There is a wealth of research on online textbooks (also called digital textbooks) but very little information exists about online textbooks for special education majors.

This is surprising because online textbooks can be extremely beneficial for special education majors. Online media can play a critical role in bridging the gap between teachers’ knowledge obtained in college and application in the special education classroom.

This paper discusses –

1. The growth of digital textbooks
2. The most useful digital textbook tools for special education majors
3. The positive implications it has inside the special education classroom

Rise of the Digital Textbook

Although only 2.5% of textbooks sold today are in digital format, by 2014, it is estimated that 18% of the textbook market will be distributed digitally instead of in print (Ioffe of Xplana, 2010).

This trend will not only positively impact students’ pocket books (digital books are 53% cheaper than paper versions), it will enhance many students’ subject mastery and provide a more efficient means of dissemination for professors.

Why University Students Want Online Textbooks

In a brilliant research piece published by Reynolds and Ioffe of Xplana (2010), it highlights the continued growth of online textbooks among students. Two of the most compelling reasons behind this growth -

1. Increased Growth of Online Learning – With online courses continuing to grow in popularity – the Sloan Consortium reports a 17% annual increase in online college course enrollment – so will the online textbook. Students are already attending lectures and community discussions online; why not tackle their assigned reading and homework there too?
    
2. Hardware Advancements – Reynolds and Ioffe also make a case around hardware technological advancements. With mobile devices - smartphones and tablets – growing more commonplace and advanced, students will want to manage much more than Facebook on their beloved devices.

Why University Professors Also Want Online Textbooks

There is no doubt, more and more students will want digital textbooks because it fits their lifestyle but many professors are also supporting this change. Two popular reasons why –

1. Increased Understanding of Subject Matter – No longer does a student have to rely on reading text alone to learn subject matter. With technology, students can learn through sound, real video examples, games and interactive assignments online.  Digital media allows students to personalize the way they learn!
    
2. Decreased Administrative Duties – Professors also like the automation. With online textbooks, professors can easily see exactly how much student time is spent on the subject matter and automate grading for all assignments.

Online Textbooks for Special Education Courses

Online textbooks are more important in certain areas of study, including Special Education.

Digital Textbooks for the Special Education Major

University students at the undergraduate level obtain very little job exposure before graduating and running their own classroom.

In a article prepared by the New York City Public Schools, Swimming Upstream (2005), many teachers “believed their coursework did not prepare them for the real world of teaching. They felt that the courses were too theoretical and not relevant to the reality of teaching in difficult situations.”

In another publication by the U.S. Department of Education, titled “What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching” (1998), many first-year teachers openly admitted that they were ill prepared. One first-year teacher went as far as to demand - “Staff training on mainstreaming and full inclusion. I had very little of this in college and then I had a multi-handicapped child in my class.”

By using online textbooks during their collegiate studies, students will have a holistic experience that will better prepare them to support students with disabilities in the real world.

Four components of digital textbooks help provide this experiential learning –

1. Video – Through video, teachers will get to see firsthand the difficult situations that await them in the special education classroom. Not only can they view real life examples from different age groups, they can study different disabilities (e.g., down syndrome, autism, dyslexia) and watch evidence-based behavior and teaching procedures being used correctly with students across severity levels.
    
2. Interactive Assignments – The power of video also transfers to homework assignments. Digital textbooks allow students to watch scenarios and, analyze and report back to the professor or teaching assistant. For example, university students could practice data collection and graphing student behavior – a notoriously hard concept for education majors.  SPED majors can practice taking behavioral data virtually with interactive exercises observing a virtual classroom and taking FBA data, taking duration data on how long a surfer stays up on his board, or counting occurrences of escape behavior from a husband in a ballroom dancing class.
    
3. Forums – Forums are already a popular feature of online courses and are often part of assignments in distance education courses. Special education majors comment, ask questions or share ideas with other majors through the online forums and discussions often available in digital textbooks.

4. Long-Term Access – The concept of extended access is not new to academia. Most business and law graduates receive the option to extend digital textbooks and other online resources for one, two or three years after graduation – and at discount prices! This option allows graduates to review and/or access newly created online content. Why is this important? Many of the concepts taught during college will not crop up during teachers’ first (or second) year of teaching. By having resources at their desktop, they will be able to research solutions or ask others in the community for feedback.
    

Benefits of Online Textbooks

There are several important benefits of using online textbooks for special education majors. It provides a more realistic view of the special education profession during college and many benefits once they enter the classroom as a teacher.

1. Understand University Student Needs – Through online textbooks, professors are able to truly uncover students’ needs by studying student data and analytics online. George Siemens, an education theorist with the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University, has coined this online review process as the “black box” of education. Professors will see individual student and class performance data, allowing them to plan future lectures and assignments around student needs.
   
    
2. Reduce Turnover – Kozleski (2000) estimated that 40% of special educators leave before their fifth year in the field. This high rate of turnover is partially due to the lack of preparation and support provided at the university level and on the job. In a 2006 research paper by Boe, Cook & Sunderland (2006), it notes that “The greater the similarity between a teacher’s training/experience and the requirements of a new teaching assignment, the easier it will be for the teacher to perform effectively.” Online textbooks provide this realistic experience.
    
3. Better Meet Students’ Unique Needs – By extending online textbook subscriptions, teachers can access resources (often for continuing education credits) that align with their students’ unique needs and goals. For example, if a teacher briefly learned about students with self injurious behavior in one of her college classes and now has a student with self injurious behavior in her class, she can pull up content on self injurious behaviors in her online textbook and view helpful tips on how to determine the behavior’s function or how to prevent future occurrences of the behavior.
    
4. Save Money – Online textbooks also save schools money. Because online textbooks are continuously growing, teachers are able to access new content and receive continuing education credits for no additional charge. This method eliminates expensive travel expenditures and conference/workshop fees paid by schools and/or districts.
    

Conclusion

With 56% of school districts reporting difficulty finding highly qualified special education teachers (IDEA Review 2011), the use of digital media within the university could substantially increase the quality of education in universities and thus increase the number of qualified special education teachers entering public schools.

To learn how Autism Training Solutions is supporting special education majors, please review our University Case Studies or contact us at info@autismtrainingsolutions.