In part because we’ve written several ProfHacker posts about ebooks, I noted with interest an item by Ben Wieder that appeared yesterday in our Chronicle sibling, Wired Campus. The item, titled “Publishers Struggle to Get Professors to Use Latest E-Textbook Features,” reports that when it comes to course materials published in new media format, “the biggest challenge is getting professors to use the new features of the digital texts.”
These features range from supplemental textual material to quizzes that the students can take to gauge how well they’re understanding course content. Speaking for myself, I sometimes point students to supplemental material available online from the publisher of the texts I use. Norton, for example, has an impressive “web companion” for the Anthology of English Literature. They also have a useful site for students and instructors of writing courses. However, I’ve never taken the time to explore what kinds of quizzes or other online features I might suggest (or require). Why not? I haven’t really thought too much about my answer to that question, frankly. If I had to provide an answer, however, I think I’d say that it just seems like more trouble than it’s worth. Given that students who use such features reportedly perform better in class, though, perhaps I should start thinking more seriously about how to integrate these features.
How about you? Do you use online or otherwise digital course materials that are a supplement to or an integral part of your course? Why or why not? And in what ways do you use such materials? What advantages or disadvantages have you experienced? Let’s hear from you in the comments!
[Creative Commons-licensed flickr photo by Javier Candeira.]
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10 Responses to (How) Do You Use ‘E-Textbooks’?
jonathan_e_p - February 11, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Like many other libraries, my institution uses ebrary — a collection of thousands of ebooks. I checked it out, but decided against using this collection at all, regardless of the opportunities for collaborative learning it might offer. My beef? Ebrary deploys several defenses against copyright infringement (ie., you can only print 20 pages at a time, etc.). The worst of these is that it renders text onscreen at a very low resolution (or else uses some sort of obfuscating technique, I’m not sure which) so that screen captures can’t be used for OCR.
This is all well and good, copyright infringement-wise, but the result is that the text is much less readable than normal or high-resolution text, when printed or read onscreen. My response? Obtain copyright release from the publisher, obtain the book through inter-library loan, scan, create a PDF, and post to the electronic courseware site. Alas!
matt_l - February 11, 2011 at 1:27 pm
I have previewed a couple of e-textbooks for the survey classes I teach on European history. I’ve tried out the quiz materials in a couple of sections too. All I can say is, well, the added content is underwhelming.
I do use primary source documents in the public domain and supplementary materials available on the web. The problem with these is that students don’t always read them, even when I link directly to the material through d2l. They are frequently befuddled by technical problems (Student, “I couldn’t open the document in D2L.” Me, “Did you go to tech support?” Student, “No, do I still have to take the quiz?”). Despite the problems, I keep using the materials, because I think they are a useful supplement, but not a replacement for regular books.
E-Textbooks don’t really add any value, which is why publishers want to push them. They spare the publisher the burden of warehousing paper copies. The textbook “expires” at the end of 16 weeks. As a result the publishers don’t have to compete with themselves on the used book market. If the e-textbooks were 20% of the cost of a paper book, I suppose it might be good value for some students. But really, e-textbooks serve the interest of the publisher, not those of the student or instructor.
I have had students who bought the e-textbook. They seemed to do OK with the class. If students want to use an e-textbook, fine, but I will not assign them as a required text.
11123967 - February 11, 2011 at 3:43 pm
While I have not used the most current “supportive” material, I find that every set of quizzes that I have seen rely on simple rote memorization. My students must analyze and solve problems. These quizzes ignore those cognitive levels.
flowney - February 11, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Reading the comments and noting that they are largely negative prompts me to wonder why we don’t create and distribute our own eTextbooks. We do profess to have mastery of our respective fields and we are not alone in that so collaborative efforts might divide the burden. Creating an eTextbook that overcomes these objections should not be all that difficult with the free and inexpensive software that I have seen demonstrated.
Of course our institutions can certainly help. Recognition in Promotion and Tenure proceedings plus some release time for participating in eTextbook projects seem reasonable to me.
We no longer need publishers.
carsimmprod - February 11, 2011 at 5:47 pm
I use Norton publishing for both of my on line popular music history classes-Jazz History and History of Rock Music. The E-texts have two formats (both of which work well), and you can highlight, take notes (which you can import to word docs), and bookmark. Best of all, they are 1/3 the price, you have a year license and since these are GE transferable classes, most (or all) of my students will not keep them anyways. The accompanying website is very useful for extra information on the music that must be listened to, and there are quizzes that may be used. Very well laid out.
I have found their tech support to be responsive and courteous, especially to students.
I would highly recommend Norton.
wmartin46 - February 11, 2011 at 7:55 pm
> We no longer need publishers.
