Электронные формы учебников в образовательном пространстве

Abstract

On June 12, 2015 Drofa Publishers (Moscow) held a webinar on “Electronic textbook form in educational space: Learn to study in a new way. Electronic textbooks by Drofa as a step towards higher education”. The invited keynote speaker was V. A. Sitarov, Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor and Chair at the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Higher School, Moscow University for the Humanities. The article text is a full transcript of the keynote, which concentrated on the important additions electronic education can make to complement its traditional forms. It was previously held that knowledge and information were not closely linked, and even contradicted each other. Schoolbooks set out “knowledge” as they have to match certain hierarchically organized demands or epistemical criteria. Since information does not possess such criteria, it is not included into school textbooks. At the same time, information is very attractive and offers many sources for school students and adults to obtain it from. The emergence of electronic textbooks favors the inclusion of additional information which expands and complements the schoolbook’s normative content. It is supposed to encourage the student’s interest in the subject and thus to remove the contradiction between knowledge and information. The keynote outlines the main features of electronic textbooks. Their main achievement is implementing the principle of visuality, allowing thus to eliminate the opposition between the learner, educational content and methods of study. It provides an opportunity to solve the problems of study motivation, personality development, to shape the notions of interconnection between disciplines. At the same time, it is important to emphasize the need for personal contact between the educator and the student, as well as for teaching by the educator’s example.