Digital
Textbooks vs. Print Textbooks
Are
digital textbooks more effective than print textbooks? Have we grown out of the
traditional textbook and moved onto educating people with technology? Many
reasons appear that making the switch to digital textbooks would overcome using
print textbooks. Digital textbooks might make learning easier, but can also
make learning so much more difficult. Do we want to have to depend this much on
technology for such an important reason?
Providing
every student with a digital reader and keeping up with software, technical
assistance, training, and maintenance would be costly (Dillon 22). Textbooks can be expensive;
they sell for about $150 for a print version, although you can often find a
free version online. The University of Massachusetts received ten $1,000 grants
for digital readers. “The school estimates that the $10,000 investment saved
students $72,000 in textbook costs” (Is the End Near For Textbooks? 72). To save money, you
have to invest in something to make it worth it. Today, public high schools have
textbooks available that they have had over the years and can keep passing
down. Digital readers, on the other hand, are going to need an investment. It
will cost money to buy the device the first time, but then schools will have
them in stock just like a print textbook. “Tight budgets and a lack of
understanding about the complexities of our digital world had proven to be
serious obstacles for school leaders” (Dillon 22).
Leaving that traditional way of learning is hard when you don’t know if the
modern way will be efficient and effective.
Effective
learning is crucial. We want to effectively use our time, not spend it in front
of a textbook while receiving no information. Having engaging programs can help
make the time more useful. Looking at different learning perspectives while
designing a program can be very severe to the users (Song, Lim and Lee 161). “Just because you take tests and make it
digital doesn’t make it engaging” (Dillon 22).
A digital textbook has the ability to take a print and make a digital program that
goes along with the content, and is specialized to teach a person in a
different way to help them understand the subject (23).
These
digital programs have designed tools to help you study such as note taking
tools, memo pads, writing and highlighting tools, messenger, discussion boards,
screen capture capabilities, display options, and search tools. Publishers work
at making their programs user-friendly, effective, efficient, and satisfying (Song, Lim
and Lee 160-161).
Having a user-friendly program is more satisfying than having to go through
that learning curve of a new device.
We
have all have had our own frustration with electronic devices not working. We
reset it, turn it off and back on, re-download the program, or wait for the
freezing and glitches to stop. Print textbooks will always be reliable in the
sense that they aren’t going to run out of a charge, they won’t freeze up on
you, you can’t drop them and shatter them, and the program won’t have a
malfunction. Print textbooks will be more dependable, but if a digital textbook
runs the way it is supposed to it has far more to offer.
“If
it is implemented and used properly, digital curriculum allows teachers and
students the freedom and flexibility to learn and teach lessons in a way that
makes sense to them” (Dillon 23).
Teachers make their own lesson plans to follow what they teach in class, and digital
textbooks allow more freedom with lesson plans.
Letting
students decide when and how fast they want to work on homework is allowed with
digital readers. It may add value and flexibility of learning to diverse
personalities (Song, Lim and Lee 161). It lets students to
be mobile with their device and learn at their own pace (Dillon 22).
“Change
is on the horizon” (Dillon 20).
New ways of learning are being discovered, but do we want to take that step? Do
the pros outweigh the cons? I think that making the switch will be worth it. At
first, we are going to have to work out some bugs to make the digital reader
work the way we want. If we don’t stay in touch with technology, we are going
to get left behind. There are so many new features that digital textbooks offer
that have the ability to help so many people learn from many different
perspectives. Looking at how fast this world is improving our technology I
don’t think that there is any reason not to leave the print textbooks behind.
Works Cited
Dillon,
Naomi. "The e-Volving Textbook." American School Board Journal.
July 2008. 20-23. EBSCO. Web. 7 Oct.
2013.
Is the End Near For Textbooks? BizEd,
May/June 2012. 72-73. EBSCO. Web. 7
Oct. 2013.
Song, Hae-Deok, Cheolil Lim and Yekyung Lee. "Improving
the usability of the user interface for a digital textbook platform for
elementary-school students." Association for Educational
Communications and Technology 2011. 13 Oct. 2011. 160-162. EBSCO. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
Kara,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you chose this subject for your article, because believe it or not, this debate is still heating up! Authors themselves, of textbooks or novels, are starting to fight for the physical form of their work. Some feel that to have a hard copy is better for everyone, due to how the funds are being distributed. Others argue that an e-text is a more efficient way to interact with literature or textbooks, and feel this encourages the sales of their work.
The authors against the idea of e-texts, argue that they do not want any profit to be distributed to a large corporation. For example, when Amazon sells an author's work or textbook, a small portion of the sale goes to them because they are advertising the product. Some authors are uncomfortable with supporting large corporations.
Others, however, feel that this is a natural progression for our country. It is physically, a lot easier to carry around a nook, or tablet than a large textbook in your backpack. What's more, when it comes to education, an online book makes the lesson more accessible, even if the student can't make it to school.
This is a very prevalent debate for the classroom, due to funding, as you addressed above. You make valid points on how this issue could potentially cause financial stress on a student. However, it is becoming a nationwide phenomenon that schools are required to provide funding for these devices. This craze hasn't reached Montana yet, but in due time.