Anatomy of a Social Textbook

The anatomy of a Social Textbook is similar to what you see in front of you—a blog. Instead of being in chronological order, the “entries” will be in order of the book and flow from chapter to chapter and from section to section.

Below are some crude sketches of how the layout could look:

The content sections have the ability to be editing by the students or remain consistent. These sections will host all informational content of the textbook and new media tools for education.

At the end of each section there will be a discussion board where students can start threads on various topics discussed in that section of the book. Students can start threads and ask questions that pertain to each section of the text, in which their classmates and instructors can answer, such as:

• "Can someone clarify the meaning of line 37 in this section for me?"
• "What does the author mean by saying 'xxxxxxx xx xxxx xxx'?"
• "I'm having troubles with problem #5. Can someone tell me the correct formula to use and why?"
• "Does anyone else recognize a similarity between this idea and 'xxx xxxx xx xxxxx'?"

Instructors can also use the discussion board to provoke discussions between students by providing students with questions, which as mandatory to answer as they read. These questions could range from short answer to essay-style questions, such as:

• "Please solve and graph the following equation."
• "Identify and explain each of the literary themes present in this reading."
• "Choose one of the referenced theories named in this section and write a five paragraph essay on how this theory applies to education."

The uses of the discussion board and the collaborative learning environment it creates are endless.