Information technology and education: Standards for electronic textbooks being developed

Requirements for the content and functionality of electronic textbooks were discussed at a meeting in the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry held a working meeting with representatives of the management department of the main Russian publishing houses. At the event were discussed electronic textbooks, which from 1 January 2015 will be used interchangeably with paper ones.  

"Modern education must comply with the new conditions in terms of technology, content, and meet the demands of children and their interests", - said the Minister of Education Dmitry Livanov.

The Minister noted that the appearance of electronic textbooks should not be regarded as a displacement of the printed manuals, it is about the expanding the educational opportunities of the school.

"Our goal is a new information model of the school, providing successful communication between students and teachers, including through electronic textbooks", - said Dmitry Livanov.

In case electronic textbooks to be higher quality it is necessary to develop rules and standards by which publishing houses may use by publishing and disseminating electronic textbooks.

Earlier, the Ministry of Education of Russia had drafted amendments to the procedure for the formation of the Federal list of textbooks that have been identified the general requirements for the electronic version: the contents of the structure of the paper textbook, including the required number of multimedia and interactive elements, matching the technological requirements, safety regulations and safety for children's health, and the use of publicly available file formats and technologies.