Electronic Books

Introduction

Electronic books (e-books) are cutting edge-technology set to revolutionize education. The revolutionary aspect of e-books does not lie in their electronic display of texts, but in the way they convey information. The greatest advantages of e-books over standard text are: their interactivity, currency, accessibility, navigation and price and portability (New Media Consortium, 2011).

Interactivity

Emerging E-books have the ability to revolutionize the learning experience. Instead of reading an electronic version of a text book e-books have the potential of providing an interactive experience. Students can access links to charts and media files that can explain in detail a particular subject. The advantage of this over standard text is the ability of the information to remain current (New Media Consortium, 2011).

Currency

Standard text books become quickly outdated as knowledge is gained or information changes. E-books, on the other hand, have the ability to remain current and relevant. Links provided by the text may take the reader to an internet source that can remain updated and current. Additionally, the currency of an e-book could be maintained through automated downloads where the user is notified that their-book has a current update.

Accessibility

Another great advantage of e-readers over basic text books is their potential to accommodate special needs students. Persons with eye sight problems can potentially enlarge texts to read. The blind could have their e-reader read them the texts. Voice control of e-readers could allow a disabled person to navigate or control their e-reader. Standard text books cannot begin to accommodate the disabled like an e-reader and/or e-book (Foster & Remy, 2009).

Navigation

Another enormous