Ontology and Appeal
Textbooks were a major part of my own schooling starting as far back as I can remember (probably about grade 9) and continuing through most of my university courses. If textbooks are entering a transition period, that prompts two initial questions for me: what exactly is a textbook, and why do most students and teachers seem to like them? Here are my initial musings, and please revise and extend my list by add your thoughts at http://bit.ly/nexttextA textbook...
- is comprehensive of all the material in a curriculum
- presents an orderly progression through the material
- includes learning aids like review materials, glossaries, and self-assessment
- they are a reliable reference when students miss class, or want to work ahead
- they provide an alternative explanation of material to what was given in class
- they include lots of self-check and practice questions
Dream On
Looking ahead, textbooks may not be limited by existing only in ink and paper form. Setting aside technical and other obstacles, what would you imagine as features of a re-designed textbook? Here is my current list, what would you add?- Workbook-like: students are forever writing in textbooks, let's encourage it.
- Inquiry Design: gradual release of information through interactive passages.
- Authentic Learning: inclusion of recent news events and real-life applications.
- Interactive Learning: embedded manipulatives, simulations, or virtual experiments
- Deep Exploration: ability to explore related concepts and consult primary sources
- Collaborative: students can help each other learn, perhaps via shared annotation.
- Adaptive: material changes pace and adds or removes hints as students work.
- Accommodating: material available at different reading levels and with audio-visual alternatives
- Modifiable: easy to change material to suit the learning needs of the class.
- Continual Revision: colleagues can share modified versions and merge others’ changes, including those from authors and publishers.
- Coaching Supports: teachers or parents can monitor student progress through the text, and students can ask questions from within the text
- Portable: material can be used on a variety of devices, including offline.
Alternative Text Models
iBooks
Apple’s iBooks reader mixes words, multimedia, and interactive elements. Students can annotate while reading. Anyone with (access to a Mac) can write
an interactive text with iBooks Author, however questions arise about the control Apple asserts over
this content. Additionally, iBooks texts can only be read on an iPad. Dan Meyer observes that many textbooks do not yet live up to the potential of the
platform, and are instead reproductions of printed works with superficial eye candy.
- Apple’s Take: bit.ly/wVyU9i
- Dan Meyer: bit.ly/AhBv45
CK-12 Flexbooks
With the non-profit CK12 organization’s Flexbooks platform teachers can mix, match, and adapt content from other teachers or the nearly 100 texts it
has commissioned. All works use a Creative Commons licence and can be freely modified. Texts can be read with a web browser, printed, or saved for offline
use with any eReader.
- CK-12 Flexbooks: bit.ly/wcaIV3
Our Choice
Al Gore’s book on Climate Change shows how interactive and exploratory a book could be. Well worth watching the trailer for the book. Unfortunately
interactivity only available for iDevices
- Our Choice the App: bit.ly/xwZf4q
- Our Choice the Book: bit.ly/w8bCOG
