Digital Learning III: The Problem with Tired Paper

Workbooks are initially a wonderful complement to textbooks. Textbooks convey the theoretical material. Workbooks contain ready-made exercises to apply and internalize that theory.

Of course, the types of tasks in workbooks are limited and mostly consist of simple methods like „Fill in,” „Insert,” or „Choose.” This is not a disadvantage, since much of the knowledge we acquire consists of pairs of meanings. („Tisch” means „table” in English; the first element in the periodic table is hydrogen.)

The exercises in a workbook are designed to engage our memory through repetition. However, this also means that workbooks, unlike textbooks, are much more affected by the medium’s inherent limitation of finiteness.

Imagine the case where the workbook has been completed but the learning material is not yet mastered. Or when someone wants to review the material again at a later time. No publisher can (or will) prepare for this case by creating an infinite number of exercises.

The interactivity of the workbook, which encourages us to learn, has its price. Consequently, a medium that, unlike paper, does not “get tired,” i.e., can be used indefinitely and ideally always provides new exercises to solve, would be better suited for this scenario.