Digital hybrid texts as comprehensive interactive learning environments - case study in history subject

In this section, we evaluate a prototype DHTs with the aim of research is how the DHTs are used as ILEs and how the proposed concept of a DHTs meet the needs of students, focusing on [r]

DIGITAL HYBRID TEXTS AS COMPREHENSIVE

INTERACTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS - CASE STUDY

IN HISTORY SUBJECT

Ph D Doan Nguyet Linh1

Abtract: A Digital Hybrid Texts (DHTs) can serve as an interactive learning

environment (ILE), facilitating more effective teaching and learning processes

In this paper, we propose a DHTs, which allows for interaction between the digital and the physical world In that regard, we first investigated the gap between the expectations of teachers with respect to DHTs functionalities, on the one hand, and the ILE functionalities offered by eBook, on the other hand Next, we designed and developed DHTs base on ibook Author that make it possible to connect their learning content to smart devices in classrooms Based on experimentation with our prototype DHTs, we can argue that a semantically enriched DHTs is able to act as a comprehensive ILE, providing the tools needed by teachers in smart classrooms

Key words: Digital Hybrid Texts; interactive learning environment; smart school

1 Introduction

An e-TextBook (i.e a digital textbook) needs to be an effective learning tool, empowering students and facilitating their learning (Lau, 2008) In comparison with adults, young students have broadly accepted e-TextBooks, finding them more engaging than their printed counterparts (Kuo-Lun Hsiao & Chia-Chen Chen, 2015) Indeed, the interactive features of e-TextBooks (e.g read aloud and smart device interaction) typically increase excitement about learning and improve the feeling of participation, for instance, leading to advances in learning Thus, designers of e-TextBooks for young (e.g teachers) tend to focus on functionalities that increase interaction and collaboration Especially when these e-TextBooks are

to be used as interactive learning environments (ILEs) in smart classrooms

1 University of Education

Email: nguyetlinhvnu@gmail.com

Our research focuses on the design and development of so-called DHTs, and where these DHTs enable interaction between the digital and physical world In this article we sometimes use the term e-book to replace DHTs as another way

of calling In that context, our research aims at addressing two major research questions: 1) how can digital publishing enrich DHTs that need to act as ILEs? and (2) how to make DHTs that meet the needs of students, thereby focusing on improving the cognitive and motivational aspects of learning outcomes?

2 Background

2.1 Interactive learning environments

ILE needs to be designed to support teaching and learning over the Internet and on mobile devices Furthermore, we can point out that it is possible to categorize mobile learning environments based on their ability to promote a strong interaction among students and teachers, so as to improve motivation and increase the flexibility of the learning process (Barbosa, 2013) In our research, we see an ILE as a mobile learning environment

Raiyn (2014) writes that “the digital world gives teachers new ideas, strong content, plentiful pedagogy and a connection to virtual schools in real-time” Teachers feel inspired by new types of e-learning environments, given that these environments have the potential of enabling students to become strong thinkers and creative problem solvers

The aforementioned studies see each educational tool as an individual means that needs to be used for interactive teaching and learning However, our approach sees these tools as (integrated) content served by a unified system, the so-called Hybrid e-TextBook, focusing on addressing the needs of students who are functioning in smart classrooms

2.2 Digital Hybrid Texts as multifunctional and diverse learning content containers

Among different types of learning objects, books have always been an important medium The use of DHTs, in comparison with traditional books, enables teachers

to more effectively control the learning process of students, having the potential to fully change their teaching approaches (McFall, Dershem, & Davis, 2006) In what follows, we describe a number of book-related definitions and functionalities, with

the aim of clarifying the term “Digital Hybrid Texts”.

