As more people began to access the Internet through smart phones and tablets rather than laptops and computers, it is not a surprise that they would also want to transform the American education system by bringing tablets into classrooms. In fact, a few schools around the country have already replaced textbooks with tablets and have seen improvements in students’ standardized test scores. Using tablets instead of textbooks is not only convenient and helpful, but it can also reduce the amount of paper wastes in school. However, it is not a good idea to completely transform textbooks with tablets with the current technology, for it can not only be damaging to the environment and costly to set up, but also might not be effective in improving K-12 education in the long run.
Tablet supporters would often argue that replacing textbooks with tablets can create a healthier environment. Schools can save a lot of trees since paper handouts would no longer be necessary; teachers can send documents directly onto students’ devices. However, less paper does not necessarily guarantee a less damage on the environment. The manufacturing process plays a more crucial role. Statistics show that “manufacturing one tablet requires the extraction of 33 pounds of mineral, 79 gallons of water, and 100 kilowatt hours of fossil fuels resulting in 66 pounds of carbon dioxide” and running the electronics would require even more energy (“Tablets”). On the other side, the process of manufacturing books has been improved over the century that requires less energy. Paper wastes are also easier to recycle than electronic wastes. Plus, the tablets can become easily outdated since technology world is always promising a better device every year. Throwing away old ta...
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Works Cited
Bretag, Ryan. "The Problems with "The Rise Of Tablets As Textbooks"" Metanoia. N.p., 30 Mar. 1993. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Elliott, Philip. "Schools Shift from Textbooks to Tablets." The Big Story. AP News, 6 Mar. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Hollander, Justin. "Long Live Paper." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Oct. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Kleinman, Alexis. "The Rise Of Tablets As Textbooks." The Huffington Post.
Levingston, Stephen E. "Environmental Impact of E-books vs. Paper Books." Political Bookworm -. The Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
"Tablets vs. Textbooks." ProCon.org. Procon, 9 Apr. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
"Test Scores Around the World." Time. Time Inc., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Wojcicki, Esther. "E-Textbooks to IPads: Do Teenagers Use Them?" Nieman Reports. Nieman Reports, 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
This source considers the issue of converting to digital books, specifically as it pertains to the effect that this change would have on the global environment. Although the research does recognize that there are disadvantages to not having a physical copy of a book and to abandoning certain platforms that do not transfer well to a digital form, overall, these researchers conclude that publishers should move towards digital products not only for the sake of cheaper long-run costs, but also for the good that going paperless can do for the environment. By displaying a series of graphs, as well as including multiple data sets, the text explains how e-books compare with printed texts; then, analysis of these facts is also included to show the reader the authors’ point.
Guthrie, Kevin. "JSTOR: Large Scale Digitization of Journals in the United States." Liber Quarterly 9 (1999): 291-97. Print.
In addition, textbooks are heavy to carry around and it takes longer to find a page. Likewise with digital textbooks they are compatible with tablets, smartphones, and laptops; it’s much easier to carry around and affordable price. However, some people may argue that digital textbooks can be a distraction for people because they would not bother read anymore. The author and poet Dana Gioia argues that electronics alternatives may be a bad influence that will lead society to not read anymore. Gioia complicates matters further when she writes, “While no single activity is responsible for the decline in reading, the cumulative presence and availability of electronic alternatives increasingly have drawn Americans away from reading” (161). I think Gioia is mistaken because she overlooks on electronics being a bad influence; but doesn’t see the benefits of electronics. To demonstrate, most of my textbooks are digital, which I can easily carry my tablet around where ever I go. Also, I save more money on digital textbooks and are simple to annotated the text. Journalist Ellen Lee interview a student from Liberty University, and he states that he prefers digital textbooks because he can tap his iPad, opens the digital copy and quickly open the page. Nevertheless, he also like digital textbooks because it has a feature that allows to highlight and mark the
... I’d rather have paper to write down and make my own citations and marks depending on the subject, but if I’m reading a novel, then using a tablet is great, and I’m able to carry as many books as I need. It’s amazing how technology has shaped our educational system over the years and especially in the last 10 years. Honestly, it was only a matter of time before we arrived at this crossroad. It still remains to be seen how this path will be navigated and implemented fully, but I’m excited to be on the journey.
Álvarez, Brenda. "As More Schools Embrace Tablets, Do Textbooks Have a Fighting Chance?" Neatoday. National Education Association, 31 July 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
Tablets can help improve the way students attain their studies. According to Cam Lincoln “Students who used the iPad version of the textbook scored 20 percent higher on standardized test versus students who learned with traditional textbook”(parag.2).This demonstrates that, students who used the iPad version of the textbook learned more effectively than the students who learned with traditional textbooks. The iPad clearly shows that it can help improved test scores. According to National Association for the Education of Young Children “for children with minimal exposure to technology or limited engli...
