Standardisingfuture formats of digital textbooks：A framework for mappinginternational stakeholders’positions and context

T.HOEL， YUAN Li ， P.BAKER

（1.Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences，Oslo，N－0614，Norway；2.Centre for Educational Technology，Interoperability and Standards，Bolton University，Bolton，BL3 5AB，United Kingdom；3.Cetis，Heriot－Watt University，Edinburgh，EH14 1AS，United Kingdom）

1 Introduction

Nobody doubts that digital textbooks（hereafter e－Textbooks）will play an important role at all levels of the educational system worldwide.While e－Textbooks are marketed by startups（e.g.，Kno.com，Boundless.com）；tested by higher education students，ICT departments and teachers［1］；and analysed in depth by booksellers［2］，the jury is still out when it comes to what is meant by an e－Textbook and what features it will offer ten years from now.

A global market for e－Textbooks must build on an accepted international distribution and interchange format standard.The only viable candidate as a foundation specification，EPUB3 from International Digital Publishing Forum （IDPF），was published in October 2011.EPUB3 builds heavily on HTML5，which W3C is planning to release as a stable recommendation by the end of 2014.Meanwhile，the Korean national standardisation body had submitted EPUB3 for fast track as an international standard through ISO／IEC JTC1／SC34.At the end of September 2013international standardisation experts will meet in Tokyo to try to agree on a way forward for an ISO standard，provided IDPF trust the process enough to give access to their Intellectual Property.

As we see，the e－Textbook scene is highly dynamic.Overall，the e－Textbook development is linked to the evolution of the general ebook market.However，it might prove that the rich media development on the Internet may be even more influential.As all know，the Internet fragments information and antagonises pre－established media structures.It is not only music albums and courses that have a hard time surviving as coherent wholes in a network.As Georg Siemens says in his blog（cf.http：／／www.elearnspace.org／blog／2013／08／13／whats－next－for－educational－software／），“when individuals have access to tools for creating，improving，evaluating，and sharing content，centralized structures fail”.

The e－Textbook may be a strong vehicle for educational change as it implies a continuity with and borrows authority from one of pillars of education，the textbook.However，the potential for e－Textbooks is far greater than for paper textbooks，and to lean too much on the book metaphor may hamper innovation.Therefore，agood conversational framework is needed to support the idea－specification－implementation cycles（Fig.1）that areneeded to let EPUB3 get enough foothold in the market to allow extensions that will support learning，education and training.

This paper will contribute to such a framework，analysing current standardisation initiatives and activities within different e－Learning communities and explore ideas for innovative use of educational media for learning，education and training in the future.

2 A simple analytical model－related work

If we focus on the e－Textbook interchange format as the enabler for the future affordances of this class of learning materials，we see that the specification development is part of bigger cyclic process involving idea development as an input and implementation efforts as an output.In the simple model（Fig.1）provided by Egyedi（2008）the factors influencing the standards development and the factors influencing implementation are highlighted as two different settings to be analysed［3］.

Fig.1 Simple model of standardisation phases，from Egyedi（2008）

We will use this model to structure our analysis of the current e－Textbook standardisation efforts.As we have discussed above，the interplay between the different processes is dynamic，which means that orchestration（and timing）of the different sub－processes－like requirements gathering and design，specification，implementation and testing，etc.－will be essential for the final outcome.Creating the globally acknowledged e－Textbook narrative will be important to align initiatives and mobilise resources for the different processes.Part of this narrative is the e－Textbook tipping point.

When will the point of no return back to paper books be reached in the different markets？The US ICT directors for schools agree that“it is not a question if the reimagining of the textbook will permeate all of education，but only a matter of how and how fast”（Fletcher et al.2012）［4］.They see the school year of 2017－18 as the tipping point in USA.In Asia，South Korea have made headlines with policies to“replace all textbooks with tablets”within2015（later to be interpreted as an ambition to have e－Textbook alternatives in all subjects within 2015，cf：http：／／thenextweb.com／asia／2011／07／04／south－koreanschools－to－replace－all－textbooks－with－tablets／）.

Another part of this narrative is to foresee the implosion of the book as vehicle for learning.Hoel and Pawlowski（2013）took part in a foresight exercise organised by theEuropean Commission［5］.They predicted a“dissolution of the textbook as an embodiment of an educational unit（think“Algebra”，“History”，“English”，etc.and the traditionally associated textbook），both for schools and higher education”before 2020.By 2030，“what started as an e－Textbook in 2013 has developed into an adaptable learning plug－and－play system where the learners’devices are connected through the cloud to systems used by other students，teachers，schools，content providers and society at large”（ibid）.

Visions inform the requirements that will be fed into specifications.This paper will start at the other end，exploring the implementation settings using a recent US study.

3 Today’s implementation setting－a US pilot study

The Educause Center for Analysis and Research has done a pilot to understand what Higher Education needs from e－textbooks working with 23 colleges and universities providing digital versions of textbooks to over 5000 students and faculty in 393 undergraduate and graduate courses.The study came out with a very clear picture of what students and faculty value in e－textbooks.They“were both clear and consistent in their criteria for adopting digital course materials.In order of decreasing importance，they are cost，availability，portability，functionality，and innovation”（Grajec 2013）［6］，see Fig.2.