E-book: The definition of an e-book, as discussed by (Vassiliou & Rowley, 2008), contains both a static and a dynamic component: whereas the static

component states that “an e-book is a digital object with textual and/or other types of content”, the dynamic component expresses that “an e- book can have technology-dependent features that make it more interactive and dynamic than its paper counterpart”

Given the aforementioned definition, it is interesting to point out that iBook Author is a digital format that can be used for publishing e-books This digital format

is bringing many benefits such as capabilities for rich media (audio and video) and interactivity As such, iBook Author is a powerful format for both representing and presenting an e-book and its content, making it possible to integrate multimedia and interactivity features

Digital Hybrid Texts are designed to promote various types of interactions that (1) allow the student to work according to his or her needs and level, regardless of time and location and (2) integrate content from already existing TextBooks and workbooks, while providing a multimedia learning environment (that is, a learning environment equipped with video clips and/or virtual reality) (Jung, 2009)

2.3 Digital Hybrid Texts

We assume that a DHTs can either take the form of an e-TextBook that facilitates interaction with the physical and/or digital learning content, or that it can take the form of a paper TextBook that has been enriched with digital content

In this context, we would like to point out that a DHTs can also be seen as an interactive content container that serves both physical and digital learning objects (e.g books, videos and slides), for instance, through leveraging the Internet of Things paradigm

Taking into account the aforementioned definitions, studies on technologies for creating e-TextBooks and present-day and future use cases, we can conclude that both an e-TextBook and a DHTs should be able to act as a multifunctional and heterogeneous container for learning content

The digital hybrid text (DHT) looks to combine the affordances of the multi-media enriched eBook with personalized material from the individual user, so that the “textbook” designed by the expert and the “field notes” gathered by the “novice” (or student) combine over time to produce a bespoke text for the individual

3 Digital Hybrid Texts

Our research focuses on exploring the concept of a DHTs A DHTs is an eBook that facilitates interaction between the physical and the digital world, and where the interaction is enabled through the use of an extensible data model that is ontology

based In this section, we first analyze the feasibility of DHTs to act as an ILE, with

a focus on addressing the needs of students Next, we describe a prototype DHTs that uses our data model to facilitate interaction with smart learning environment

3.1 Creating DHTs

This section is based on the theory from the interactive digital book development project between Hull University and our University

Purpose

The first question we should ask is: What is the purpose of this DHTs? The core questions we should explore in considering the purpose is: What kind of pedagogy is driving the construction of the book?

Transmissive: The book’s purpose is to transmit content from the expert to the novice: This is probably the most common use of books as the content provided is the “wisdom of the teacher” which they consider is important or vital to the student When developing content of this kind we need to consider what are the available technologies that will allow us to do this better; i.e in the most pedagogically effective manner This means we need to think about both how we will do this (text, image, video, graphic, animation etc ) but also the context in which this will

be used (individual, pair, group, seminar, tutorial, classroom, lecture etc )

Constructive: The book’s purpose is to explore a range of content or ideas: In this scenario the books purpose is to get the student to reflect on the learning materials and to offer their own option or ideas So, we want to create spaces in the book for the student

to contribute or for the student to communicate with their teacher

Activity Led: The book’s purpose is to get the user to undertake a series of tasks: Now we need to design the learning task and to consider what tools (within the book or in a different learning space: if this is possible) This might be to watch

a video and then undertake an activity or to create an artefact of their own (video, audio, text etc ) and then share this It might be to undertake a test or a quiz Data Collection: The book’s purpose is to get data from the user: This might

be to undertake a test or a quiz as either formative or summative assessment It might also be undertaking a survey or a questionnaire but you might also want to build in tools to get the shared data for an investigation or to get responses to an opinion question This data could be for the teacher to use as part of the learning planning or part of a shared data set that the students are going to use

Collaborative: The book’s purpose is to get groups of people working together: You should see your eBook as existing in both the physical space of the user’s

technology (tablet, laptop, desktop) but also the virtual space of the cloud This means that you might want to build in the opportunity for students to collaborate

in virtual space via a chat room or a notice board or a meetings’ room Again you might want to use a range of software to do this

Content

At the heart of the DHTs will be the kinds of content that would be added to book We will think about this in three stages:

Static content: This includes text, images, graphics the kinds of things that you would find in a “traditional” book

Multimedia-media content: This includes video, animations, audio, presentations Dyn amic Content / widgets: This includes a whole range of small

“programmes” that will run inside the book and will do a range of functions

When we think about the content we need to consider:

Do I already have the content or am I going to need to create the content anew?

