What makes a good digital E-Book?
An E-Book is a book or text that has been digitized from print form and can be read online using technology device (Lamb, 2011). A good E-Book is highly adaptable, can be quickly and easily accessed, shared and has no monetary cost (Cull, 2011). Adaptability features include the ability to search the text for keywords and phrases, use a digital bookmark, annotate, change the font size, background colour, or use fonts designed for people with dyslexia are options included in a good E-Book (Walsh, 2013). Good E-Books are open source and can be accessed easily, anyone can engage with them without monetary cost, subscription or membership. A good E-Book can be accessed using different technological devices such as a Chromebook, iPhone, tablet or laptop reduce barriers to access (Leu, 2011).
What purpose do E-Books serve?
E-Books have the ability to support an elementary educator’s instruction through differentiation and universal design by offering students multiple entry points, engaging students according to their interests and by offering a choice of content, process and environment. E-Books provide a student with a wide selection of literature to choose from and good E-Books, as defined above, increase accessibility to literature. Students who may have difficulty engaging with a traditional print text, may experience more success and learning with an E-Book due to features and adaptability.
E-Books can be projected on a large interactive whiteboard or monitor at the front of the classroom, students who are able to, will read independently, those who aren’t can participate in the shared reading of the text. Primary aged students actively engage with E-Books when it is a large screen format at the front of the class, more so than when a teacher reads a print book (Yokohama & Teale, 2014). Print books are static, annotations and highlighting are permanent. E-Books can be digitally annotated, annotations can be removed or hidden and saved for future reference. E-Books can also be read on an individual tablet allowing students to control their reading pace by manually navigating the page forward by tapping the page, clicking an arrow or sliding their finger across the screen. Kinesthetic learners will benefit from holding a tablet and the physical movement required to turn a page (Roskos, Burstein, Yi Shang & Gray, 2014).
Digital literature fosters student learning as it enables learning in a meaningful way. E-Books can be linked to online discussion forums or virtual learning environments (VLE), it is digital and assessable online with a universal resource locator (URL) link. Traditional print books do not facilitate discussion or collaboration. Students expand their audience and participation outside the walls of the classroom to dive deeper into the meaning and connections to self and world (James & De Kock, 2013). The nature of E-Books allows students broader access to literature beyond the physical school building.
Analysis of the E-Book Adventures of a Nepali Frog
Content
The E-Book is about a young frog’s adventures through Nepal as he leaves home and encounters and overcomes challenges. Some obstacles the young frog faces include discrimination, animals, traitorous landscapes and exhaustion. The content of the book provides Canadian readers with exposure to different ways of living and working. The story will support a broader perspective of place and people. Students can evaluate how the frog’s adventures may differ from experiences in their own lives. The content may spur questioning and further investigation and research. The names of people and places in the text are not English, the book contains a glossary of terms for students to reference while they read. The navigational functionality does not lend its self to quickly and easily flip back and forth from the main text to the glossary. Students may tire or get frustrated of using the glossary, negatively affecting student’s comprehension of the text.
Adaptability Features
The E-Book is a simple digitized version of the print book, it is lacking features that are now available for E-Books and the adaptability of the E-Book limited (Lamb, 2011). There are not features to change to dyslexic friendly font, change the background or annotate the text. Readers are not able to place a bookmark on a page or look up definitions of words (Roskos, Burstein, Yi Shang & Gray, 2014). There is no option to have the digitized text read to the reader using Google Read and Write nor is it an embedded feature (James & De Kock, 2013). The book does not offer features of accessibility or equitable for readers with an exceptionality.
The E-Book would meet some basic needs of a kinesthetic learner (Roskos, Burstein, Yi Shang & Gray, 2014). Students reading on a table control navigation of the E-Book by clicking the page or a navigational arrow. There is no noise or animation that would create the feeling of turning a page in a print book. The static pages do not create an authentic book reading experience. The E-Book can be read in a single page view or a two-page view and the website has a zoom in or zoom out feature to increase or decrease the size on the font.
