Brisbane (AU), September 2011 - When you see young people engrossed in their mobile phones, don't assume they are just wasting time on games or texting friends. They may, in fact, be completing the latest module of their training course.
An eLearning innovations project (e-gooks and dynamic content) conducted by registered training organisation (RTO) Scripture Union Queensland (SU QLD) tested the possibilities of providing training content to learners via e-books accessible on a mobile phone.
Initially, the project involved simply converting a plain text document into a mobile- compatible format. However, but to enhance the learning experience, SU QLD embraced multimedia technologies to create an interactive, dynamic, and user-friendly e-book that served as a textbook for the RTO's Diploma of Youth Work online course.
Project Manager David Drinkall says with the help of the open source format EPub, the project team were able to make the e-book a "multimedia machine".
"Along with EPub, we used Calibre and HTML 5 coding to provide the e-book with interactive features such as audio, images, video, and text resizing. And an exciting part of this was that the students could access the e-book on their mobile phone, without being connected to the internet."
As a result of what SU QLD learned during the project, the RTO has authored a How to Make an ePub eBook Using FreeTools document. And of course, it is available as an e-book. To order a copy of "How to Make an ePub eBook Using FreeTools", write an email to David Drinkall.
As Australia celebrates National Book Week, David sees an exciting future for e-books. "E-books are not designed to make hard-copy books redundant, but with their interactive features and ability to be accessed on a variety of mobile devices, they are an excellent complement to existing training resources."