If there is a need to create new content then who is going to create this? What skills (practice, academic and technical will be needed to do this?

What permissions will I need to use these content? (Copyright / Intellectual Property / Ethical)?

Will all the assets be part of the book? Or will some sit in the cloud?

Will the book be “stand-alone” or will it need to be internet connected (always / sometimes?)

Design

There are some core design principles when constructing an eBook:

Concentrate but do not overwhelm;

The structure of the book should reflect the purpose of the book this could be:

Linear: each chapter follows the previous chapter

Decoration should be consistent and minimal - but the book should have a design ‘theme’ or ‘focus’;

Each section should follow the rubric: Title - Key Idea - Paragraph Body You do not need to be constrained by ‘print ideas’ so pages can contain a single idea, image or activity;

Consider the rule of thirds and the use of white space

iBooks Author is Apple’s proprietary software for the construction of eBooks

It is free for all desktop or laptop Apple’s machines A simple to use interface means making iBooks is a very smooth process The final produce can be outputted as an ibooks file (which can only be viewed on a Mac desktop or an iPad) It is very easy

to create m-books (see the model) in iBooks Author and there are a limited number

of widgets built into the software However the addition of other widgets is very straightforward using Widgets from Weebly or BookWidgets

3.2 Prototype Digital Hybrid Texts

Facilitating interaction between the digital world and the physical world requires seamless collaboration between different learning components and devices in smart learning environments To create prototype DHTs we relied on

a History textbook used by students for the traditional instruction of grade 10 students in Vietnam We designed and developed corresponding DHTs, taking on the role of a designer of DHTs that need to serve as an ILE In that regard, we followed an iterative approach, improving the functionality of the DHTs based

on the feedback of our experts (i.e the teachers) in a stepwise fashion Note that our research primarily focuses on addressing the needs of students However, we would like to encourage future studies to investigate the impact of students acting

as co-designers of DHTs

The first DHTs is used for teaching about concepts related to the cultural heritage of the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam In this ebook content we combine knowledge in traditional textbooks with external sources of knowledge Many open learning resources are integrated into the DHT content Figure 1 and 2 shows

a number of screenshots of the DHTs designed

As can be seen in figure 1 students can open and read the annotated DHT through the usage of an e-book reader (ibook) One of the pages of the ebook we use is videos, timeline and slideshows to replace the text channel A collection

of images with about 70 images of imperial architecture in Hue that we bring to students to interact with real images

In figure 2 once the pages shown have been read, the color of the lights in the ebook will turn to their relevant color (e.g blue) The remaining pages are the section we designed for the test-review section As The students have finished they can use the tests not only multiple choice form but also the essay to re-examine the knowledge One of the advantages of these tests is that students are able to know and discuss the results immediately after doing the work with other students

Figure 1: Some content pages of the e-book

Figure 2 Some content pages of the e-book

4 Evaluation

In this section, we evaluate a prototype DHTs with the aim of research is how the DHTs are used as ILEs and how the proposed concept of a DHTs meet the needs of students, focusing on cognitive and motivational aspects of learning outcomes

We are focusing on (1) Are you interested in the e-book on the Heritage of Vietnam?; (2) Appearance and user friendliness; (3) What can you do with this e-book?; (4) What would you most like to see changed in the next version of this e-book?

