Can Digital Textbook Truly Replace the Print Kind?

　　The shortcomings of traditional print edition textbooks are obvious: For starters they’reheavy, with the average physics textbook weighing 3.6 pounds. They’re also expensive,especially when you factor in the average college student’s limited budget, typically costinghundreds of dollars every semester.

　　But the worst part is that print version of textbooks are constantly undergoing revisions.Many professors require that their students use only the latest versions in the classroom,essentially rendering older texts unusable. For students, it means they’re basically stuck with afour pound paper-weight that they can’t sell back.

　　Which is why digital textbooks, if they live up to their promise, could help ease many of theseshortcomings. But till now, they’ve been something like a mirage(幻影)in the distance, morelike a hazy(模糊的)dream than an actual reality. Imagine the promise: Carrying all yourtextbooks in a 1.3 pound iPad? It sounds almost too good to be true.

　　But there are a few pilot schools already making the transition(過渡)over to digital books.Universities like Cornell and Brown have jumped onboard. And one medical program at theUniversity of California, Irvine, gave their entire class iPads with which to download textbooksjust last year.

　　But not all were eager to jump aboard.

　　“People were tired of using the iPad textbook besides using it for reading,” says Kalpit Shah,who will be going into his second year at Irvine’s medical program this fall. “They weren’t usingit as a source of communication because they couldn’t read or write in it. So a third of thepeople in my program were using the iPad in class to take notes, the other third were usinglaptops and the last third were using paper and pencil.”

　　The reason it hasn’t caught on yet, he tells me, is that the functionality of e-edition textbooksis incredibly limited, and some students just aren’t motivated to learn new study behavior.

　　But a new application called Inkling might change all that. The company just released anupdated version last week, and it’ll be utilized in over 50 undergraduate and graduateclassrooms this coming school year.

　　“Digital textbooks are not going to catch on,” says Inkling CEO Matt Maclnnis as he’s giving mea demo(演示)over coffee. “What I mean by that is the current perspective of the digitaltextbook is it’s an exact copy of the print book. There’s Course Smart, etc., these guys whotake any image of the page and put it on a screen. If that’s how we’re defining digitaltextbooks, there’s no hope of that becoming a mainstream product.”

　　He calls Inkling a platform for publishers to build rich multimedia content from the ground up,with a heavy emphasis on real-world functionality. The traditional textbook merely serves asa skeleton.

　　At first glance Inkling is an impressive experience. After swiping(敲擊)into the iPad app (應用軟件 ), which you can get for free here, he opens up a few different types of textbooks.

　　Up first is a chemistry book. The boot time is pretty fast, and he navigates through (瀏覽 ) afew chapters before swiping into a fully rendered 3D molecule that can be spun around to viewits various building blocks. “Publishers give us all of the source media, artwork, videos,” hesays, “We help them think through how to actually build something for this platform.”

　　Next he pulls up a music composition textbook, complete with playable demos. It’s a learningexperience that attacks you from multiple sensory directions. It’s clear why this would besomething a music major would love.

　　But the most exciting part about Inkling, to me, is its notation(批注)system. Here’s how itworks!

　　When you purchase a used print book, it comes with its previous owner’s highlights andnotes in the margins. It uses the experience of someone who already went through the class tohelp improve your reading (how much you trust each notation is obviously up to you).

　　But with lnkling, you can highlight a piece of content and make notes. Here’s where things getinteresting, though: If a particularly important passage is highlighted by multiple lnkling users,that information is stored on the cloud and is available for anyone reading the same textbookto come across. That means users have access to notes from not only their classmates andFacebook friends, but anyone who purchased the book across the country. The best commentsare then sorted democratically by a voting system, meaning that your social learningexperience is shared with the best and brightest thinkers.

　　As a bonus, professors can even chime in (插話 ) on discussions. They’ll be able to answer thequestions of students who are in their class directly via the interactive book.

　　Of course, Inkling addresses several of the other shortcomings in traditional print as well.Textbook versions are constanly updated, motivating publishers by minimizing production costs(the big ones like McGraw-Hill are already onboard). Furthermore, students will be able topurchase sections of the text instead of buying the whole thing, with individual chapterscosting as little as $2.99.

　　There are, however, challenges.

　　“It takes efforts to build each book,” Maclnnis tells me. And it’s clear why.

　　Each interactive textbook is a media-heavy experience built from the ground up, and you cantell that it takes a respectable amount of manpower to put together each one.

　　For now the app is also iPad-exclusive, and though a few of these educational institutions aregiving the hardware away for free, for other students who don’t have such a luxury it’s anadded layer of cost — and an expensive one at that.

　　But this much is clear. The traditional textbook model is and has been broken for quite sometime. Whether digitally interactive ones like Inkling actually take off or not remains to be seen,and we probably won’t have a definite answer for the next few years.

　　However the solution to any problem begins with a step in a direction. And at least for now,that hazy mirage in the distance? A little more tangible (可觸摸的 ), a little less of a dream.

　　1. The biggest problem with traditional print textbooks is that _____.

　　A) they are not reused once a new edition comes out

　　B) they cost hundreds of dollars every semester

　　C) they are too heavy to carry around

　　D) they take a longer time to revise

　　2. What does the author say about digital textbooks?

　　A) It’s not likely they will replace traditional textbooks.

　　B) They haven’t fixed all the shortcomings of print books.

　　C) Very few of them are available in the market.

　　D) Many people still have difficulty using them.

　　3. According to Kalpit Shah, some students still use paper and pencil because _____.

　　A) they find it troublesome to take notes with an iPad

　　B) they are unwilling to change their study behavior

　　C) they have get tired of reading on the iPad

　　D) they are not used to reading on the screen

　　4. Inkling CEO Matt Maclnnis explains that the problem with Course Smart’s currentdigital textbooks is that _____.

　　A) they have to be revised repeatedly

　　B) they are inconvenient to use in class

　　C) they are different from most mainstream products

　　D) they are no more than print versions put on a screen

　　5. Matt Maclnnis describes the updated version of lnkling as _____.

　　A) a good example of the mainstream products

　　B) a marvelous product of many creative ideas

　　C) a platform for building multimedia content

　　D) a mere skeleton of traditional textbooks

　　6. The author is most excited about lnkling’s notation system because one can _____.

　　A) share his learning experience with the best and brightest thinkers

　　B) participate in discussions with classmates and Facebook friends

　　C) vote for the best learners democratically

　　D) store information on the cloud

　　7. One additional advantage of the interactive digital textbook is that _____.

　　A) students can switch to different discussions at any point

　　B) students can download relevant critical comments

　　C) professors can join in students’ online discussions

　　D) professors can give prompt feedback to students’ homework

　　8. One of the challenges to build an interactive digital textbook from the ground up is that istakes a great deal of _____.

　　9. One problem for students to replace traditional textbooks with interactive digital ones isthe high ______ of the hardware.

　　10. According to the author, whether digital textbooks will catch on still _____.

　　1. A. they are not rescued once a new edition comes out

　　2. B. They haven’t fixed all the shortcomings of print books.

　　3. A. they find it troublesome to take notes with an iPad.

　　4. D. they are no more than print versions put on a screen

　　5. C. a platform for building multimedia content

　　6. A. share his learning experience with the best and brightest thinkers

　　7. C. professors can join in students’ online discussions

　　8. manpower to put together each one

　　9. cost

　　10. remains to be seen