Fig.2 What US students and faculty value in e－textbooks（Grajek 2013）

This study may have implications for e－Textbook standards design.For example，if you are too focussed on the innovation potential of e－Textbooks on learning and teaching，you may miss why students and faculty even consider to move away from print media.Cost was found to be the primary motivation for moving from paper textbooks to digital versions.The majority of the students reported that using e－Textbooks did not change their reading habits or studying approach.If a transition to digital media is going to work，the basics need to be addressed first.For the North－American college and university students the cost of textbooks is an important issue.In the US，college textbook prices the last 30years have increased faster than tuition，health care costs and housing prices，all of which have risen faster than inflation.Even if cost was not an issue，the Educause pilot shows that other basics are valued as more important than the pedagogical affordances of e－Textbooks.Usability is important.Students appreciated the greater portability of e－Textbooks and the fact that they were more conveniently available.However，students’frustrations using their devices to access the e－Textbooks outweighed their appreciation.

The pilot study claims there is one path forward，and that is addressing the faculty’s and students’fundamental motivation.Cost and environment（save the trees）are strong motivational factors.Both teachers and students want choice of platform，place and source of their textbooks.They expect the material to be available in ways that they are used to as consumers.“They are here to teach and learn，and，with varying degrees of enthusiasm，most welcome opportunities to be more effective.They need support，though，to do this”（Grajec 2013）［7］.

Based on the Educause study we identify three classes of implementation factors，1）economic availability factors（cost，market availability，lesson plan availability，etc.）；2）technical functionality（portability，functionality features，etc.）；and3）pedagogical innovation（valued advantages in learning and teaching）.How these factors will influence uptake of e－Textbooks will vary a lot depending on the educational domain，e.g.，primary／secondary education（K－12）；higher education（HE）；vocational education and training（VET）.It will also vary according to business domains.In some countries the market for school books may be influenced by governmental funding schemes（e.g.，textbooks may be provided without cost to K－12 students），which in turn give the Ministries of Education a key role in defining the pace of innovation.

4 Standardisation setting－soliciting requirements

Moving to the standardisation setting（Fig.1）and to input to specification work，the analysis of the implementation setting makes it clear that publisher business models and technical functionality of the e－textbook players are important input factors.

Further requirements for specification of an e－Textbook format may be derived from analysis of the lifecycle of e－Textbook authoring and use.Long before the Digital Age，textbooks have had a complex production workflow，now being disrupted by several disintegrating factors.For example，the author role is now more complex，as self publishing brings more educators to the market；and the learners themselves now take authoring roles as publishing becomes part of the learning process.Curricula and reading lists are not any longer authoritative sources of content for learning，as the Internet has changed the way textbooks are brought to the market.The use of content for learning is also changed，as the social aspects of learning have become more important.These，and a host of other factors need to be discussed when requirements for the future e－Textbooks are solicited and analysed.The authors of this paper propose a e－Textbook lifecycle model（first versionpresented in Hoel，2013）to support the discussion on requirements（Fig.2）.

To give a hint of what a discussion on e－Textbook requirements may look like using this model，a non－conclusive list of issues may include these items：

1.Authoring ＆publishing

·Publisher’s management of text，images，code，etc.，e.g.，for parallel publishing to different devices（Pre－publishing processes）

·Authoring tools

·Pedagogical design of e－Textbook，e.g.pathways，adaptivity of content fragments，input from learner analytics（based on previous or live use of material）

·Maps／Navigation／Semantic metadata inclusion

·Rich media／interactivity

·Packaging（what is optimal unit？），offline vs.online features

·Licensing／Digital Rights Management（DRM）／Intellectual Property Rights（IPR）description

·Tools interoperability／relationship to external services

·Technical formats（EPUB，HTML5，etc.），base format extensions

·Publication channels

2.Aggregation ＆Searching

·Metadata－what is available，what is shared where？

·Aggregation of e－Textbooks according to curricula，reading lists，teachers’plan，learners’demand

·“Visibility issues”and marketing，eg.e－Textbook vs.OER

·IPR，e.g.orphaned works，works with unclear digital use IPR

·Preview options／Subscription／Sales

3.Learning with e－Textbooks（Use of e－Textbooks）

·What are basic learning activities（use patterns）of an e－Textbook？

·Navigation

·Annotation，sharing annotations

·Tagging

·Saving excerpts

·Sharing（what are sharable units？）

·What are educational（e.g.，teacher directed）uses of an e－Textbook？

·How to interact with the e－Textbook（content）from outside（by whom？）

·How to interact with services from inside the e－Textbook（guided by use of the content）？

·What features will be available on what platforms？

·Simple Quiz（given by the e－Textbook author／publisher）

·Questions and tests directed by teacher／schools （bidirectional）；Exams／complex assessment based in curricula／registered courses

·Progress report to LMS or other support services

·Interaction with ePortfolio and systems for“self representation”

·Disaggregation and reassembling

·Scaffolding by teachers（learners contact teacher about issues in the ebook.Or teachers to provide more information about a given subject／task／annotation in the ebook based on the learner’s progression）

·Personalisation of the e－Textbook

4.Remixing

·Remixing is closely related to learning and teaching activities.

