21st Century Textbooks: Implications for Independent Schools

Source: Craig Mod, "Books in the Age of the iPad"

http://craigmod.com/journal/ipad_and_books/

The director of Cengage has recently stated that "there is little future in e-books [in education]"

For a critique of this perspective, read "Dreams Publishers Have about Textbooks," Xplana, Rob Reynolds.

http://blog.xplana.com/2011/02/dreams-publishers-have-about-textbooks

http://www.ncslibrary.org/textbooks

The Horizon Report predicts ebooks will be used more in education in the next year

What Does the Future Hold?

We're on the cusp!

• Vendors will be more important than ever

• Teachers will need a greater understanding of how to use digital resources

• Bookstores will need to be able to navigate the various purchasing models as they become more available.

• collection of age-appropriate non-fiction books for children from birth to age 12
• Wiki-developed
• free of charge under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

This textbook provider offers a variety of purchasing & format options

They have begun making apps to enhance the textbook experience, with free study tools such as quizzes, flashcards and crossword puzzles.

Wikijunior

Cengage Brain

• Wiki-developed textbooks
• free of charge under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

This site offers a subscription service for social sciences instruction, including lesson plans, programs and resources.

Wikibooks

TCI

Contains free syllabi, lectures, experiments, video and audio clips and assignments for hundreds of courses. Be sure to click on High School Highlights.

• an open-content, web-based collaborative model
• customizable, standards-aligned, free digital textbooks for K-12
• create your own textbook and organize
• available online, ipad or Kindle

MIT Open Courseware

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

CK-12 Flexbooks

An online community where you can view and share educational material.

Designed to be used by both students and teachers

• Remixable textbooks by expert authors
• Free online and affordable offline
• Open–licensed
• Customizable by educators
• Educators choose the book — students choose format and price.

Connexions

Flatworld Knowledge

Samples

(Textbook Supplements)

Like Edmodo, this site combines the features of an LMS and a social networking site.

It is a school learning system in the guise of Facebook, designed upon a format that already has student buy-in.

Schoolology

With this free service you and your students can create an account to collect a variety of educational resources in one virtual "binder".

Teachers can easily and share resources and articles with students this way.

Online

Textbooks

Online Courseware

Livebinders

With this open source LMS, teachers can create their own course pages to add links, downloads and resources.

Many schools have implemented Moodle as their primary LMS, including the National Cathedral School.

Moodle

This free and secure site combines the features of an LMS and a social networking site.

It is a school learning system in the guise of Facebook, designed upon a format that already has student buy-in.

Teachers can create their own accounts easily and share them with students.

Edmodo

Samples

Dan Meyer

"Math Class Needs a Makeover"

If you can't use an enhanced textbook, find lesson plans, videos, infographics, educational games, and other educational resources from online consortiums and social networks.

Design dynamic lessons to make learning more relevant for students.

Use free, vetted online resources to compile or "Remix" your course textbooks.

Contribute to existing open-source wikibased textbooks created by similar subject-teachers.

Augment Textbooks

with online courseware

Learning Management

Systems (LMS)

Make your own textbook!

Dominant learning platforms will combine personalized content libraries, social learning features, smart recommendation engines, and aligned services for students, teachers, and schools--sort of Facebook, iTunes Genius, Google apps, and 1-800 support services for students and teachers

Source: Vander Ark, Tom. 11 Sep. 2010.

Educators are relying on LMSes more and more as an educational tool.

Organize online sources

for students

Many vendors already allow students to purchase individual chapters.

In the future, will vendors allow their chapter content to be included in other open textbook sites through licensing agreements?

Don't require the whole textbook!

Selective Content

Purchasing

Replacing older systems with web technologies

Alternative

Publishing Models

This machine instantaneously prints books at the push of a button.

The machine is marketed towards private booksellers for now.

Espresso Book Machine

Print on Demand

Alternative Educational

Resources

Many alternative textbook solutions emphasize using free, "open" resources online, while others cost money for usability and services.

Open Vs. Pay

Learning Management

Systems

or

Online Courseware

?

Some schools are foregoing the very idea of a textbook, focusing instead on:

Source: Diane Schaffhauser, "Can Googling Replace $168 Intro to Psych Textbook?" Campus Technology

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/02/16/student-research-can-googling-replace-168-intro-to-psych-textbook.aspx

Abandoning the textbook?

Case Study: University of Cincinnati

• "students compared the value and educational quality of two current textbooks with the draft of a new textbook they found free online, along with what they could find through online search engines"

• They found that materials from Wikipedia were accurate and thorough, though "perhaps excessively thorough for an introductory course," they reported.

• They recommended a combination of digital and print materials as being most supportive of student learning.

