27.6 Future Directions in Textbook Design

In the previous sections, I have described a good deal of research on textbook design. Much of this research, however, as I noted particularly in 27.3, is uncoordinated and atheoretical. Most researchers focus on one particular feature of text design, few consider the effects of several features in combination, and few carry out carefully developed programmatic studies.

Furthermore, most researchers work within a particular framework. Researchers with a leaning towards a cognitive approach (see Chapter 5), for instance, might look, for example, at how prior knowledge affects the usefulness of headings (e.g., Wilhite, 1989). In contrast, researchers following a constructivist approach (see Chapter 7) might focus on how getting readers to generate their own outlines, headings, or questions might be more advantageous than their simply reading those provided by authors (e.g., see Foos, Mora & Tkacz, 1994; Jonassen, Hartley & Trueman, 1986; Speigel & Barufaldi, 1994). This distinction between author- and reader-provided devices occurs in research on summaries, outlines, headings, and underlining. Presumably, too, depending on one's point of view, it affects how one writes instructional text.

Furthermore, we need to remember that textbooks are constantly evolving. Weiten and Wight (1992) provide a good example of this in their historical analysis of introductory textbooks in psychology. Currently, British textbooks lag behind American ones in this evolutionary process. British textbooks use far less color and far fewer graphics. Handbooks-such as this one-also suffer from this problem. In 5 to 10 years, however, our school children and our university students will be faniihar with multimedia, interactive compact discs (see Chapters 12, 14, 15, 24) that they will read on colorful computer screens. Textbooks, as we currently know them, may become a thing of the past.

Some people (e.g., Jonassen, 1992; Schlosser, 1994) have already predicted the den-dse of the textbook and described current textbooks as obsolete. Although I think they go too far, I do agree that the physical nature of textbooks may change. New technology already allows visually handicapped students to print out text in the type sizes and typefaces that they prefer. Perhaps, in the future, readers will be able to order textbooks with their preferred fonts, type sizes, line lengths, margins, etc. And, similarly, textbooks may be read on screens in whatever configuration the reader chooses. I am indebted to Thomas Anderson for the suggestion that, with the help of computer publishing, perhaps students can opt to design their own specialized textbooks by choosing not only their preferred typefaces and typo sizes but choosing also between, for example, (1) inserted questions or not, (2) summaries listed before or after the chapter prose, (3) concept maps or outlines, (4) embedded or marginal headings, (5) headings written as statements or questions, and (6) particular chapters from the ones available. These choices would depend on the use that was to be made of the textbook. In other words, Anderson suggests that the future directions of textbook design may be more under the control of the readers than the authors (see Chapter 33). Research in textbook design may never answer the question "Which typeface/type size/line length is best?" for every individual occasion, but it may allow us to present readers of the future with an appropriate menu from which to choose.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to my reviewers, Thomas Anderson, Gary Morrison, and David Jonassen for helpful comments, and to Margaret Woodward for assistance with the technical presentation of this chapter.