·Curation of an optimal mix of learning material for the class by a teacher.

·Mixing e－Textbooks，OER and learner’s own material

·Pedagogic，economic and licensing issues influencing the mix

·Learners’motives for remixing may be more ambivalent－different usage scenarios for learning content（e.g.identity building）

·Active learning style buy in，eg.active annotation

·Sharing

·Maintenance of participation in community of learners

·IPR and DRM issues related to remixing

·Quality issues：The remix may lead to a new resource of higher quality，or to quite the contrary

5.Republishing

·Channels for republishing

·Local，e.g.，school or school district

·Regional or National，e.g.，behind a SSO wall

·International，e.g.，indexed by search engines

·IPR and remuneration

·Lifecycle issues：when is a remixed and republished resource“expired”？

Initial use of this lifecycle model has led to the observation that–not surprisingly–different stakeholders highlight different processes.Publishers may be inclined to start analysis with the authoring process，whilst educational stakeholders tend to start the analysis by examining the search and learn processes，with the most digitally literate focussing on the ability to disaggregate，remix and republish content.

Discussing requirements without using such a model，a single process，e.g.authoring，may be the container of most issues related to an e－Textbook ecology.This may result in the distortion of perspectives on transversal issues like navigation，digital rights management and licencing，definition of granularity，marketing and distribution，etc.Limiting the discourse to the processes where a stakeholder has vested interests may constrain development of innovative ideas.E.g.，Publishers focussing on Authoring，Publishing and Search may overlook the marketing potential in the Community process.

5 A model for a constructive discourse about future e－Textbook formats

Discussions based on the lifecycle model（Fig.3）will，as the example above shows，bring perspectives from different implementations settings.The distinction between future use case requirements and feedback from implementations will never be sharp.However，the authors of this paper claim that it would be worth while structuring the discourse according to a model that walks through different e－Textbook life cycles projected on a backdrop of different implementation priorities emanating from different educational scenarios，e.g.，school education，higher education or training／lifelong learning.The proposed model is depicted in Fig.4 below.

Fig.3 E－Textbook lifecycle model

Fig.4 Unified heuristic model for developing requirements for e－Textbook standards

In this model（Fig.4），discussions on requirements are informed by lessons learnt from implementing current versions of the e－Textbook standards and e－textbook technologies.The implementation lessons are interpreted within different educational contexts，e.g.，training，higher education or schools.Different lifecycle scenarios for e－Textbooks are built，feeding back to the implementation setting.To arrive at a complete set of requirements，one should go through a number of iterations of this model.

6 Discussion

From a publisher’s perspective the e－textbook is a single coherent unit and monetisation happens through sale of“books”.From a learner’s perspective the focus of discourse is the learning unit，which may not necessarily be a book，but the curriculum or subject and its instantiation in a learning resource（text，video，game，quiz，visualisation，etc.）.When mobile and open learning，open educational resources and other e－learning trends and initiatives challenge the traditional textbook model all the processes in the proposed lifecycle model need be analysed.

Since EPUB3／HTML5is such a rich foundation technology，which is not fully implemented in existing e－textbooks or ebook readers，it is important that new requirements are specified with different existing implementation cases in mind.Cultural，economical，educational and a host of other contextual factors are influencing the e－Textbook market，and technical affordances of the e－Textbook will be only one of the factors impacting future e－Textbook technologies.Imagine what new requirements will come out of the inverted business model some innovative publishers are beginning to explore：Changing from a“pull”to a“push”model will challenge the book as the unifying metaphor.If users have access to all textbooks on the market，paying only for the parts that are used，you need，only for a start，to identify granular bits of the textbook，rethink DRM solutions，and design a e－Textbook ecosystem which goes far beyond the solutions we see on the market today.Individual companies may provide innovative solutions for niche markets；however，for the transition from paper to tablets and other devices to happen we need international standards that get implemented.

7 Conclusions and further work

This paper contributes to the understanding of the discourse and design space engaging a wide range of stakeholders all over the world.Many of these players are new to standardisation and need guidance in order to come up with relevant contributions.At the end of the day，standardisation as a design activity is all about organising agood conversations leading up to consensus on solutions that are governed by international bodies that can be trusted.A conversational framework for an emergent domain as e－Textbooks does not need to give an exhaustive description of all aspects of the transition of textbooks from print to digital formats.However，the framework should be continuously developed as theconversation proceeds.A first version of the lifecycle model was initially verified in the first meetings of the European eTernity－project（www.etextbooks.eu）.When the Educause pilot study was published，the model was extended to include aspects related to the implementation setting.The model will be used in a workshop part of the International Open Forum on the Development of e－Textbook and e－Schoolbag Standards and Applications in Shanghai November 2013.One of the outcomes of this workshop should be an update of the framework model.

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