Potential of EPUB3 for Digital Textbooks in Higher Education

The e-book market is currently in a strong upswing. This research study deals with the question which practical uses the e-book format EPUB3 offers for (higher) education. By means of a didactic content analysis, a range of interactive exercise types were developed as a result of conversations with teachers. For this purpose, a didactic and technical concept has been developed. Different kinds of exercises were prototypically implemented in an e-book. Finally, a brief overview reflects the present state of the current e-book readers. A subsequent discussion illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of the format. In summary, it can be remarked that EPUB3 is suitable for a variety of different exercises and that it is able to serve as a basic format for forthcoming digital textbooks. Furthermore the openness of EPUB3 will assist Open Learning and Teaching in a meaningful way.Comment: Conference, 13 page

Interactive design and gamification of eBooks for mobile and contextual learning

Given the global spread of mobile platforms like iOS and Android, it is relevant to consider the potential of these devices to teach and learn. Our exploratory research was designed to evaluate the possibility of using common eBook formats to create gamebooks (gamified books) that are effective in teaching and learning. After analyzing the features available in many free or open tools, we decided to use iBooks Author to build a model of a dynamic book that may function as an educational game for "Environmental Studies", aimed at children in the 4th grade, mostly 9 to 10- year olds enrolled in Portuguese schools. This paper pre- sents the design and features of this interactive book titled "Adventures in the Guadiana River", developed using the Apple iBook format, and especially set for the iPad retina. Because this is a proprietary format, we also built a proto- type following the EPUB3 standard and developed new ways to interact with content within this universal format. Preliminary tests with our prototypes revealed very good usability and a promising pedagogical potential for the proposed models.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Designing eBook interaction for mobile and contextual learning

Given the global spread of mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android, it is relevant to consider the potential of these devices in teaching and learning. Our exploratory research was designed to evaluate the possibility of using common ebook formats to create gamebooks (gamified books) that are effective in teaching and learning. After analyzing the features available in many free or open tools, we decided to use iBooks Author to built a first model of a dynamic book that may function as an educational game for "Environmental Studies", aimed at children in the 4th grade, mostly 9-10 years old, in Portuguese schools. This paper presents the design and features of this interactive book titled "Adventures in the Guadiana River", developed using the Apple iBook format, and especially set for the iPad retina. Because this is a proprietary format we also built a prototype following the EPUB3 standard and developed new ways to interact with content within this universal format. Preliminary tests with our prototypes revealed very good usability and promising pedagogical potential in the proposed models.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The development of a gamebook for education

Mobile technologies are becoming very accessible to students, due to advances in the development of technology and a simultaneous decline in hardware costs. In this way, it is relevant to consider the potential of these devices in teaching and learning. Our research was designed to evaluate the possibility of creating gamebooks (gamified books) that are effective in teaching and learning. After analyzing the features available in many free or open tools for making ebooks we find out that these tools were not appropriate creating gamebooks. This paper presents a novel interactive book, the gamebook (g-book): a book with a story that can be read sequentially or not. The main difference refers to the ability to choose different paths to the main characters or the unfolding of the history, as happens in games. We built a model of a dynamic book that functions as an educational game for "Environmental Studies", aimed at children in the 4th grade, mostly 9-10 years old, in Portuguese schools. This paper presents the design and features of this g-book titled "Adventures in the Guadiana River", implemented with the Unity3D platform that can be explored in iPhones, iPads, Android mobile devices and web browsers for the OSX and Windows platforms. Preliminary tests with our prototypes revealed very good usability and promising pedagogical potential in the proposed models.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The enhanced ebook: Its past, present, and future place in the North American publishing industry

The enhanced ebook format—an ebook featuring multimedia elements such as audio, video, and animations—was released in 2010, yet it has been largely unused. Despite its potential, only 23% of publishers in Canada produced an enhanced ebook each year between 2014 and 2017.1 The format can excel in the scholarly/professional, trade/consumer, and educational/K to 12 marketplaces; however, it is held back by the same hurdles that halted its progress in 2010. Poor retailer and device support, lack of classification and discoverability, slow consumer adoption, and caution from publishers to invest were, and still are, roadblocks that inhibit the enhanced ebook format from gaining popularity. In an effort to understand why the enhanced ebook format has not gained traction, this report will assess the enhanced ebook format, and its past, present, and future place in the North American publishing industry

The use of ebooks as a strategy to improve learning

The potential of electronic books (ebooks) has been discussed widely, due mainly to their role in helping the user transform passive reading into interactive and dynamic learning, while promoting better retention and appropriation of materials. Taking this premise, the present study follows an exploratory and qualitative approach, discussing how the use of ebooks can improve learning, motivation, dynamism and interactivity in Distance Education. This study was supported by a bibliographic review and a survey method through an online questionnaire used as data collection instruments. The sample consisted of students who attended distance courses taught by the Open University ISCED – UnISCED in Mozambique. The scientific literature studied, and the results from the field research, show the practicality of using ebook as a learning resource and they facility the interactivity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Developments of serious games in education

As Human Computer Interaction technologies evolve, they are supporting the generation of innovative solutions in a broad range of domains. Among them, Serious Games are defined as new type of computer game that is capable of stimulating users to learn, by playing and competing against themselves, against other users or against a computer application. While it could be applied to a broad range of fields and ages, these games are becoming especially relevant in educational contexts and for the most recent generation of students that is growing in a new technological environment, very different from the one we had some years ago. However, in order to become fully accepted as a teaching/learning tool in both formal and informal contexts, this technology has still to overcome several challenges. Given these considerations, this chapter makes a state-of-the-art review of several works that were done in this field, followed by the description of two real world projects, helping to understand the applicability of this technology, but also its inherent challenges.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Multivariate Analysis of the Human Factors and Preferences Towards Digital Publishing Platforms for the iPad

Tablet computers have been widely adopted in America today, with 34% of American adults ages 18+ owning this type of digital device (PEW, 2013). With the emergence of new portable computer technology, reading on digital devices has become more popular than ever before. In particular, tablet computers have enabled users to read enhanced e-book material that, while still text-driven, incorporates all facets of multimedia and technology. With many different digital publishing solutions available for publishers to deploy their content, the goal of this research study was to determine whether there are significant differences in user preferences and comprehension for a publication re-created with three different digital publishing solutions (i.e., Adobe DPS, iBooks Author, and EPUB). The methodology of this research study was a human factors experiment testing for a significant difference in the reading experience of subjects exposed to one of three digital publications. A field experiment consisting of ninety subjects assessed these publications, thirty for each of the three output formats. No significant difference among the publications was found for readers\u27 pleasure with the overall experience or for their interaction with the multimedia elements. A marginally significant difference among the publications was found for the value added by the multimedia elements of the publication. A significant difference among the publications was found for the readers\u27 ability to recognize information and comprehend material from the publication. Ultimately, these results showed a trend that readers\u27 of the digital publishing platforms that allowed for greater interactivity experienced more value added by the multimedia elements of the publication and increased ability to recognize information from the publication. However, the pleasure with the overall experience of the publication and the readers\u27 interaction with the multimedia elements in the publication was determined to not have a significant difference between the publications. Therefore, while readers did not tend to interact differently with the multimedia content or experience any greater pleasure based on the publication they read, readers of more interactive publications did tend to see more value added by the multimedia elements and were better able to recognize the information they had experienced