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How eBooks are changing the way we think about textbooks
October 11, 2012
| Anthony Devito (School of Public Health) |
Charles Tien (Political Science) |
The increasing use of tablets and other mobile devices offers us an opportunity to reconsider how we think about textbooks. eBooks have the potential to incorporate a variety of media, provide students with additional opportunties for learning through interactive activities, and save students money - but do they live up to this potential? In this session, we will consider questions such as:
- How are eBooks different from traditional textbooks?
- What are some reasons for incorporating eBooks in a class?
- What are some challenges that may be encountered with eBooks?
- What do students think about eBooks?
Anthony DeVito will share his experience creating a manual for a biostatistics laboratory that is enriched with multimedia elements. These elements are intended to help students apply concepts covered in the lecture portion of the class to the solution of statistical problems using Excel and SPSS. Tony will talk about why he chose to develop the book using iBooks Author; will demonstrate the basics of how an iBook is built; and will discuss how he organized and constructed the elements of the iBook.
Charles Tien will discuss survey results from two different semesters on the student experience of using an eBook as the main textbook for POLSC 110, Historical Introduction to American Politics. He will discuss changes made by the eBook publisher based on the survey data and how students responded to those changes.
