Using epubs in class

What are the challenges of using epubs in a classroom?

I think some come from having students who use various media formats (e.g., some iPads, some Kindles, some print, some PC) so it takes longer to get everyone literally "on the same page." It can be more challenging to teach when students have varying materials. (Or maybe it requires a different style-- a thought for later).

There is also the difficulty of comparing two disparate pages (e.g., a table on one page with a report on another.

I want to research the idea of "close reading" to understand the components. Part of it is annotation-- but annotating what? How is that done digitally (depends on what the device and text format permits) and then how does the user reasonably re-access those notes?

How does highlighting impact close reading since highlighting is available on many ereader devices? What are the best models for highlighting-- use different colors for different text functions? different characters in a novel? different major concepts? or relative to the reader (red "I disagree," green "I agree" or emotional reaction).

Jane Fife, who directs our Writing Center (email communication 6/28/12) suggests a series of methods for using color coding:

• "I think that highlighting by color could be a really helpful shortcut when what you're looking for can be lumped into two or three categories.
• I could imagine in classes where they're learning to read research articles that highlighting text according to whether the author is presenting ideas in sources to agree or disagree with them l and a third color for the parts where the author introduces his/her new ideas/implications .
• Or a variation in two colors--where is it the source talking and where is it the author. Primary sources, secondary sources, anecdotal evidence. 
• You could also color code for categories that go with a particular kind of analysis--like logos, pathos, ethos for a kick-start of rhetorical analysis.
• For an article review/analysis, they could color code for parts they see as strengths vs. weaknesses and then another for implications/gaps/places the argument could be extended.
•  I imagine that the three-color highlighting potential could help cover a whole lot of category sets for different types of analyses.
• Sometimes I just have them mark distinctive words or phrases that stand out to them as particularly distinctive, striking or powerful when they're doing a rhetorical or stylistic analysis and they can go back later and determine what was striking about each one. "

For awhile I think we'll have to use an array of reading tools-- different sorts of versions of the text (print, electronic) in order to take advantage of the strengths of both.

Thanks Jane!

For more on her ideas:

Fife, J. (2010). Bringing outside texts in and inside texts out. In J. Harris, J. Miles & C. Paine (Eds.), Teaching with Student Texts: Essays Toward Informed Practice (pp. 220-228). Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.