Bingo!
pnedry - February 11, 2011 at 9:16 pm
I do use many of the electronic platforms provided by publishers. The resources are very robust. However, my issue with them is the lousy proofing of the quiz and test bank items. It is a good thing these people are not building cars, pharmaceuticals, or rockets–the fatalities would sky rocket. Students and professors wind up vetting these items–paying to be frustrated while correcting the work of others.
ychumanities - February 11, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Where are the e-books that actually take advantage of the digital revolution? Electronic multiple-choice tests as added value? Please! Give me 3-D tours of medieval cathedrals, great works of art annotated with pop-ups to explain various features, interactive timelines that use audio clips to illustrate the development of musical styles, virtual experiments for students to conduct. Much of that material ALREADY exists online and I spend hours searching for it to add to the reproduction of a printed page that publishers offer as e-books. Offer me a text that rethinks the whole concept of what an e-book can and should be, and I’ll be first in line to adopt it.
mathieso - February 12, 2011 at 10:07 am
ychumanities wrote: “Offer me a text that rethinks the whole concept of what an e-book can and should be, and I’ll be first in line to adopt it.”
I’ll take that challenge.
I teach intro Web tech. Creating Web sites. The courses help students learn basic skills. What does the research literature say about learning skills?
* Cover fewer concepts in more depth. Think four chapters, not twelve.
* Focus on course outcomes.
* Practice, practice. Many exercises.
* Feedback about every exercise. Fast. Formative feedback. Not just “that’s bad.” Instead: “That’s bad. Here’s why. Fix it, and show me again.”
* Want students to be responsible for their own learning? You have to help them.
- Different subjects need different learning strategies. Students may not know how to learn your subject. Show them.
- Give students measures they can use to assess themselves. Not just at the midterm. Measures they can use at any time during the semester.
- Give them access to personal, expert help. If you see a student falling behind, contact that student, at least once. Set up a tutoring appointment.
Can you do all this? Yes. I do. Spending no more time on teaching than I used to with a lecture format.
The magic is packaged in CoreDogs, at http://coredogs.com. It’s not an “ebook” in the usual sense. It’s content and tools mixed together. E.g., exercises are embedded in the text, where they are most relevant. Students type their solutions into the text. They get feedback right there in the book. There’s a discussion forum for every exercise. There’s no separation between reading and doing.
There are tools for instructors as well. E.g., a streamlined feedback system that lets instructors spend maybe 45 minutes each weekday to keep up with a class of 40 students doing 40 exercises each per semester.
CoreDogs is free. I have no plans to change that.
OK, ychumanities. There it is. Rethinking of what an ebook can be.
flowney: I’m just one prof. A geek, sure. But with the right software, anyone can do this. Everyone wins, except publishers. I haven’t had time to make the course development usable by others. Maybe one day.
BTW, CoreDogs is not for computer science students. It’s for students in journalism, business, education, etc. Where creating Web content is one way of doing their jobs.
I’d like to learn more about how CoreDogs can better support nontech fields, like journalism and education. Please contact me if you have ideas, or know of conversations in your discipline on these issues.
Kieran
kieran@coredogs.com
kevingannon - February 12, 2011 at 10:25 am
I use the ‘My History Lab’ web component that accompanies my US History textbook from Pearson. Students get free access to the site with the purchase of the book, and since I am a robust user of the site, it helps me rationalize the high cost of the text (90 bucks) a bit more.
The site has about 30-35 primary source documents to accompany each chapter, audio material (period songs, for example), video material, historians’ podcasts (5-7 minutes on a topic, done documentary-style with images from the period), interactive map exercises, free-response document analysis exercises, and on and on. Plus, it has access to over 100 public domain books that I can point students toward (i.e., they can read “The Jungle” there instead of having to purchase as copy.) There’s also a complete e-book version of the text,a s well as audio files of each chapter for students to listen to if they wish (and which were a godsend to one of my visually-impaired students last fall).
I have my students take the multiple-choice quizzes on-site, which get sent to an online gradebook that I set up. I agree with above commenters that these are rote exercises, but I use them to get students reading the chapter and accumulating “easy” points this way–and in our class meetings I can do focused discussion and activities without having to rehash content; students are already reasonably proficient through their taking of the quizzes.
I’ve used other companion sites that (to use a technical term) suck, but I love the MHL platform. It takes work to integrate these resources into your course in a meaningful way. You have to carefully think about and structure assignments; you can’t just say ‘go online and take the quiz’ and expect students to benefit. Like anything else related to teaching, effort produces results, and my survey courses have benefited tremendously from these extra resources. I’m a big advocate of this trend with publishers, and am heartened to see the increased quality of the online components to textbooks.