According to Clarisse, during school they sit and watch ‘ educational’ programs all day, these programs are not like documentaries in this time period, “they just run the answers right by you” (Bradbury 27). The program has no student input in an era where television should have interactive features. In areas like Africa where there is less education opportunities and less books and materials due to them being expensive, it is reasonable to think that technology would be an answer to the education crisis, but electricity is expensive and hard to get in the African savanna. Even the universities in Africa are lacking books because “they are produced in Europe so the end user in Africa has to pay more”(Spinks). People can’t even afford the books needed to get the education they deserve, low-end schools probably use what they can and it ends up that they are just running answers by the student because they don’t have the materials to show the learner visually. Many new battery-efficient and solar powered tablets have been released as educational tools for people in Africa that can supply the learning to students without Wi-Fi. These new”tablets come preloaded with a mix of the Kenyan curriculum and international content”. This gives the students the joy of learning without technology or the distractions that some devices have, such as ipads. The need for extra stuff such as Wi-Fi and
...ohnson, Ben. "How the IPad Can Transform Classroom Learning." Edutopia. N.p., 9 July 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Tablets are becoming more and more popular and they are replacing books in schools, and should schools be doing this? Tablets are great and all but they cause so much of a distraction and they come with problems in the near future, textbooks are far more superior and get their point across to the reader, while textbooks have been around for centuries. Basically the people want to get rid of textbooks and embrace the opportunity of tablets for the replacement of textbooks. Tablets are said to hold more information than a outdated textbooks and can be constantly updated at the users will or even automatically. On the other hand textbooks should be kept because of their longevity of being in the teaching system. Also textbooks do not come with all the problems that arise with the tablets and the excuses of the students not doing their homework. Textbooks have been around from the beginning of the books. They provide the student the information needed to succeed in school and keep them focussed in school. Therefore we need to keep textbooks so the book in general will not happen and
Laptops are significantly more Eco friendly. The number of trees cut down annually for the production of books sold in the U.S. was estimated at 30 million in 2008. That is a ridiculous amount of trees to go into something with such an easy alternative. Replacing textbooks would not only benefit the students, but they would have a huge effect on the environment.
Throughout the course of history there have been drastic changes in technology. Today, society depends on electronics for everything. This has led to astounding innovations in society. There is a lot of good that comes from the use of these products, but they can also be extremely dangerous to the environment if they are not disposed of properly. The use of different products such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops has skyrocketed in the past two decades.
The target market for the ipad is divided into two major segments: the academic community, and people who love to read. Reid (2005) notes that tablets appeal to young people who are comfortable with using personal digital technology. However, the recently-launched Amazon Kindle was successfully targeted to “passionate readers” of all ages rather than to “young people, or early-adopting technophiles” (Well read 2009, p. 71). Rowlands, et al. (2007) conducted an online survey of staff and students at the University College of London. The results showed that a large minority (44%) of the UCL community were using e-books. According to Rowlands, et al., this is comparable to the findings of similar studies at other academic institutions. The research by Rowlands, et al. also showed that age was not a major factor in the attraction to e-readers/tablets although men were more likely than women to favor reading from a screen.
...y discardable, but has an advantage of changing font size and page brightness. With this exception, print books are going to survive. To quote British actor and writer Stephen Fry, "Kindles are no more likely to replace books than escalators are going to replace stairs“ (9). Works cited: Fry, Stephen. The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography. New York: Overlook Press, 2012. Print. Polanka, Sue, ed. No Shelf Required 2: Use and Management of Electronic Books. Chicago: American Library Association, 2012 Pratchett, Terry and Stephen Baxter. The Long War. London: Haper Voyager, 2013. Print.
Dunbar begins with a brief statement about how school officials are thinking of “providing iPads for the incoming sixth grade students at the Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center” (1). That is all it is: a brief sentence about what the school is thinking of doing, with no bias, one way or the other. She then goes into further discussion of the details behind this plan by explaining that at a meeting, members of the school board had talked over how iPads had already been delivered to the teachers, and that now they should purchase iPads for the students. According to the school board, the iPads could be provided “as a one-on-one initiative for teachers to use in the classroom,” meaning that the teachers are encouraged to take advantage of having iPads in the classroom (1). The whole idea of giving iPads to the students seems to be an ongoing effort to go digital for the entire school. In fact, the superintendent, Lawrence Mussoline, seemed to confirm this with his statement, “The vision is that sixth, seventh and eighth [grade students] are given digital devices” (1).
With technology progressing from drones fulfilling shipments to electronic books becoming cheaper, major companies such as Apple and Amazon have had a big impact on not only the tech industry but the publishing industry as well. Companies are outputting resources like IBook’s and the Kindle bookstore to take full advantage of the transition to digital publishing. As a result of this we have greener, more budget friendly books, and outdated traditional copies of text. With the introduction to these resources it is making the lives of students and the mass market more convenient. Students are now able to purchase books on one device that won’t weigh their bags down on a daily basis. Companies have created bookstores that can be accessed from devices that we use every day, resulting in paperless copies of books that are substantially cheaper than the traditional hard copy. E-books are replacing physical books and textbooks rapidly, and as a result they are becoming more widely and readily available for students.