I think it is about time that books started becoming available online. I mean, we have had the internet for over 20 years now, and for the past decade advances in technology have allowed the internet to sky-rocket past any presumed user ability. The general public has made known the implications for which they wish to use the internet, and now-a-days, in our country, it is very hard to not find yourself in contact with some form of device or technology that doesn’t coincide with the internet, or the digital media.
Schools have long been cataloging all of their books in the library into an online database into electronic copy. This isn’t new. What is new is that colleges are finally understanding that many students no longer like to read 45 pages of biology in order to understand biology. It is true that many students do process information better by straight up memorizing it through reading material. But i think technology and digital media is reprogramming our brains- much thanks to Rushkoff for that one, in a way that allows us not only to THINK more creatively, but to allow us to LEARN more creatively. That are brains are starting to want to have more involvement and more challenges, like such that comes from anything interactive. That is why i believe that the new biology book by Vikram Savkar, mentioned in Anne Eisenberg’s article “Making Science Leap from the Page,” is a great new approach to this day and age.
Anne explains that “Midway through a chapter, some interactive elements will quiz students on what they have just read — and provide hints and pointers when their answers are incorrect.”
I know personally that i learn better through interaction. The Learning Pyramid, as seen in Figure 1, shows that only 5% of information is retained if teachers just talk the entire class period.
Figure 1: How much Information is retained versus the medium at which it was given
I don’t know about you but that means that 95% of the information that students, who aren’t texting periodically or entirely throughout the class, pay attention to during a lecture will be lost and not retained within the next 72 hours. Shame. But thankfully, the retention percentage is doubled to a whopping 10% if the same exact information is read. This Learning Pyramid has been around for a long time, how have universities not caught on to the fact that lecture halls need a vamp in their teaching styles (which, many teachers do, such as the interactive class of English 303 :) ) But, just like in our English 303 class, we do much work interactively. We get to participate in a CLASS discussion, not a teacher’s lecture to a class. There is involvement that allows us to interact with what information we are being given, and very so often we do activities during class that allow us to take what we are learning and to apply it in an interactive assignment. This would be best represented by the “Practice by Doing” section of the Learning pyramid, which you can see increases to an exponential 75% retention rate.
What I’m simply trying to get at is that plain old books, or even PDF electronic books offered on the Kindle and iPad just don’t cut it anymore, at least not with me. I cannot speak for the entire population, but I need some interactive quizzes while I’m studying so i can also learn at my own pace and that I can be actively engaging my brain while I study the material at which i am trying to learn. I’ve had biology before, twice because i failed it the first time since i never wanted to read more then 5 sentences out of the book without falling asleep, let alone having to answer mundane questions with no clue on where or if the correct answers are even given.
Long story short: Interactive E-Books will be good for the New-age college student. And cheaper. And less boring; maybe one day there will actually be no sarcasm in the statement “Nah man i can’t do anything tonight i’m too busy having way too much fun studying for my test tomorrow.”
Image from : baibulao‘s Blogspot