What makes a good enhanced book?
An enhanced book is a piece of digital literature that includes multimodal features above and beyond those included in a simple E-Book (Sadokierski, 2013). Enhanced books include adaptability features, access and content that supports curriculum expectations are important criteria for enhanced books. Adaptability features such as audio, video, animations, hyperlinked or clickable words support the readers decoding and comprehension of unknown words (Lamb, 2011). A good enhanced book will highlight text to tag words while the text is being read aloud allowing readers to follow along. Important features of enhanced books include annotating, digital bookmarks and ability to search the text for keywords or phrases (James & De Kock, 2013). Enhanced books that are available at no monetary cost provides open-source access to digital literature. A good enhanced book that is accessible using various technology devices (Sadokierski, 2013).
What purpose do Enhanced books serve?
Enhanced books support all readers but are significantly valuable to struggling readers, early readers, English as a second language learner (ESL) and those living with an exceptionality. Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) is providing each student with what they need to learn by creating equitable access to learning (Ministry of Education, 2013). The adaptability features beyond what E-Books offer additional support and meet the needs of many more learners (Walsh, 2013). Readers who have difficulty decoding words will benefit from the highlight and tagging feature that corresponds with the audio of enhanced books (Leu, Forzani, Timbrell et al., 2015). ESL students will appreciate the built-in dictionary, whereby they can click on a word and have the word and definition read to aloud. For those living with visual impairments, the read to me feature is used to engage these learners with the text (Jabr, 2013).
Ensuring that students have access to enhanced books with no monetary cost both at school and at home supports the school and home connection. Enhanced digital literacy resources used by educators can deliver curriculum content effectively. This form of digital literature is engaging for young readers, meets the needs of kinesthetic learners and includes supports to develop early readers read independently (Walsh, 2013).
Analysis of the Enhanced Book Exploring Countries Canada
Content
Exploring Countries Canada is a book in a non-fiction series that provides information about different countries. The enhanced book about Canada reviews topics such as the landscape, daily life, work, school, transportation and food. The enhanced E-Book has an index, glossary and vibrant photographs. The enhanced book includes bolded text, titles, subtitles, fun facts in captions and clear page numbers. The book is ideal for primary and junior students to support research about the country Canada.
The content of the enhanced book meets Ontario Curriculum language, science and social studies expectations. Educators have the option of creating quizzes for students after they have read the book. Teachers may use this to check for understanding the content and comprehension. As students engage with enhanced books they develop more literacy skills such as navigating, searching, marking the book as a favourite and keeping a digital reading log.
Features and Adaptability
The multimodal features of the enhanced book support all learners’ access to the content (James & De Kock, 2013). The animation and audio features will engage readers and manual navigation provides opportunities for kinesthetic engagement with a personal tablet. The enhanced book has a read-to-me option that highlights the words as the text is read aloud as an audio feature. The highlight feature can be toggled on or off depending on the purpose of instruction or student need. These features expand the use and interaction with the book. Students can gain independence as the adaptability features provide various levels of support depending on the students need.
While using the read to me audio feature the pages are turned automatically and contain animation making it appear so though the page is being turned. The animation will engage students and creates a reading experience similar to reading a traditional print book. Students manually navigating the E-Book touch the screen to navigate to the next page, touching the screen supports kinesthetic learners. The reader has the ability to click on words throughout the text to have the word and definition read to them. The enhanced book also has the ability to go full screen and increase the size of the font three times. These features support students to focus on the reading and the content as their senses are activated with the various animations, sounds, and navigation options.
Access
The enhanced book Exploring Countries Canada has a barrier to accessibility, like sign up and login information is required to access the text. Epic is a library of digital literature that includes E-Books, enhanced and interactive books. Educators are able to create a classroom account at no cost and use the program to support instruction. Parent accounts can be created for a monetary cost or students school account information can be shared with parents to allow students to access digital literacy resources at home. The home account feature acts as a barrier to students accessing the variety of enhanced and interactive books available.
How to implement enhanced books into classroom instruction?
Text Features
The enhanced book Exploring Countries Canada can be used for instruction on text features. The enhanced book allows teachers to read the book with students using a large interactive whiteboard. Students can easily see the text and the teacher can instruct students about how different text features. Both educator’s and student’s exposure to multimodal digital literacy using enhanced books supports the expansion of literacy skills that are required for learning and participating in online environments (Leu, 2011). Features of print, illustrations as a primary source document and word solving can be modelled and discuss collaboratively during a whole group literacy lesson (Yokohama & Teale, 2014).
Purpose, Comprehension Strategies, Demonstrating Understanding
Teachers can also assign an enhanced book to students in the Epic classroom to expose students to non-fiction text. Early readers can use the read-to-me feature first, before attempting to read the book independently. Students can have an ongoing list of unknown words to review definitions using the features of the enhanced book. Classroom educators can check in with students by creating a quiz using that feature of the enhanced book.
Cross-Curricular Connections Science and Social Studies
The enhanced book can be used as a supporting resource to meet expectations in the Ontario curriculum for Grade 4 science and social studies. In Grade 4 Social Studies, students learn about People and Environments: Political and Physical Regions of Canada. The enhanced book will allow all students to access information regarding the topic as the enhanced book includes many features that support accessibility. The Grade 4 Science curriculum includes the study of Understanding Life Systems Habitats and communities. The enhanced book will allow students to research in an interactive engaging way.
Conclusion
The enhanced book offers many features that will allow students of all ages and ability to access the content of the book and develop student’s digital literacy skills and fluency of reading in an online environment. The enhanced book offers expanded accessibility features, more so than an E-Book, that meet the needs of all learners. The criticism of this enhanced book is that students who do not have a classroom teacher or parent who is engaged in digital literature will miss the opportunity to expose students to the tools and features that are available. The Epic program is a great resource that has no monetary cost associated with classroom educators. The content of the enhanced book will support teachers deliver the Ontario Curriculum expectation effectively.
References
Jabr, F. (2013) The reading brain in the digital age: The science of paper versus screens. Scientific American, April 11. Retrieved from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/
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
Ministry of Education. (2013). Learning for All: A Guide for Effective Assessment and Instruction for all students from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Queens’ Printer for Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/learningforall2013.pdf
Sadokierski, Z. (2013, November 12). What is a book in the digital age? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/what-is-a-book-in-the-digital-age-19071
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