Students today expect more than static, text-heavy materials. With shorter attention spans and a preference for engaging, dynamic content, traditional textbooks often fall short. To keep learners actively involved, educators must embrace interactive learning materials that go beyond simple digital distribution.
By integrating multimedia, quizzes, simulations, and immediate feedback, interactive materials transform learning from passive reading into an active, immersive experience.
What are Interactive Learning Materials?
Digital materials make interactivity possible
Interactive books are more than scanned books distributed digitally. They are web-first materials that incorporate the rich capabilities of digital technology, including multimedia content, quizzes, interactive graphics, immediate feedback when students test their knowledge, and more.
See this example of a memory game used for vocabulary retention in a language learning text from the University of Alberta (and try playing the game yourself!)
Interactivity can support sound pedagogy
As instructors or content creators consider where and how to build interactive learning activities into their course materials, they have the opportunity to make thoughtful pedagogical choices. For example, a low stakes pretest at the beginning of a chapter gives learners the opportunity to tap into their prior knowledge and preview what they’ll learn next. Coming after a vocabulary-heavy section of expository content, a word-matching or fill-in-the-blank activity invites learners to test their recall and digest the material before moving on. A branching scenario can help students practice analyzing the context and making judgments about how to proceed.
Interactivity can take many forms in digital learning materials. Activities can be dispersed throughout a book for students to encounter at opportune moments, breaking up the text, signalling what’s important to focus on, and making the overall experience more engaging.
Many texts use several different kinds of interactive activities to engage students, including interactive videos, word puzzles, drag-and-drop, branching scenarios, image sliders and more.
Powering learning with formative assessment
Formative assessment is the process of testing learners’ comprehension and providing ongoing feedback to help students and instructors improve learning and teaching. Typically formative assessment is no-stakes (ungraded) or low stakes (not weighted heavily in grading). In digital textbooks, interactive learning activities offer many vehicles for formative assessment. By incorporating interactivity at moments where there is a natural pause in the learning process to test knowledge or apply new information, we can enrich learners’ experiences with formative assessment. Interactive activities typically provide immediate feedback to learners when it is particularly helpful to measure learning progress and validate whether they are ready to move forward.
This Anatomy and Physiology textbook from Maricopa Open Digital Press uses question sets at the end of chapters to test knowledge and provide feedback at regular intervals.
Many of us remember the thick bricks of text we purchased at university or college bookstores. We also remember the long hours pouring over lengthy printed chapters, trying to absorb information while staying awake and/or managing stress.
When we embrace the possibilities of web-first digital learning materials, we can create more engaging learning experiences that invite learners with diverse interests and needs to take a more active, participatory role in their learning journeys.
Interactive Learning Materials: Key Benefits to Students
When we rethink learning materials as dynamic, interactive experiences rather than static, text-heavy resources, we open up powerful opportunities to engage students more deeply. Digital-first interactive materials not only make learning more active but also provide immediate feedback, personalize learning pathways, and support stronger comprehension through formative assessment.
The evidence is clear—interactivity enhances engagement, fosters critical thinking, and ultimately improves student outcomes. By thoughtfully incorporating interactive elements into digital textbooks and course materials, educators can create richer, more effective learning experiences that meet the needs of today’s learners.
Learn More
This is the first of three blog posts about interactive learning materials. The next will focus on specific guidance on how to enhance your books with interactive elements, taking them to a level that provides a better learning experience for students.
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References:
“Research-Based Learning Findings.” MIT Open Learning, 2023, openlearning.mit.edu/mit-faculty/research-based-learning-findings
Adkins, Joni K, et al. “The impact of an interactive textbook in a beginning programming course.” Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ), Dec. 2020.
Koedinger et al. (2016). Is the doer effect a causal relationship?: how we can tell and why it’s important. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge, 388-397. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2883851.2883957#abstract
Interactive activity attributions:
“Comida” memory game by Héctor Cárcamo, Martin Guardado, Ana Dominguez, Celeste Aquino, Gary Ordóñez, Hugo Salgado is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
A Review of the Effectiveness & Perceptions of OER by DeeAnn Ivie is licensed under CC BY-NC
Question Set by Elisabeth Kehrli, Anil Kapoor is licensed under CC BY
Featured image attribution: