wide-ranging study of the learning resources that are provided for students in 12 university courses drawn equally from the humanities and sciences