This document discusses the LEARNMIX project which aims to develop a next-generation eTextbook platform. It seeks a balanced solution for publishers, teachers, and students. The vision is for eTextbooks to become an output of learning rather than just an input, incorporating professionally produced content as well as content created by teachers and students. The document also examines approaches for observing eTextbook use both online through analytics and offline through lesson observation, noting limitations and the potential of the TinCan API to provide a common framework.

1. Observing the use of e-textbooks in the classroom:
towards “Offline” Learning Analytics
Maka Eradze, Terje Väljataga & Mart Laanpere, Tallinn University
FeT WS :: International Conference of Web-based Learning, :: Tallinn, Estonia 15 August 2014

2. Introduction
 Textbook was a book, eTextbook might not be e-book
 Borders disappear: physical & virtual, content &
software, learner & teacher, author & user, school & life,
learning & assessment, professional & user-generated
 Trialogical learning: learning as knowledge creation
through interaction with digital artefacts & tools
 Author gains the most from the textbook, why can’t the
students be coauthors of eTextbooks?

3. LEARNMIX project
 Aims: to find economically & technologically sustainable,
pedagogigally meaningful solution for next-generation
eTextbooks that can be used across various platforms and usage
contexts.
 Seeking for the road in the middle: new business models for
publishers, aggregating with user-generated content
 Two integrated research directions:
 Human-Computer Interaction: platform-independent interaction
design, ubiquitous interaction, advanced analytics
 Pedagogical scenarios: 1:1 computing, BYOD, outdoor learning,
inquiry-based learning

4. LEARNMIX vision of eTextbook 2.0
 New pedagogy: eTextbook is not an input to learning, rather output
 LEARNMIX eTextbook 2.0 has three parts:
 Professionally produced, commercially distributed content: simulations,
games, interactive exercises, exams, virtual labs etc
 Content created by teachers: worksheets, project plans, assignments,
exercises, examples
 Content created by students: remixes, products, prototypes, project
reports, presentations, journals
 Requirements for LEARNMIX eTextbook 2.0 software:
 Interoperability framework
 Authoring tools for teachers, delivery tools for publishers
 Cloud-based repositories
 Authoring, mashup & remix tools for students’ BYOD devices

5. Observing the use of eTextbooks
 Online learning analytics:
 LMS/CMS user tracking
 Spyware installed to iPads
 Content provider’s tracking tools (e.g. Youtube)
 Lesson observation
 Video recording
 Written notes, transcripts
 Lesson observation apps

6. Unit of analysis
 Online learning analytics:
 Frequency of accessing a digital artifact (Web page)
 Social interactions
 Test scores
 Artifacts produced/edited/shared
 Lesson observation:
 Lesson-level activities, classroom management
 Group/pair level (inter)action series, conversations
 Learner-content interaction level (inter)actions

7. TinCan API: Lingua Franca fo LA
 Statements similar to Activity Stream:
Hans submitted homework assignment No.5 a
minute ago
 Learning Record Store: statements on timeline
 Freedom of:
 Statement (noun, verb, object)
 History (combining LRSs)
 Device (also physical, not connection needed)
 Workflow (not bound to one LMS)

8. Lesson observation apps

9. Conclusions
 Today it is difficult to combine online and offline
monitoring data on the use of eTextbooks
 Even the best lesson observation apps are not good
enough: usability, affordances, units of analysis
 Need for common vocabulary and units of analysis,
TinCan API has a potential to become one
 Need for lesson observation apps compatible with
TinCan Api, delivering notes directly to LRS