Making E-Textbooks More Interactive | Education Technology Features - Campus Technology

David Raths, Philadelphia-based freelance writer focused on information technology says, "E-textbooks made up of open educational resources can greatly alleviate the cost of students' course materials, yet many open source textbook efforts are specific to STEM courses."

The iComp e-book features interactive widgets, videos and other multimedia elements.

The majority of OpenStax's library of free textbooks, for example, focuses on science and math topics. So in 2015 when a team of faculty members and instructional designers at Columbus State Community College (OH) began looking for a low-cost textbook option for the school's online first-year English composition course, they opted to create their own.

Three years later, CSCC's "iComp: A Guide to First-Year Writing" Multi-Touch iBook has completed a two-semester, seven-class pilot phase and is now being rolled out to four courses. According to the project team, the book eliminates the need for traditional textbooks and re-frames the ways students engage with course material. While it is important that students are saving money, the hope is that the innovative curriculum design will increase student success and retention...

The iComp e-book is organized so that each chapter leads students through a specific type of essay writing. To both complement and supplement the text, the authors created videos, interviews, animations, photo galleries, virtual spaces, interactive objects and quizzes, and links to other resources and readings on the web. 
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Source: Campus Technology