Recent research on digital textbook use and development suggests that principles may reflect the cross-disciplinary boundaries. There are multiple examples that evidence this idea. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to enrich the theoretical understanding of design and to broaden the empirical research base by adopting a cross-disciplinary focus. The chapter explores the fundamental principles of digital textbooks and describes the power of cross-principles through a new metasystems method, which allows one to synthesize a functional framework consisting from self-regulation, personalization, feedback diversity, clarity, dynamicity and flexibility and ergonomic environments. These principles are assembled from general norms derived from principles of philosophy, pedagogy, psychology, cybernetics, and knowledge management. The use of cross-principles in the learning design of digital textbooks is a relatively new phenomenon, but with great potential to achieve the guaranteed learning outcomes. Conclusions and future research directions are provided at the end.
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Digital textbooks, which may be exact digital recreations of physical school textbooks or may be enhanced with interactive features, are used and developed worldwide. Digital textbooks are often stored in a digital library or may be open source. Recently, there has been much debate on where principle based learning would be more efficient. For example, it was propose to use textbook as the fourth element of the didactic triangle (Vollstedt, Heinze, Gojdka & Rach, 2014, p. 29). It was hypostasis that the didactic tetrahedron can be used for more effective design of learning. But, “knowledge is created through the action, social interaction, and reflection of students“(Mitchell, Avery, Prater & Swafford, 2014, p. 3). What principles are required for design a didactic tetrahedron?
Let us analyse what is the principle. According to the Oxford dictionaries a principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. The problem is that integration of technology in classroom traditionally was focused on deliverimg knowledge. However, the desired learning outcomes must drive the whats, hows and when. To use some principles in textbook use and development, the learning designer must be innovative and creative.
The postmodernism way evidences concept map and dialogue to form a text. Mitchell (2014, p. 228) found that in postmodernism, knowledge and ideas are culturally and historically constructed through the use of knowledge and conversation, which is influenced by time, space and by the values of the community in which that knowledge is shaped. Matusov (2014, p. 1) states that postmodernism is a way of relating to reality in an age of responsibility. Dynamic learning tools and computer based assessment are for construction or assembling the content. In the center of the postmodern educational processes is the learner’ psychological and physiological development for adaptivity in local-global communities.
The learning process is focused on multilateral and sustainable development of the learner. However, in digital textbooks use and development are used patterns. But, patterns is an external representation of knowledge-in-use and in collecting the knowledge of practitioners. Research has shown that (Bokhorst, Moskaliuk & Cress, 2014, pp. 153-164) that pattern forces use to structure individual contributions into pre-defined categories aim of stimulating abstraction. Each pattern describes a problem in environment, and then describes the core of the proved solution. Thus, patterns contain problem-solutions pairs, and the situation in which the solution may be useful as well as forces which contain competing requirements that influence the solution of the problem. Coherent patterns that generate an interconnected set which is used to solve problems in a specific problem domain are called a pattern language. Pattern is treated as a combination of experiences from several situations, problems that could occur in these situations and established solutions solve those problems. It is highlight that patterns promote the difficult exchange of tacit knowledge-in-use; facilitate the recognition of solution-relevant problem features and support abstraction across similar experiences.
Can patterns represent principles for digital textbook use and development? This chapter provides a synthetic methodology based on core principles and theirs interconnections aims to response to this question. The starting point is the core principles of philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, and cybernetics and knowledge management. The multiple factors associated with these principles can be conceptualized as a pattern, which “incorporate” the cognitive, affective and psychomotor characteristics of learners and requirements of the learning environment. This “movement”, devoted to challenges facing the educational system, allows to establish cross-disciplinary research. The general perspective of the chapter is to syntheses the cross-principles for digital textbook use and development and its norms of application. Therefore, the aim of the chapter is to identify and describe a functional mechanism for digital textbook use and development.