The Digital Textbooks of Tomorrow

Textbooks Tomorrow of While many have a soft spot for the feel of the printed page, it's hard to see a future where textbooks aren't delivered to students digitally. It's not just the benefit of taking the literal weight of textbooks off students' backs-digital textbooks offer an opportunity to enhance the entire learning experience. Digital Textbooks Will Take Off as Print Dwindles Digital Textbook Sales (5-Year Projection) Effect on Print Revenues % Of US Textbook Market Publisher Textbook Revenue % 25 100 90% 85% 20 18.8% 80 15 60 10.5% 10 40 5.5% 5 20 2.5% 1% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 400% 42% Increase in digital Students who have either bought or at least seen a digital textbook in 2010. textbook sales between 2008-2009. A 24% increase from 2007 It's Already Happening In South Korea, at least. $2 BILLION $10 BILLION" What South Korea is investing to make sure all textbooks are digital by 2015. * What an investment equivalent to South Korea's by the US would look like. Less than 50 MILLION 312 MILLION Population of South Korea Population of the United States $7.5 BILLION Total textbook sales -$5.5 BILLION Brand new textbooks. That's almost 3/4 of total textbook sales-a whole lot of trees. Digital textbooks are, on average, 53% CHEAPER than new print books. 1 IN 4 STUDENTS say they'd give up sex for a month if they could have all-digital textbooks. DO NOT DO NOT DISTURB DO NOT DISTURB DISTURB The iPad of Today: Hinting at the Digital Textbook of Tomorrow Apple's best selling iPad tablet-now with over 40 million sold-makes all of a student's activities doable on one device. The physical device that holds the textbook of the future will be mission control for everything a student would ever need to do. Notetaking The clicking of keyboards and scratching of pens may be a forgot- ten nuisance of the past-the iPad has a silent on-screen keyboard and even allows users to write with their finger or a stylus. Try this app: Notability Paper Writing One of the main benefits of writ- ing on the iPad is improved focus: it's much harder to check Face- book or play Plants vs. Zombies. Try this app: WriteRoom Studying Studying can take place anytime, anywhere, no need to spread out books and papers on a huge table in the library. Try this app: Evernote Peek Gather Research Reading Don't invest your money in high- lighter pens-on the iPad, your finger becomes the highlighter. While working with multiple content sources at once on the iPad can be difficult, it can also be a great aid to the easily distracted mind. Try this app: UPAD Try this app: Notebooks What Will the Textbook of the Future Look Like? It used to be that students were lucky to get textbooks with color photos. The textbook of tomorrow will be more of a collection of multimedia experiences centered around a particular concept, less anchored in solid text. Inline Quizzes Animated Content Games Dividing learning and testing into two compo- nents is a relic of the past. It's an easy sell to students: learn while you play. Want to show how osmosis works? How photosynthesis happens? Games have traditionally been considered a distraction, but they become central learning activities in digital curricula. Illustrations no longer need to be static images. Game-like quizzes become integral to learning: pass a quiz and advance to the "next level." ++ Interactive Timelines Study Groups Narrative Endures Students move through history with the flick of a finger. Rather than spreading out a table full of books, next-gen Long stretches of text won't entirely disappear. New media will comple- ment rather than replace straight narrative. study groups video chat in a nested area of their textbook. Created By OnlineEducation.net References: http://blog.xplana.com/reports/digital-textbook-sales-in-u-s-higher-education-%E2%80x93-a-fiv e-year-projection/ http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090401/full/458568a.html * http://www.good.is/post/south-korean-schools-go-all-digital/ http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/florida-looks-at-taking-school-textbooks-compl etely-digital-by-2015/1152138 http://www.good.is/post/college-students-would-give-up-sex-for-digital-textbooks/ http://www.studentpirgs.org/uploads/66/4d/664dogbagbcg7cc9138edasfaac5eo61/A-Cover-To- Cover-Solution.pdf http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html http://mikepress.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/ipad-research-apps/ http://ipad.appstorm.net/general/ opinion/the-ipad-a-students-new-computer/ http://www.app rising.com/2011/o7/south_korea_embarrassing_us_in.html BY NO ND This work is under a Creative Commons License.