The study was conducted with sample of 46 high school students at grade 10 which our university has cooperation The questionnaire was administered by the lecturer to the student within a class period of fifteen minutes and was filled out anonymously And then was collected online by google questionnaire software The level of consent for the interest of the students when using the e-book

In order to examine the interested level, we asked the objectives whether they are interested in doing lesson with the e-book or not

The majority of students agreed that they are keen on using the e-book not only

in the classroom but also outside the classroom (80,6%) There is a little portion of students no interest in using e-book (2,8%) This result is reasonable

We also asked the teachers to rate each functionality in terms of its helpfulness for individual or collaborative learning In that regard, all teachers agreed that each functionality is useful for collaborative learning Some of these functionalities, like

“Text”, can be used for individual learning moments as well

We asked the students whether they were potentially interested in other functionalities

As shown in the table below, 91% of students think they can use this e-book for research, 80% said they could use the links in the e-book to search for information related to the subject cultural property of the Nguyen The importance of this e-book is different from traditional books as it is highly interactive As many as 77% of students think they can interact with this e-book The importance of this e-book is different from traditional books as it is highly interactive As many as 77% of students think they can interact with this e-book For example, they can zoom in, zoom out, highlight the sections that have been read, and direct links to external e-books

We conducted interviews with students after they used e-books The question

is “What would you most like to see changed in the next version of this eBook?”

We get the answers focused on the following key points: They think that in the photos that can do as a tour, the reader will be going from the entrance to the

rooms, the palace (3D) instead of looking ordinary photos The presentation may

be more diverse If the e-book can layout and provide knowledge more vividly then good In the e-book there are videos about the Nguyen Dynasty To increase

the actual interaction, the video should be converted to a dropdown Students can click on each item to reveal the position of the king, return to the main page to press

another king If video or 360° photos increase the vibrancy of the ebook Make

less text and summarize the content by thinking diagram or image Photos, videos should have legacy names that will make it easier for viewers to follow

5 Conclusions and future work

In this paper, we reviewed ILEs and DHTs, as well as the way (standardized) digital publishing can be used to represent enriched DHTs, with the goal to improve interoperability, discoverability and reusability Furthermore, we contributed to a better understanding of the coverage of students needs by DHTs functionalities, and where the latter have to serve as ILEs In that regard, we presented and discussed between the aforementioned needs and functionalities In addition, we explored and implemented the concept of a so-called DHTs, bridging the gap between the digital and the physical world Our evaluation demonstrates that a DHTs makes for

a comprehensive and unified ILE Furthermore, our user evaluation demonstrates that the usage of a DHTs in a smart classroom is able to increase student motivation and cognitive learning in comparison with the usage of a static paper or digital book

We can identify a number of directions for future research and development First,

it would be of interest to conduct a long-term user study regarding the impact of DHTs

on the cognitive and motivational aspects of learning outcomes (e.g for the duration of

a school year), engaging a higher number of teachers and students (so as to allow for more extensive statistical testing), dealing with different grades and possibly having children involved as co-designers as well Second, a need also exists for building user-friendly authoring tools that make it possible to easily add metadata to DHTs, for reasons

of interlinking and discoverability Third, it is necessary to investigate techniques that facilitate the creation of adaptive DHTs with support for automatic content update features Finally, current capabilities of e-readers need to be improved, so as to have better support for more advanced DHTs functionalities

References

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Barbosa, E (2013) A requirements catalog for mobile learning environments In Proceedings of the 28th annual ACM symposium on applied computing (Vol 55, pp 1266–1271)

Lau, J (2008) Students’ experience of using electronic textbooks in different levels of education Scroll, 1, 1–7 Retrieved from http://fdt.library.utoronto.ca/ index.php/fdt/article/view/4907/1768

McFall, R., Dershem, H., & Davis, D (2006) Experiences using a collaborative electronic textbook: Bringing the “guide on the side” home with you ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 38(1), 339–343 doi:10.1145/1124706.1121448

Ontology (2015) Hybrid-book ontology Retrieved from https://github.com/ InteractiveLE/HybridBook/blob/master/ DataSet