Potential of EPUB3 for Digital Textbooks in Higher Education

TL;DR

This study explores EPUB3's potential for enhancing digital textbooks in higher education by developing interactive exercises, analyzing its strengths and weaknesses, and highlighting its openness as a facilitator for open learning.

Contribution

The paper introduces a didactic and technical framework for EPUB3-based interactive exercises in digital textbooks, demonstrating its versatility and potential for future educational use.

Findings

EPUB3 supports a variety of interactive exercises.

EPUB3 is suitable as a foundational format for digital textbooks.

Openness of EPUB3 benefits open learning initiatives.

Abstract

The e-book market is currently in a strong upswing. This research study deals with the question which practical uses the e-book format EPUB3 offers for (higher) education. By means of a didactic content analysis, a range of interactive exercise types were developed as a result of conversations with teachers. For this purpose, a didactic and technical concept has been developed. Different kinds of exercises were prototypically implemented in an e-book. Finally, a brief overview reflects the present state of the current e-book readers. A subsequent discussion illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of the format. In summary, it can be remarked that EPUB3 is suitable for a variety of different exercises and that it is able to serve as a basic format for forthcoming digital textbooks. Furthermore the openness of EPUB3 will assist Open Learning and Teaching in a meaningful way.