Embedding Digital Texts

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E-learning provides equal access to digital content. Students can learn regardless of geographic location. They can learn at home, or while on vacation. E-learn is time efficient. Students can learn at their own pace. Students have access to the learning material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as opposed to a 45 minute period of class, further breaking down the classroom walls. Using e-learning, digital texts and open course software increase media literacy skills through reading digital texts online.  Students are additionally able to connect to current and ongoing research in various areas.

MIT pioneered open courseware and has been providing free lessons and lectures to the public since 2001.  In 2014, MIT had published 2250 courses through their open courseware program. Open courseware is free and available to all. Using open courseware connects learners across geographic divides creating a global community of learners.  (MIT, 2015)

Using digital textbooks allows school to reduce the traditional cost of purchasing textbooks.  Graphics, diagrams and photos that are flat images in traditional textbooks, come alive in a digital format with interactive elements. Digital textbooks can be automatically updated with the latest scientific discoveries. Whereas, print textbooks would have obsolete information until the next printing. Digital textbooks can additionally include hyperlinks to additional resources, further expanding the learning opportunities. Websites such as Flat World Knowledge and CK-12 offer digital textbooks for K-12 education.  Using CK-12, teachers are able to build their own “textbooks” called a Flexbook, using resources from a variety of sources. Flexbooks can be saved as a PDF and shared with students or printed out. Flexbooks can be further customized using a Microsoft Word based text editor.

Digital text projects such as Project Guttenberg and Bookshare open up literacy opportunities for all students. E-learning, open courseware and digital texts expand the opportunities for learning, break down classroom walls and bring education to learners of all ages.

References

MIT. (2015). Our History. Retrieved from MIT Open Courseware: http://ocw.mit.edu/about/our-history/