"Student Opinions on Digital Textbooks"

Source: Xplana

to textbook

or

not to textbook

NOT

functionality

&

usability

It's about

No

Textbooks

or

Textbooks?

What do Students Want?

Some Considerations

Available as an iPad app.

Pulls content from Wolfram Alpha, exemplifying ideal interactivity and user experience

ebook apps:

The Elements

Interactive textbook apps available only on the ipad.

Limited selection, but great usability.

Kno

Inkling

Tablet designed specifically for education.

Rumors say that the Kno will now only be available as apps for existing tablets.

Includes textbook, note-

taking, and course management apps.

Interactive browser-based etextbooks and eresources also available as iPad apps.

Greater usability & features than standard ereaders.

Choice of purchasing

format, online or download

CourseSmart

Samples

Source: Bjerede, Marie. 27 Apr. 2010.

Source: Wees, David. 15 Nov. 2010.

Inkling

beyond choosing fonts and backgrounds

Source: Vander Ark, Tom. 11 Sep. 2010.

customized &

personalized

21st Century Textbooks

Long live

the tablet!

Implications for Independent Schools

• change vocabulary difficulty wiki-like editability
• purchase individual chapters

• apps allow multiple service providers to co-exist on one device
• touchscreen interactivity provides full web-experience & enhanced features
• students want all-in-one devices, not one-purpose technology
• enhanced ebooks available in stand-alone apps.

Embracing the "digital" in digital textbooks

Source: Wees, David. 15 Nov. 2010.

Source: Ruppel, Philip. 27 Dec. 2010.

App-based tablets represent the future of digital text.

add contextual layers through metadata

Enhanced Containers

What is a Textbook?

Enhanced Ebooks

Why?

a "textbook is a teaching tool (material) which presents the subject matter defined by the curriculum"

adaptive &

mashable

How to read a textbook

Survey

Review

reflect on main concepts,

antipate exam questions

before reading, scan titles,

headings, summaries

Recite

Question

• publisher-updated content
• change content to meet needs & capabilities of user

"Textbooks are usually part of a pedagogical design, i.e. it can be the center piece of a course syllabus, it can be used for self-study (students and professionals), teachers can assign just parts for reading. "

Ask questions as you read

Some Considerations

transfer information to

long term memory

ebooks are fundamentally different than printed books

Read

Source:

Dartmouth Academic Skills Center

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/reading.html

read for comprehension, locate facts,

take notes in margins

Converting printed content into a digital format is not necessarily straightforward.

Content:

Formless vs. Definite

Source: Edutech Wiki

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Textbook

content WITH

well-defined form

content WITHOUT well-defined form

Commonalities of ebooks

With printed books, the content was inseparable from the container.

In the digital world, content is not container-specific.

Source: Wees, David. 15 Nov. 2010.

Content vs. Container

[hardware]

ereaders

• reader devices
• apps on tablets
• computer software

ebooks

• book file

.pdf .epub .prc .mobi .azw .pdb

[software]

engage students with immersive features

Digital

What is a Textbook?

• ebook availablity & features vary according to publisher

• Digital divide (haves and have nots) - will schools require a 1 to 1 program?

• exising ereaders are insufficient for textbook-reading

Digital textbooks take many forms:

interactive &

participative

Nook

75%

Source: Read/Write/Web

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/5_ways_that_ebooks_are_better_than_paper_books.php

Why?

Kindle

iPad

• Not all formats are accessible on all platforms.

• no selling-back an e-book

Common ereaders

of students prefer print

over electronic text

but most

commonly:

Source: BISG

Barriers to Adoption

Source: 21st Century Educator

http://davidwees.com/content/forget-future-heres-textbook-i-want-now

• electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) specially created for a reader like Amazon’s Kindle DX or Apple’s iPad

• read-on-demand computer-based textbooks like those from Google Books and NetLibrary

• print-on-demand e-textbooks

• modular assemblages of audio, visual, interactive, and text resources presented via iTunesU, wikis, and digital applications.

• customizable (change fonts, etc.)
• searchable (find key words/phrases)
• show definitions
• digital annotations (highlighting, notetaking, bookmarking)
• accessible (available on many platfoms & devices )
• [limited] social features (share highlights to Twitter, Facebook)

What features do the most common ebook readers have?

What is an ebook?

• quizzes for comprehension
• value-added services (real-time training & reference)
• shared group comments

Source: Wees, David. 15 Nov. 2010.

Source: From Paper To Pixel: Digital Textbooks and Florida Schools

http://palmcenter.fsu.edu/documents/digitaltextbooks_whitepaper.pdf

move away from learning in a vacuum

living &

connected

• media-rich features
• robust social networking features (including IM)

Textbooks as ebooks

aren't enough!

Rethinking

the Textbook