EXPERIENCE IN USING ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOKS Frank Schindler University of Maryland University College European Division Heidelberg, Germany

TEXTBOOKS WE USE at the UMUC Traditional paper Electronic (interactive menus, hypertext, multimedia, animation, applets)

PAPER TEXTBOOKS vs E-TEXTBOOKS Advantages of Paper Textbooks easy to manipulate easy to study from

PAPER TEXTBOOKS vs E-TEXTBOOKS Disadvantages of Paper Textbooks Do not offer enough of detail Hard to distribute Expensive – cost of 1st copy and cost of each other copy

PAPER TEXTBOOKS vs E-TEXTBOOKS Advantage of E-Textbooks Offer as much detail as needed Global access over Internet Relatively cheap Allow hyperlinks, multimedia, animation Support self-testing with sample answers

PAPER TEXTBOOKS vs E-TEXTBOOKS Disadvantages of E-Texts Can not be downloaded onto local PC Not available in printed format Sluggish access if multimedia involved Hard – expensive to develop Missing integration with rest of class

QUALITY OF E-TEXTBOOKS can be monitored via online, anonymouos students course evaluations. They can be used to Test quality of E-Textbooks Test quality of distance education

EXAMPLE OF COURSE EVALUATION

E-TEXTBOOKS at the UMUC Provide interactive menus and consists of 6 modules. Each of them contains Module objectives Overview of covered concepts Commentary Self-assessment tests glossary

CONCLUSIONS Paper textbooks should be supplemented by CDs with sample course materials E-texts should be provided on CDs for sale to students E-texts should have a some sort of paper version

FUTURE TRENDS In forseeable future both technologies - paper and e-textbooks will merge together

OPEN ISSUES for E-TEXTBOOKS How to sell them on CDs – copyright law How to print them How to better integrate them with rest of the class – conferences, study groups, chat

LIVE EXAMPLES