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Talking more about e-books for (e)learning: audiences and content

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The first post on the e-book issue was motivated by the need to side-step the hype about e-book readers in order to ask “What is an e-learning e-book?” Comments said I had a fair summary of the issues around e-books in general but had sidestepped the e-book reader issue too completely. For some audiences, especially college students , this is a non-issue as they already have the wherewithal to read any e-books which may come there way.

This prompted me to go through  some very broad audiences types in fairly  simplistic way, and consider what sort of e-books they might want / have to read and what they might imply about either the hardware or the software necessary. Some conclusions also dropped out at the end for what this might mean for the ELT publishers.

Potential e-book audience

Type of reading experience sought / offered

e-book reader issues

e-book software  issues

Children (5 – 12)

Entertainment – stories and comics.

Content which can be read with / by parents

Convergence with with Nintendo DS type entertainment / edutainment devices? Current  e-book readers probably very unappealing.

Possibly around the family laptop?

Format: e-learning e-book Likely to be  more interactive (via graphics & animation) rich experience  akin to flash games.

Learning content appropriate to primary curriculum How likely is it for this age group to be equipped with a smart phone or dedicated laptop?. Format: e-learning e-book similar to above

Teens

(Pre college)

Entertainment – fiction, non-fiction and magazines Kindle / Sony style readers may suffice depending on how interactive the content is but aren’t laptop / netbook / smartphone more likely options? Format: ‘standard’ e-book  may suffice but surely there is a requirement here to deal with e-zines, graphic novels etc?

Learning content – text book / syllabus accompaniment e-learning  e-bookbut what does this mean?

University students

Entertainment – fiction, non-fiction and e-zine E-book reader issue possibly irrelevant as they already have iPhone clones or laptop Format: ‘standard’ e-book  may suffice

Learning – (textbooks) As above e-learning  e-book but what does this mean?By chapter / audio / interactive version / includes assessment

Adult language learners

Learning content A headache because current e-book readers probably won’t be able to cope with the type of content a language learning e-book format could require. A smartphone would probably be judged too insubstantial by the customer and not everyone will be carrying a laptop, unlike the college students. Format: e-learning e-book – a half way house between the format flexibility required by the university students and the more interactive content to the children’s e-book format?

Adult general consumers

Entertainment – fiction and non-fiction Kindle / Sony style readers for early adopters and then ..? Format: ‘standard’ e-book is probably a non-issue for mass market consumption of fiction and non-fiction.

A more pressing concern will be DRM and to what extent any title bought is copyable or transferable.

Conclusions?

If this analysis holds up, the answer is …. there isn’t one single answer. More worryingly perhaps for ELT publishers, while the future of e-books in universities may not be clear, it is clear they have a future.  However, on this logic, the way forward for consumer language teaching and ELT publishers is still uncertain because the interactive software formats likely to be required to work for their content, won’t play on a ‘standard’ e-book reader.

Or then again ..

Then again, it may simplify matters:  if there isn’t going to be a consumer device to play sophisticated language learning e-books in the near future, publishers may decide to go for a three-pronged strategy:

  • sophisticated content for teacher use / classroom display (Interactive Whiteboard compatible)
  • greatly simplified content in straight html for mobile and consumer reading devices (free with paper course title which still needs to be bought)
  • complementary  interactive content attached to other services, accessed from PC or laptop. (some free, some charged for with paper course title which still needs to be bought)

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