Comparison of the Features of EPUB E-Book and SCORM E-Learning Content Model

E-books nowadays have greatly evolved in its presentation and functions, however its features for education need to be investigated and inspired because people who are accustomed to using printed books may consider and approach it in the same way as they do printed ones. Therefore, the authors compared the EPUB e-book content model with the SCORM e-learning content model from the respects of their content presentation, metadata and package structures. Drs. Chang and Hung found that 1) EPUB has the possibility to implement the advantage of content sharing and reusing. 2) EPUB e-books can present educational materials with multimedia and interactive components based on web technology. However, content creators should beware of the limited supported media types 3) EPUB lacks dedicated educational metadata. 4) EPUB e-books have a content reflow mechanism to adjust layouts to fit small screen devices and are able to use all resources offline. Finally, they determined the research issues and strategies that are worthy of further investigation and development for EPUB e-books in education based on our findings.