The Inkling app for Ipad, Iphone, and computer use offers a new way to interact with textbooks. Here is the link to their home page:
https://www.inkling.com/
While they offer a wide range of books, I think what they offer is most interesting for textbooks. When viewing a page of a textbook, you can highlight text and make your own notes. That's nothing particularly novel. You can also view the notes of other people who have bought that text book. If you find a note that is particularly useful, you can rate it so that others will pay attention to it. You can even have chat sessions with other people that have the same textbook.
This allows the user to recreate a study group in a digital environment right from their etextbook. What I especially like about this app is that it also gives new tools to in person study groups. Instead of having to read over your neighbor's shoulder to see the precise line they are talking about, they can just highlight it in their ebook copy and you can see their highlight on your copy right away. I like that this app allows for a wholly digital experience, but doesn't preclude face to face interactions and in fact enhances them.
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