An Evolution in Textbooks to the Digital Age
I recently read the article, Seven things you should know about the evolution of the textbook, (2012) from EDUCAUSE, which is a free-online resource that promotes the intelligent use of technology in classrooms. EDUCAUSE produces quick reading articles on various pieces of new technologies and how they might impact classroom learning. I chose the article on the evolution in textbooks because it is something that we all grew up with, and is an essential resource of information in the classroom.
Online textbooks (before the evolution of tablet technology) were generally seen as "supplementary" to the "real-deal" hard-bound textbook. Textbook companies used the same process as they would for a traditional textbook publishing. But as the article describes, the recent boom in tablet technology (such as the iPad, Galaxy Tablet, and Kindle Fire) has the potential to greatly change the way students interact with textbooks and how teachers use texts in the classroom. Online textbooks are often referred to as "smartbooks" or "interactive books" by their publishing companies because they offer a plethora of (the same) information in multiple formats (such as audio, video, gaming, etc). This can allow the teacher to either pick from a variety of platforms to present information to the class but also to differentiate students according to how they best receive information.
The article highlights one program that could drastically change the face of textbooks, the iBooks Author program developed by Apple. This is a program that would allow people to self-publish books directly to the iPad through Apple's iBook program. Currently, various universities such as Boston College, are looking at this program to expand their faculty's publishing capabilities. In the secondary education classroom, the iBooks Author program has both positive and negative outcomes. For the positive, this means that school districts, schools (divided by content area) or even individual teachers can write a textbook that fits their particular needs. But it also has the potential to unleash a vast number of "textbooks" that have not been properly researched, written and edited for a proper audience. My caution with the iBooks Author program would be to carefully research the author/s of the textbook (make sure they have credibility) and take time to sift through and read portions of the book to check for student accessibility, reading level, content accuracy, organization and appeal of the interactive book.
These new generation of online, interactive textbooks have the potential to fundamentally altar what a textbook is and how students view and interact with information. They are portable and can be assessed anywhere (provided the school has enough tablets for its practical use everyday). They also greatly expand the content delivery potential for students who are visual learners or who struggle in reading. But these online textbooks also have a downside, mainly, the nature of new technology; the kinks are still being worked out and can only be resolved through experimentation with the product. These textbooks are also large files and may fail to download if on a low-bandwidth connection. It will also have implications for copyright law and how to cite these new resources.
Despite these downsides, the "smartbooks" promote interactive learning and student engagement with information in new and exciting ways.
While I prefer the traditional method of having the book in your hands, I love that with "smartbooks" it becomes much easier to differentiate for students who might struggle with reading or who simply might not enjoy it. I think that if students had the option of listening to the audio instead of just reading the text, they might not view reading the text as such a chore. There could also be interactive questions or games to complete after certain sections of the reading, which would help students check for their understanding and help them enjoy learning a bit more. I love the possibilities that online textbooks present.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alyssa that the real exciting part is the ability for textbooks to be interactive. On top of that, we could even have the ability to personalize. Rather than one size fits all textbooks, books found on a tablet could change based on user needs. I think it would be really great if a student answers a question from the textbook incorrectly and the program could know which aspect of the problem the student missed, and then have the next question be tailored specifically to address that, or to have a review of that information pop up for the student to read and improve.
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