Digital heterogeneity of higher education teaching materials

In the digital age, higher education is undergoing significant transformations, with textbook digitization becoming a crucial focus.The "Outline of the Education Power Construction Plan (2024-2035)" underscores the urgency and importance of digital and intelligent transformation in textbooks.By analyzing the results of the National Outstanding Textbook Selection, this study explores the disciplinary distribution of digital textbooks in Chinas higher education system.The research reveals notable heterogeneity in award-winning digital textbooks across disciplines: medical and natural sciences demonstrate higher award rates, while humanities and agricultural sciences lag behind.Additionally, there are distinct preferences in award-winning formats-natural sciences favor "paper + online courses", whereas humanities and social sciences prefer "paper textbooks with digital teaching resources".The analysis suggests that disciplinary characteristics, developmental needs, and technological advancements are key factors influencing award distribution.Therefore, the development of digital textbooks in higher education requires differentiated strategies: tailoring initiatives to disciplinary features, establishing discipline-oriented standards, enhancing resource support, improving evaluation mechanisms, elevating textbook quality, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, and stimulating collaborative innovation.