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Center for Digital Intelligence™ |
Have you considered how the traditional textbook author/publisher, teacher, student and parent relationship should change as a result of digital transformation? In this article let's explore how this traditional process can be greatly enhanced with digital technologies. Traditionally a physical textbook is published in one format for all students. Sometimes, at a great expense, they can be translated to another language. There are several challenges with that. Not all students learn in the same manner or language, physical textbooks can only use images and texts on paper, and today's students are more accustomed to accessing, reading, watching and listening to content in a digital format on smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Digital formats, however, can be integrated with all kinds of digital media. The devices or hardware that reads digital formats (smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc.) also mostly support GPS and mapping. With GPS sensors, authors can integrate location data from
Google Field Trips, to make their textbooks location-aware and more contextually relevant to the reader. For example a student could be reading about Lewis and Clark's explorations, and their digital textbook could automatically show them nearby locations, photos, video clips, notes, podcasts, etc., related to that journey. In addition, virtual reality and augmented reality applications could then be created to bring historic events to life.