The Roles of Electronic Books in the Transformation of Learning and Instruction

In order to better meet the needs of classes with Ebooks being involved in, Ebooks must be designed with a lot of special functions, which is called eTextbooks by the authors. The functions of eTextbooks, the class preparations and responsive teaching by incorporating formative assessment would help to transforming learning and instruction. Note-taking, bookmarking, annotating, and highlighting, working on assignments are the key functions of eTextbooks to follow students´ study habits and to meet the requirement of instruction. The relevant management is the key issues to keep eTextbook running smoothly in class. Such as assignment distribution, note management, assignment management, searching, dictionary, synchronizing functions, copy contents or notes, print contents or notes, Internet connection, communicating with parents via Internet, eTextbook control by teachers, and contents transmission between teachers and students. If the teachers had more experiences with instructional design, they would be able to conduct better class preparation. Through integrating materials, devices and software compositely, learning outcomes would optimally meet the instructional objectives. Responsive teaching through Ebooks/eTextbooks, which meet the individual needs and strengths of diverse learners, takes the stance that curriculum developers in general and Ebook designers in particular must play a larger role in rendering the burden of customization manageable for teachers.