A Technological Reinvention of the Textbook: a Wikibooks Project
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A Technological Reinvention of the Textbook: A Wikibooks Project Patrick M. O’Shea James C. Onderdonk Appalachian State University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Douglas Allen Dwight W. Allen University of Denver Old Dominion University Abstract Furthermore, the authors believe Each of these four issues limits the Education traditionally has been that present technology affords us teaching and learning process by plac- defined as a one-way relationship the opportunity to experiment with ing barriers between the participants between teacher and learner. How- this reconceptualization in ways that and the content. Unfortunately, these ever, new technologies are dramati- not only facilitate teaching and learning four weaknesses are inherent in the cally changing that relationship in but also redefine the role of the teacher textbook format and cannot be over- a multitude of ways. In this article, in the classroom. We believe that the come as long as educators continue to the authors describe some of these present textbook form is outdated in depend on textbooks as the primary changes and explore one example of four important ways: source of knowledge. the intersection between technology and pedagogy, describing a college 1. The lengthy publication schedule for Take, for example, the issue of course in which students compose the textbooks, normally in the area of three textbook currency. In the past, a more course text using the wiki platform. years from beginning to end, means sedate rate of change and knowledge The process described proceeds from that textbooks inevitably include out- creation made it possible for textbooks the premise that the needs and ca- dated information as part of the final to claim a credible level of currency pacity of learners in the information product. Knowledge and information for many years after publication. age have been transformed and dis- change too rapidly for this to be accept- For example, Principles of Marketing cusses one way that using an appro- able in an era of ubiquitous learning (Clark, 1922) was in widespread use priate technology may address them. and knowledge creation. from its time of publication in 1922 For this wikibook, the creators of the 2. Because there are a relatively small through the 1960s (Ferrell, 1998). content become the prime users of the number of people involved in the It was revised three times, in 1932, content as well. The authors discuss production of a particular textbook, 1942, and 1962. Today, the velocity of both the philosophical underpinnings there is, by definition, a limitation on change and discovery makes such a and practical implications of this ap- the perspectives that can be included. life-cycle almost totally inappropriate proach. Evaluation of the project sug- 3. Textbooks are a passive medium for and virtually unimaginable. gests that the methodology produces transmitting information and as such Acceleration in the rate of new discov- an active, credible learning process. are incomplete until read. The reader eries (for example, Pluto’s demotion from This study explores the advantages takes no active role in the knowledge planet status, new research on the cause and disadvantages of this wiki pro- construction of the text itself and is of the sinking of the Titanic, advances in cess to provide context concerning simply expected to read and digest our understanding of the functioning of the efficacy and utility of employing information. This belies all that we the brain) render scientific and historical particular types of Web 2.0 tools. The know and have known since John textbooks obsolete shortly after or even course development rationale points Dewey about the importance of ac- before they are published. Meanwhile, to its potential for radically changing tive learning. game-changing events occur at such a how students and teachers interact 4. Textbooks are limited by their pace that textbooks purporting to cover with the phenomenon of ubiquitous physical form. The book itself cannot current disciplines are outdated almost learning. (Keywords: Pedagogy, tech- include video, audio, or other mul- immediately. What international business nology, textbooks, wikibooks) timedia presentations, and although textbook published only two years ago publishers have tried to minimize this contains adequate coverage of the global issue by including CD-ROMs and financial crisis or accurately describes his article proposes a relatively Web links with their textbooks, these the status of formerly revered companies radical hypothesis: Textbooks as are, at best, “add-on” solutions that such as Toyota or BP? How relevant or Teducational tools are outdated do nothing to improve the intrinsic current will these very examples be by the and in need of reconceptualization. limitations of the bound paper form. time this article is published? Volume 27 Number 3 | Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education | 109 Copyright © 2011, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], iste.org. All rights reserved. O’Shea, Onderdonk, Allen, & Allen Historical Context that the approach this article describes as “a cost-effective and portable alterna- Criticisms of the textbook and its limita- meets many of the criteria enumerated tive to heavy textbooks and supplemen- tions are not new. In 1936, the keynote by the APA. tal reading selections” (Johnson, Levine, speaker at an exhibition titled “The Text- In a similar vein, Educause’s Learning Smith, & Stone, 2010, p. 17). Although book of the Future and Its Forerunners” Initiative (ELI) identifies developing in- these attractions alone make a compel- lamented that “in regard to the textbook formation, digital and visual literacies as ling case for the viability of the e-book, the goodwill and patience of the child crucial challenges for 21st century educa- the vision is fairly limited. The e-book have been called upon to an unreasonable tion. ELI believes that “creating learn- is portrayed as a desirable alternative degree” (Bryson, 1936, p. 6–7). This criti- ing environments that promote active vehicle for the words and phrases con- cism would be as valid today for K–16 learning, critical thinking, collaborative tained in textbooks and articles, and not, students as it was in 1936, if not more so. learning, and knowledge creation” (¶ 2) as we would argue, as an opportunity However, new technologies now give us must be incorporated into technologi- to re-imagine the teaching and learning powerful new ways to respond in positive cally mediated curriculum in order for process. and proactive ways. Live, collectively cre- learners to be prepared to meet the chal- But the e-book also represents an ated, and continuously updated resources lenges of an increasingly complex world. entirely new palate upon which profes- can and must be embraced in the 21st In an effort to maintain currency, sional writers and students alike can century classroom. authors and publishers have incorpo- paint. All six technologies listed in In 1990, the secretary of labor ap- rated some changes into the traditional the report could be implemented and pointed a commission to examine the textbook. The inclusion of study guides, simultaneously utilized in any location skills that young Americans would need supplemental materials, corporate au- via powerful multi-use readers such to master for the country to create a thoring, rapid new editions, multimedia as the Apple iPad. Writer and reader high-performance economy and remain support, and test-item databases have alike could immediately offer and ac- globally competitive. The commission’s improved the format but have not altered cess real-time updates. A student team report (U.S. Department of Labor, 1991) in a substantial fashion the basic function could share bookmarks, annotations, outlined a series of competencies and of the textbook form. It remains a passive and highlights as they search a source foundation skills that not only would relationship between author and reader for information of particular relevance form the basis for a productive work life that purports to be accurate (sometimes to their own project. The static course but also are, arguably, essential for an wrongly so), and it is presented as an pack could be made dynamic, with enhanced quality of life for all citizens authority in a discipline. It is our conten- opportunity for students and faculty in a democracy. These include “think- tion that the type of learning experiences alike to post links to new sources as a ing creatively, making decisions, solving called for in the SCANS report and in course progresses. Articles and other problems, seeing things in the mind’s the APA principles can be, and should sources could move seamlessly in and eye, knowing how to learn, and reason- be, facilitated by melding the appropriate out of video as well as virtual worlds and ing… individual responsibility, self-es- technology with pedagogy. visual databases. Linking material from teem, sociability, self-management, and multiple sources could bring new life to integrity” (U.S. Department of Labor, Potential for Change statistics. These capabilities exist right 1991, iii). We feel it is critical to note Although the textbook has had tremen- now and they are coming to a school or that the Commission described these dous longevity as a content delivery university near you! skills not as the end product of educa- method, modern technology has given tion but rather as the foundation upon us the means to explore radically new Our Proposal which other learning depends. Respond- approaches to challenges long recog- Working from a philosophical founda- ing to a call for education to prepare stu- nized. For example, the Horizon Report tion of Constructionism, we propose dents as lifelong learners, the process of (Johnson, Levine, Smith, & Stone, 2010) that it is time to reconceptualize the education joins content as figure rather identifies six emerging technologies that textbook, especially given the needs than background.