There is a lot of chatter being generated about e-textbooks, some positive and some negative. Ultimately its up to you to decide where you fall on the spectrum but I want to share my feelings from what I have seen so far. For me the best way to describe e-books is “Dynamic”! I want to highlight a few features which I find useful but if you have any questions please leave comment.
With some of the ebook readers, you can bookmark, highlight, look up definitions and even take notes right within the book. To make things even more convenient, all of the notes and comments are displayed right in the table of contents, which has made it very easy for me to review at a later time. Most e-book readers also have a search feature which helps when you are trying to find those few key words or sentences but aren’t quite sure where in the book you read them. I know when I was a student, I always avoided writing in my paper textbook because any perceived damage really hurt the buy-back value.
Another really great feature of some e-book platforms is that your reading can be synchronized between devices. For example, I’ve started reading a book on my iPad and was able to pick up where I left off, while waiting for an oil change, on my iPhone and when I got home and turned on my iPad, the ebook was exactly where I left off on my phone – very cool!
The last feature that I would like to highlight is that e-books can contain rich media instead of just text and images. Some of the books we have seen have videos, 3D models, dynamic charts and graphs, and high resolution images embedded right within the text on the pages. This content provides students with new ways to immerse themselves in what they are learning.
E-books are new and their platforms are constantly getting better. Schools are starting to partner with e-book publishers and are able to get even greater discounts on books making them a very affordable. Here is a link to Educause’s “7 things to know about the Evolution of the Textbook“. The article includes a usage scenario and covers pros, cons and implications of this format.
If you would like to learn more about e-books ask your Instructional Technologist or email itshelp@colgate.edu