From Hardcover to Digital Textbooks

      Many see eBooks as the textbooks of the new millennium. Like traditional textbooks, they can be used for learning as a supplement to teacher lectures or to revisit concepts taught in class. But unlike traditional textbooks, they could also help clarify concepts or bring to life content by way of embedded video clips and/or 3-D models. Digital textbooks are truly at “the center of a whole ecosystem of services – such as homework-management systems and video-capture technology for recording lectures –”, all of which can serve a greater purpose to millennials than the average paper textbooks of the past.

      There is also the issue of interactive versus simply digital. Does it matter or make a difference? Absolutely. Are all digital textbooks created equal? Absolutely not. Because the real value of having interactive versus simply digital textbooks lies in the potential to engage students outside the classroom. Effective interactive components are what will set e-books apart from regular hardcover textbooks. And infusing interactive features, such as video and 3-D technology into digital textbooks will make them more effective and engaging than the average traditional text. 

      Another value of interactivity in digital textbooks, noted in a recent Newsweek article, are virtual sharing capabilities. New technology makes it possible for a student “to follow another’s “note stream,” or view a heat map of the class’s most-highlighted passages.” This takes interaction with classmates to a whole new level, both in and outside of class. Simply digital textbooks do not afford students these opportunities to interact and share content; they can lack basic components such as highlighting and note-taking capabilities on the actual text, something that is possible even in traditional paper textbooks.

      One of the more obvious distractions of interactive eBooks when compared to simply digital or traditional textbooks could be student concentration in class during lectures. This would be an issue mainly in the classroom setting, where students could drift off into textbook videos (or other interactive activities) during a teacher’s explanation of the material. Furthermore, if we were to consider that interactive textbooks can only be accessed on the web, and not fully on an e-reader (such as Kindle), due to their interactive components, this may cause increased distractions for students who may be inclined to browse the web instead of focusing on the textbook material. Conversely, if we take the case of simply-digital textbooks, these could be consolidated into an e-reader, where if used in class, would limit the student’s attention span to the reading material on the device and not the internet as a whole. 

      Regardless of the pros and cons of interactive versus simply-digital textbooks, at a time when “the average teen spends more than seven hours a day using technological devices,” it is only logical that academic content would also be made available to them in formats that are supported by the devices they spend so much of their time on. Making textbook content available on iPads, e-readers, and other mobile devices just makes sense given the technological environment in which today’s learners thrive.
       For more information on this topic, read the following document published by Florida State University: From Paper to Pixel: Digital Textbooks.