When projecting the E-Book on a large interactive whiteboard, educators are able to control the pace of reading to pause throughout the lesson to engage students in predictions (Guernsey, 2011). They can use software to annotate or highlight the book over top of the digital text during class discussions. Annotation and highlighting support students focus and critical thinking of the text.
Access
The eBook is open source, meaning anyone can access it. Teachers can post a link to the book and students can read with their parents at home to extend or reinforce the content of the text (Combes, 2016). There is no need for a subscription, membership or library loan and there is no cost associated with reading the E-Book. Each student in the classroom can access the book independently on their personal device, read with a partner or parent or participate in a shared classroom reading (Leu, Forzani, Timbrell, 2015).
How to implement digital text into classroom instruction?
Analyzing Text, Point of View, Responding to and Evaluating Text, Making Inferences
The E-Book is ideal for students in Grade 4 – 6, the intermediate division. The content of the E-Book lends itself to meet a number of reading expectations from the Ontario Language Curriculum. The book is written from the point of view of the frog. Class discussions about what the frog was thinking, where he will go next, why he travels to the places he goes will support student’s prediction of future events. Collaboration and sharing ideas will support students to make personal connections to the literature.
Cross-Curricular Connections to Science, Social Studies, Art and Mathematics
Real-world authentic cross-curriculum connections to geography, social students, science, arts and mathematics can be used with the E-Book as a mentor text. Students can consider an alternative point of view throughout the book, create a map where the frog travels, consider different modes of transportation, illustrate landscapes described, construct a vehicle for the Nepali Frog, review slops and trajectories in a mathematical context.
Conclusion
The primary benefit of this E-Book is access. The E-Book does not offer features or adaptability options that extend the book in ways that will benefit the reader. Teachers can use this E-Book for a novel study and not be concerned about having enough book copies for students. The open-source URL link allows for multiple user’s access simultaneously. The limited features of the E-Book do not increase accessibility to the text. Students do have the ability to read the book at home or school with a device that is connected to the internet; they must remember where they left off as the book does not have a digital bookmark.
References
Combes, B. (2016). Digital literacy: A new flavour of literacy or something different? Synergy, 14(1), Retrieved from https://www.slav.vic.edu.au/synergy/volume-14-number-1-2016/reflections-and-actions/611-digital-literacy-a-new-flavour-of-literacy-or-something-different.html
Cull, B. W. (2011). Reading revolutions: online digital text and implications for reading in academe. First Monday, 16(6). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3340/2985
Guernsey, L. (2011, June 7). Are ebooks any good? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2011/06/books-media/ebooks/are-ebooks-any-good/#_
James, R., & De Kock, L. (2013). The digital David and the Gutenberg oliath: the rise of the ‘enhanced’ e-book. English Academy Review, 30(1), pp. 107-123. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10131752.2013.783394
Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and leading with technology, 39(3), 12-17. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=67371172&site=ehost-live
Leu, D.J, Forzani, E.,Timbrell, N., Maykel, C., (2015) Seeing the forest, not the trees: Essential technologies for literacy in the primary-grade and upper elementrary-grade classroom. Reading Teacher, 69(2) 139-145
Leu, D.J., McVerry, Gregory, J., O’Bryrne, Ian, W., Kiili, C., Zawilinksi, L., Everett-Cacopardo, H., Kennedy, C., Forzani, E., (2011). The new literacies of online reading comprehension: Expanding the literacy and learning curriculum. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(1)5-14. Doi: 10.1598/JAAL.55.1.1
Roskos, K., Burstein, K., Shang, Y., & Gray, E. (2014). Young children’s engagement with e-books at school: Does device matter? SAGE Open, 4(1)DOI: 10.1177/2158244013517244, Retrieved from http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/4/1/2158244013517244
Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment (Ch. 13). In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. Marrickville, Australia: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).
Yokota, J. & Teale, W. H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world: educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 34(6). Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/3886534/Picture_Books_and_the_Digital_World_Educators_ Making_Informed_Choices