Anne Eisenberg’s “Making Science Leap From The Page” mentions the new features of ebooks that make them so appealing—especially as textbooks. It’s really just a continuation on the things that make a textbook good anyway. A good textbook doesn’t contain large blocks of text, often doesn’t go in a single order, and rarely reads like a regular book.
A good textbook has graphics, bullets, facts set aside, definitions and explanations in the margins, and any number of other text breakers and spacers. The only difference in an ebook is a lack of confining space. The ebook isn’t limited to a page size or a need for simplicity, which limits footnotes and such—an ebook has the power of links.
With links, more information can be imparted, time can be taken to ensure the understanding of information, with a quiz, an ebook could even potentially force a student to understand a primary concept before moving on. In a way, it could serve as both a teacher and a textbook.
If a textbook could teach, as well as just offering information, think how much more efficient learning could be. When our teachers, parents, and textbooks join together to really help our education, we open ourselves up to a new level of learning. One in which students could gain a more thorough understanding of science math, history, and perhaps even languages.
Math, in particular could benefit from this. So many math examples are impossible to see because with a series of pictures in a textbook or on a blackboard, we have a picture that simply isn’t true to what occurs. Imagine if a video explanation could show, in full motion, the mathematical concepts people struggle to grasp, making them make sense in real life.
A new kind of learning is possible through ebooks if we only allow it to happen. If we open up to the potential of ebooks, and if the makers work to open up the entirety of the capabilities, learning could be revolutionized. Perhaps at a point they’ll stop being books, but who cares? Isn’t the learning more important than the medium?