[trends] learning 5 in 5 : merger of elearning 1.0 with ebooks 2.0

This is post 3 on my 5in5 series. Five trends in learning and development I expect to grow big within the next 5 years. Today: something on ebooks / ibooks...

3- Merger of learning 1.0 and ebooks 2.0

What is it all about?
Remember elearning 1.0? Sure you do, we still have those titles on our LMS catalogues, and we still buy them in bulk from courseware companies. Gartner predicted they'd become the new normal in learning, but about every learner disagreed. Remember now? It is the typical page flipping course module, with a lot of text (that we also repeat via voice) and an image or flash interaction. In the beginning days we had to explain people that the next button was for going to the next page whereas the previous button took you one back. Out of habit, we still keep that useful information on the page. But I derail now: you know what I mean with 'classical' elearning. It isn't all bad, and over the years, more and more proper design and good interactions populated the pages. Well, what I predict in this trend is that those interactions will get a second life with the rise of ebooks 2.0.
Ebooks started out as digital versions of a printed book, either in PDF or EPUB or other formats. Text and images to view from a screen instead of viewing them from a page. Lately, a lot of experiments are going on to lift ebooks to a more interactive experience, by integrating video clips inside the books, quizzes, what-if simulations, etc. One of the more attention catching initiatives is the recent Apple iAuthor and iBooks 2 announcement. But the trend is far from new. Microsoft tried with their Semblio kit, but has been very quiet about it in recent years. Many publishers are creating their own platforms for the 'rich' textbooks and digital magazines. Mindtap would be one of them.
As publishers will look to quickly 'upgrade' their one-way, non-interactive content packages to include animation, simulations, quizzes and other goodies, they'll quickly discover the hidden goodies inside the old e-learning titles. Elearning 1.0 merges with Ebooks 2.0 because it deals largely with the same: providing content, but making it interactive and media rich.This trend will especially take off if the business model of selling e-books beats the one of providing e-learning titles (and I think it does, if only for the consumer side scale and the ease to leverage existing initiatives like Nook, iBooks, Kindle, etc). This trend will also strengthen the position of publishers in the elearning market, and some might even merge or buy struggling elearning 1.0 content warehouses.

Signs of the times.

• Apple's initiative on iBooks 2.0 and iAuthor. Read Clive's opinion about it.
• Read Michael Feldstein's article 'rethinking assumptions' to get an overview of some 'next' digital publishing initiatives, mainly from publishers. Mindtap allows for personalised paths in books for example. Kno 'rents' out e-textbooks.

Agree? Disagree? Like? Dislike? Dear reader, what does it all mean?  :-)