The iMapBook™ was conceptualized by Dr. Glenn Gordon Smith who is faculty at the University of South Florida, College of Education. Dr. Smith works with a special group of graduate students to prototype and research best methods and new practices in multiple aspects of education using interactivity to improve reading comprehension and bring the written page to life.
Our research group scientifically integrates computer games directly into eBooks to improve readers comprehension. Our solution, based on the psychology of how people read text narratives, is to use interactive computer games within books to leverage readers with their internal representations (patent pending). Our games specifically scaffold readers' inferencing and situation models (mental models of the story)
The iMapBook™ concept is a web-based application, designed to improve reading comprehension among elementary and middle school students, as well as adult learners. The iMapBook site facilitates:
(a) the creation of iMapBooks by non-programmers, and
(b) the development of research study materials.
Along the way, we have conducted a number of research studies with impressive results. For example, studies of fifth graders' comprehension of a narrative text illustrated significant supporting results in favor of iMapBooks over traditional books. Further, college-age Chinese English Foreign Language Learners learned significantly more new vocabulary with iMapBooks than with traditional study methods. The iMapBook suite allows for the rapid creation of eBooks with computer games with no programming experience. The suite of programs includes:
(a) the iMapBook reader, which includes a bookshelf and a book viewer/player,
(b) an iMapBook authoring tool, for non-programmers, that allows non-technical teachers, librarians, researchers, etc., to convert hardcopy books to iMapBooks, or to create new iMapBooks, which have pages chapters of text with embedded games. The authoring tool also includes a hotspot editor.
(c) Report system from the database, which provides reports on book reader responses and also reports on length of time reading/playing, when registered in a cohort.
Our research group scientifically integrates computer games directly into eBooks to improve readers comprehension. Our solution, based on the psychology of how people read text narratives, is to use interactive computer games within books to leverage readers with their internal representations (patent pending). Our games specifically scaffold readers' inferencing and situation models (mental models of the story)
The iMapBook™ concept is a web-based application, designed to improve reading comprehension among elementary and middle school students, as well as adult learners. The iMapBook site facilitates:
(a) the creation of iMapBooks by non-programmers, and
(b) the development of research study materials.
Along the way, we have conducted a number of research studies with impressive results. For example, studies of fifth graders' comprehension of a narrative text illustrated significant supporting results in favor of iMapBooks over traditional books. Further, college-age Chinese English Foreign Language Learners learned significantly more new vocabulary with iMapBooks than with traditional study methods. The iMapBook suite allows for the rapid creation of eBooks with computer games with no programming experience. The suite of programs includes:
(a) the iMapBook reader, which includes a bookshelf and a book viewer/player,
(b) an iMapBook authoring tool, for non-programmers, that allows non-technical teachers, librarians, researchers, etc., to convert hardcopy books to iMapBooks, or to create new iMapBooks, which have pages chapters of text with embedded games. The authoring tool also includes a hotspot editor.
(c) Report system from the database, which provides reports on book reader responses and also reports on length of time reading/playing, when registered in a cohort.