I shy away from looking at pictures of myself. Yet, despite the nausea I feel at the prospect of my video appearing in public, I’m completely fascinated with the enhanced e-book version of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go that will be available this week. (Please keep reading… I promise this is NOT a sales pitch!)
If you’re not familiar with the enhanced e-book format (I wasn’t until recently), it’s an extension of the online book platform. It begins with a standard e-book; but then it gets packed full of additional content that’s delivered in short video clips.
At present, there are relatively few enhanced e-books in circulation. But that number is growing.
“With the digital explosion of smartphones and tablets, non-fiction book publishers with lifelong learning content will increasingly move from passive learning via text to active learning via a combination of text, audio, video, animation, games, and interactive exercises to enable a deeper educational experience with higher long-term retention, resulting in a higher propensity to use the newly acquired skills and ideas in everyday lives.” – David Marshall, Vice President of Editorial and Digital.
What’s fascinating to me is the way multiple media forms have converged in service of learning… and the possibilities this convergence brings.
Today, the technology is clearly in its infancy. Bandwidth issues present challenges. And inconsistent practices and progress among the major booksellers force larger publishers to design to the lowest common denominator.
But… I can imagine a time (in the not-so-distant future) when it will be commonplace for readers via any electronic device to:
- Unlock, aggregate, and organize vast, searchable repositories of an author’s research, writing, and thought leadership with a single click… right in an enhanced ebook.
- Decide the objective of reading or depth desired and have the content configured for that level of detail… right in an enhanced ebook.
- Select a musical track to compliment their reading… right in an enhanced ebook.
- Better internalize skills and techniques by clicking on hundreds of embedded audio and video examples that bring concepts to vivid life… right in an enhanced ebook.
- Engage in quizzes, assessments, and other activities that will automatically tailor the content based on the evaluation or results… right in an enhanced ebook.
- Apply and practice new approaches through sophisticated simulations and games they can launch… right in an enhanced ebook.
- Connect with other readers, establish communities, and keep the conversation going.. right in an enhanced ebook.
- Automatically create personalized, printable abridged selections based upon the content they’ve read or highlighted or on the time spent on particular pages… right in an enhanced ebook.
- Connect with authors real-time to engage in a dialogue that’s captured for future review and reference… right in an enhanced ebook.
As a learning professional, I’m excited about how this technology will morph in the future… and how it will further expand an individual’s ability to acquire, explore, and perhaps even apply new knowledge.
What about you? What can you imagine enhanced e-books doing? What would you like them to do?
Want to experience this enhanced e-book for yourself? Apple has kindly provided us with a few free downloads. Just leave a comment here and we’ll email your personal code.