Recent research on digital textbook use and development suggests that principles may reflect the cross-disciplinary boundaries. There are multiple examples that evidence this idea. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to enrich the theoretical understanding of design and to broaden the empirical research base by adopting a cross-disciplinary focus. The chapter explores the fundamental principles of digital textbooks and describes the power of cross-principles through a new metasystems method, which allows one to synthesize a functional framework consisting from self-regulation, personalization, feedback diversity, clarity, dynamicity and flexibility and ergonomic environments. These principles are assembled from general norms derived from principles of philosophy, pedagogy, psychology, cybernetics, and knowledge management. The use of cross-principles in the learning design of digital textbooks is a relatively new phenomenon, but with great potential to achieve the guaranteed learning outcomes. Conclusions and future research directions are provided at the end.
A Study of Online Textbook Use Across Multiple Engineering Courses
