The surge of interest in e-textbooks is caused, on the one hand, by the natural desire to be in the context of current trends in the informatization of the educational process, and on the other – permanent problems of insufficient and late funding for textbook preparation and printing.
The Definition and Types of the eBooks
The definition of “electronic textbook” is such a broad concept that it does not explain much without concretization. Thus, e-textbooks include e-books (readers), structured and linked texts, and documents of various types, from supporting files to web pages containing educational materials.
In fact, an e-textbook is an educational product that differs from a traditional printed textbook only in that it can only be viewed on a computer or e-book; it meets the requirements of the State Standard of General Secondary Education and Curricula. The electronic textbook should, firstly, reveal the subject of science, giving a description, explanation, prediction, and prediction of phenomena, facts, processes, objects and, secondly, reveal the essence of the subject of study, containing a methodological apparatus for teachers and students.
Electronic textbooks are generally divided into three types:
- scanned paper textbook;
- traditional textbook with hypertext inserts;
- specially designed electronic textbook.
Regardless of the type, the e-textbook should use the principle of quantization, i.e. the training material should be divided into sections, which are also divided into modular frames with textual components and visualization. Each module consists of a theoretical block, test questions on theory, exercises and tests, contextual help, and more. The modules are linked by hypertext links so that the student can quickly move from one module to another on the principle of branching. It is advisable that the electronic textbook contains both graphic and illustrative material.
What Are 5 Steps to Protect Your eBook Before Your Publish?
E-books were selling well five years ago, but today e-book sales are declining at the big box stores, and the prospects for e-book sales don’t look so bright anymore. Prices for electronic publications gradually grew to the level of prices for paper publications, and no one even thought to lift the restrictions inherent in electronic formats. Electronic paper and ink are technologies that allow you to simulate the display of information created by ordinary ink on the display screen.
The situation reached its absurdity to the limit after the students of American universities unanimously ignored electronic textbooks: despite the fact that in electronic form educational materials could be bought 20-30% cheaper than paper ones, an electronic textbook cannot be sold at the end of the academic year, nor buy at a discount in the second-hand department.
To protect your eBook before publishing it is recommended to:
- form intentionally or inadvertently modifying, moving, or deleting data on a worksheet;
- you can lock cells on an Excel worksheet and then password protect it. Let’s say you have a group report sheet and you need its members to be able to add data only to certain cells and not change other elements;
- with the Sheet Protection feature, only certain parts of the sheet can be edited, and users will not be able to change data in other areas of the sheet;
- the implementation of specific protections is described in detail, but it is not always clear in which practical situations it may be useful;
- huge savings in device charge, as energy is consumed only when turning pages. That’s why e-books can run for weeks or even months without recharging.