Writing essays by pictures : redrawing the textbook

This opinion piece considers the textbook as an academic genre and wonders whether, as it could be seen to have been developed based on now outmoded concepts and technologies, the textbook is outmoded itself. It is argued that learning resources need to be designed with the different types of knowledge to be learnt in mind. This is demonstrated with the example of Writing Essays by Pictures, a recently published stand-alone resource that aims to facilitate the researching and writing of a basic research based essay for first year undergraduate students.