Online Interactivity – A Shift towards E-textbook-based Medical Education

Abstract

Textbooks have played the leading role in academic education for centuries and their form has evolved, adapting to the needs of students, teachers and technological possibilities. Advances in technology have caused educators to look for new sources of knowledge development, which students could use inside and outside the classroom. Today’s sophisticated learning tools range from virtual environments to interactive multimedia resources, which can be called e-textbooks. Different types of new educational materials that go beyond printed books are now used to support the academic curriculum, with the most interesting ones exemplified in this article to show their value in medical and life sciences education. Certain interesting attempts by Polish publishers at applying technology to support both self-paced and tutor-paced student learning in the medical profession and related areas are presented. The data was collected through a review of literature, discussions with e-learning specialists and medical students, as well as an analysis of examples of good practices. The article also discusses the results of a countrywide survey on the use of e-textbooks to enhance medical education. The research investigates the targeted academic staff’s attitudes towards the use of e-textbooks, the limitations of their implementation, and the character of e-resources currently used by Polish higher education medical institutions.

Impact of a Pandemic and Remote Learning on Team Development and Elements of Compassion in Prospective Medical Students Taking a Medical Humanities Course

“…The humanities course was intended to foster bias mitigation and develop communication skills in students using quizzes on readings, implicit association testing, classroom application exercises, and written reflections on service-learning projects in a team-based learning (TBL) format [ 21 , 22 ]. Our readings on communication and bias in 2020 were from four pertinent books used when the humanities course was in-person [ 7 , 8 ] and, thus, could not involve interactive e-textbooks [ 23 ] if comparison of remote to in-person learning was to remain as legitimate as possible. Similarly, while interactive testing via computers appears to be at least as effective as traditional written evaluation [ 24 ], the provision of feedback using scratch off answer cards fosters information retention better than the same feedback via computers [ 25 ].…”

Some Web-Based Experiences from Flipped Classroom Techniques in AEC Modules during the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…At the same time, it has become highly adequate for ubiquitous teaching [13]. The formal object encompasses the combination of web-based tools with other open educational resources (OER), which altogether contribute to enlarging the availability of the so-called e-textbooks [14], necessary for the blended learning models implemented at these teaching units. The web-based material focuses on enhancing students' spatial reasoning skills for envisaging the actual response of simple structures.…”

“…Considering that electronic resources have undergone a transformation in university teaching and management [12,13]. These include learning management systems, mobile devices, and multimedia and interactive digital resources [14][15][16]. In this sense, educational websites are an effective way to achieve learning results such as checking, applying, putting into practice, analyzing, and even evaluating [17].…”

Flipped Learning in Engineering Modules Is More Than Watching Videos: The Development of Personal and Professional Skills

“…As an example, in the module of Construction Management, students struggled to differentiate between a job site manager and a CEO of a company, showing a lack of overall culture that should have been learnt by reading the adequate books, newspapers, and journals. These physical supports may have changed to e-textbooks, mobile news, or online journals [78]. However, it seems that they have become more accustomed to WhatsApp, Twitter or LinkedIn formats, needing the minimum number of words and simplest possible manners to transmit a message.…”