To print or not to print: hybrid learning with METIS learning platform

As part of the explosion in educational software, online tools, and open educational resources there has been a rapid devaluation of printed textbooks. While digital texts have advantages, printed textbooks still provide irreplaceable value over online media. Therefore technology should enhance, rather than eliminate printed text. To this end, this paper presents METIS, a hybrid learning software/service platform that is designed to support active reading. METIS provides easy digital-to-print-to-digital usage, simple creation of Cheat Sheets & FlexNotes for personal note taking and organization, and a custom flexible rendering & publishing engine for education called Aero. METIS was designed based on lessons learned from a formative study of 523 students at SJSU, and validated through focus groups involving 32 educators and students at both high school and college levels.