A critical review of digital textbook characteristics and problems

Since 2007, the Korean Government has implemented several policies concerning digital textbook use in elementary and secondary schools. These policies are aggressive responses to the radical changes that have occurred during the information age. A considerable number of studies on digital textbooks have been conducted recently, but these studies are limited because they focus on some technical or prescriptive suggestions that follow the government’s guidelines, without critically reviewing the problems that may be encountered through the introduction of these textbooks. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate the limitations and media characteristics of digital textbooks, and analyze the social influence of the massive adoption of digital textbooks. The results of previous empirical studies on the effects of the digital textbooks are inconclusive, unlike the expectations of policy makers. Also, the cyber space in which digital textbooks are based is intrinsically at odds with a bureaucratic school system, which implies that the implementation of digital textbooks requires the fundamental transformation of the school system. Thus the anticipated changes each school experienced due to the introduction of digital textbooks should be examined in advance, and the social demand for or social consensus about such changes should be identified before the digital textbooks are introduced throughout the country.