Are Interactive eBooks The Wave Of The Future?

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

A recent infographic available on Education Dive  illustrated the results of recent surveys from CampusBooks.com and Uversity regarding preferences when it comes to textbooks, technology, and social media. It indicated that while 44 percent of students are happy with ebooks, 91 percent are still taking notes by hand. 

Now, new research from IDG Connect suggests the education system has yet to maximize the potential of ebooks.  Their research, surveying 250 IT professionals suggests this need to change with the majority surveyed (69 percent) believing that ebooks will overtake paper books in popularity. Secondly, most believe that the real potential in ebooks is interactive.

“Digital textbook pioneer” June Jamrich Parsons, who has been producing digital textbooks for decades earlier this year released a SlideShare report on digital textbooks in 2014. This report, compiled from a range of sources, provides insight into what is going on in this market at the moment, and what the future might hold. 

According to Parsons, the total U.S. textbook market is presently worth $14 billion. Yet although increasing numbers of students are purchasing etextbooks, the price of digital versions is almost the same as the price of print. She demonstrates that last year, in 2013, the average price of a print textbook was $64, while the average price of its digital equivalent was only $3 less, at $61.

This is leading to many changes within an industry which has historically been dominated by a handful of extremely large publishers. Popular digital formats offer different educational features that provide the opportunity for agile new entrants to challenge traditional market leaders. Free textbook suppliers like bookboon (42 million downloads), Boundless (1 million downloads), Flat World (300,000 downloads) and OpenStax (170,000 downloads) are proving popular. Yet, she comments, this “open and free educational software is mostly experimental… for now.”

There is actually a lot of space for interactive publishing. Parsons herself produced what was possibly the first interactive textbook, nearly 20 years ago. Interactive ebooks are not just plain text in digital format. Instead, they utilize audio, video, and social functions as well. They could also comprise a whole host of features now unimagined.

The new research shows that 83 percent of people surveyed believe that interactive ebooks will catch on. The main challenge could be the professionals who will need to develop this material. Among those surveyed, 47 percent believe that the biggest stumbling block will be publishers, while 42 percent say it will be readers, and only a handful (11 percent) think it will be writers.

The full report may be accessed here.