We hear a lot these days about digital textbooks, but most examples I’ve seen are nothing more than digitized versions of the printed copy. While electronic versions of textbooks make your backpack much lighter, and provide the ability to search, what’s really needed is a complete re-thinking of how the content is provided. A new company named Inkling is taking the first step with an iPad app aimed at higher education. As they say on their website:
It’s time to do things a better way. By exploring. By collaborating with friends. By charting your own course. Follow your curiosity into a more engaging experience. Inkling isn’t just a book on a screen. It’s an entirely new way to learn.
Inkling allows you to highlight, create and share notes, see term definitions, and more.
Inkling books include everything from the textbook, plus integrated videos and quizzes, interactive features such as highlighting, note taking, sharing of notes, bookmarking, and advanced searching capabilities. So far, the books available from Inkling, such as Raven Biology (9th edition) are less expensive than the printed versions, and can be even cheaper if you don’t need the entire book by allowing you to purchase individual chapters.
For now Inkling only supports higher education books, with a small number available right now and more on the way. It’s only a matter of time before someone does the same for K-12 textbooks.
If you have an iPad, download the free Inkling app. You’ll get a free book (Elements of Style) to help teach you the features plus you can download one free chapter from each of the textbooks they offer.
If you don’t have an iPad, you can view several short videos on the Inkling website. Have a look. Is this the future of textbooks?
Additional screenshots
Each book has an easy to use chapter list that allows you to jump directly to the chapter or section you want.
With Inkling you can take notes at any point in the text and even share your notes with other students, your teacher, etc.
Inkling includes quizzes throughout each textbook, with instant feedback of right/wrong answers.
Navigation is easy using the Places menu. From Places you can jump to a specific page, your list of bookmarks, notes created by you or your contacts, highlights, or the glossary.
Some chapters include reviews questions at the end, with the correct answer just a click away.