Some Thoughts on Interactive Textbooks

For this blog post, I decided to focus on the use of interactivity in education. Interactivity might mean a lot of things, but in this instance, I’m considering interactive textbooks. While students have the ability to read a textbook page like normal on their computer, there are more options to present the information in multimodal ways. For instance, in a history book, one might be reading about a recent event in history. In an interactive textbook, alongside the text, a student could click on a link, and be shown a video or image gallery related to the event to enhance the learning experience.

I do have a fair bit of knowledge about the textbooks used at our school. Presently, I am responsible for ordering textbooks for all of the students, and have some insight in to what the teachers choose to use in their classes. Some teachers choose to use interactive online textbooks, some choose e-PDF style textbooks with no interactivity, and some prefer the physical texts in the classroom. I have not noticed any correlation between which grade levels prefer interactive media over non-interactive.

I can see the argument from both points on view. In looking at middle school students (grades 6 through 8), I would imagine that the interactivity would keep students interested in the topic at hand in a way that’s appropriate to their younger age. However, I can also see times when interactivity might be too distracting from getting the point of the day’s lesson across. Meanwhile, in looking at the older students in high school, they can likely focus better on non-interactive textbooks than the younger students, but they may also still benefit from the interactive technology.

Pearson, which is one of the publishers that we use, introduced their interactive textbooks in a 2012 video, showing some of the capabilities and benefits. Even since this video was released three years ago, technology has progressed so much, and interactive textbooks are capable of so much more. Looking ahead, it’s hard to even imagine how interactive technology might progress, but we know it’s only going to get more advanced.

Interactivity aside for just a moment, I think one of the biggest benefits of a digital textbook environment is not having to carry massive textbooks around everywhere. When I was in high school, and digital textbooks weren’t a mainstream idea just yet, I remember having so many heavy books, and homework in all of them, that I had to prioritize what assignments to do that night because I literally couldn’t fit everything in my backpack. With everything on one device, and with how small these devices can be now, students can have everything they need on just an iPad or laptop, no heavy books needed. That benefit in itself is huge.

A stack of books like this was common for just one student’s schedule when I was in high school. Photo Source: The Texas Tribune via http://www.texastribune.org/2013/11/22/railroad-commission-candidate-roils-texas-school-b/

In my research on interactivity, I found a great relevant article, entitled “From classic math school books to interactive gamified eLearning” (Butean, Morar, Modoveanu, & Alexandru, 2015). The article examines possible options for eLearning, and gives student and teacher perspectives on those options. The authors of the article acknowledge that modern mobile technology is very popular among children: “Regarding tablets, the number of children who are using this devices are going up every year by at least 20%. This evolution also reflects the changes in how younger people browse the internet or use online services and apps” (p. 147).

To me, these numbers aren’t surprising. I see so many children, everywhere I go, with a tablet in their hands to keep them occupied and entertained. Younger children have grown up being immersed in technology everywhere they go, so it’s only natural that more and more children are using these technologies, and seemingly at a younger age every year. It makes sense that this massive availability of technology translates to students using more technology in the classroom in the younger years.

Interactivity in textbooks can definitely be a good thing. However, there are plenty of researchers who oppose the use of digital textbooks. This Huffington Post article links to nine studies that show why print books are seen as better than ebooks. There is certainly a lot of debate out there on what method is better for students. This is just one of the things I hope to learn in my ethnography—in my school specifically, which type of textbooks work best for the students’ needs?

Me personally? I prefer print textbooks. In my graduate program, every semester I purchased the print copies of every single textbook. If I have to read some sort of article, I’ll print it out so I can read it and highlight on it, and annotate it if need be. I have a library of books that take of bookshelves instead of gigabytes. It’s just always been my preference. I’ve tried to use e-readers before, but I just can’t focus on them.

When students are forced to use digital technologies in the classroom, what if they don’t learn best that way? I imagine myself in the same situation if I were to be back in a traditional classroom. If I were required to use an electronic textbook, but I learn better using a print book, what would my options be? What if I can’t use a physical textbook and my success is affected? Many of our students may be in this same situation, which my ethnography might help to reveal.


References:

Butean, A., Morar, A., Moldoveanu, A., & Alexandru, M. (2015, April 23-24). From classic math school books to interactive gamified eLearning. Paper presented at The 11th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Eduation, Bucharest. doi:10.12753/2066-026X-15-022