E-Textbook: A Better Way in K-12 Class Teaching
From carving in bone and shells to the invention of paper, from printing on papers to publishing books on the Internet, the bases for writing have been changed for many centuries. Likewise, since the late 20th century, the teaching methods have also evolved from using only texts, images, and sound to multimedia. Nowadays, a new technology named electronic textbook (e-textbook), a digital form of textbook including color images, videos, and other functions, starts to play an important role in class teaching. In 2012, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission chief Julius Genachowski announce a plan to get all U.S. students, from kindergarten through the 12th grade (K-12), to switch from printed textbooks to digital ones by 2017. (Tomassini 1) This shows that the printed textbooks are going to turn into the digital ones in the near future. However, some experts, district leaders, and publishers might argue that this new technology is not well-developed yet because the effects of the e-textbook are not really confirmed, and the cost of the reading devices is huge. (Tomassini 1) From this perspective, this plan is like taking a risk on the students' future as well as the money from the tax payers. In sum, with the development of the new technology, whether the e-textbook will replace the printed one has become a controversial issue.
Although I concede that the price of the reading devices is still huge now, I still maintain that education should be considered as an investment. Some might object that the funds from the federal government, states and local contribution on education are so limited that the school districts should use them well. (Tomass...
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...book can satisfy all their needs. Therefore, the e-textbook might reduce the gap in study between the disabled and the others. Eventually, the use of the e-textbook is a better way in class teaching than the traditional textbook because it considers the demands of different students.
In conclusion, even though the new technology is still in progress, there is no doubt that the e-textbook can give a better reading experience than the printed one. The e-textbook provides an interactive and multimedia environment to engage the student in learning so that the student will become an active learner instead of only a receiver in class. In addition, the textbook system will be modified by the e-textbook because the various functions of the e-textbook meet the needs of different students. Overall, the e-textbook is a better tool in class teaching than the printed textbook.
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
In his essay “Colleges Should Mandate That All Textbooks Be Digitized,” Mark Pensky, software designer and author of Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning and Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom, takes the position that colleges should ban non-electronic books to improve teaching and learning. Some of the issues he speaks to are; what a bookless college would look like, moving education into the 21st century, addressing pushback of the social and cultural norms, creating enhancements to the educational system, the advantages of having an all digital campus, and the roles of teachers and college surrounding this subject of banning non-digital textbooks.
"As Costs of Textbooks Rise, E-books Emerge as More Affordable Alternative." The Daily Illini. Brittany Gibson, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Years ago, the foremost technology was simple and only somewhat effective, namely verbal communication (talking or writing). However, nowadays, we have modern methods of teaching; for example, typing and keeping files online. One educational resource that has changed is the textbook. For instance, in the article, “Top 12 Ways Technology Changed Learning” by Dr. Katherine McKnight, it states, “Today’s textbooks often have web-based sites that include assessments, animations, additional materials, videos, and other materials to support the learning of new content.” This proves technology that enables enriching learning resources has permanently altered how this generation is taught.
Today, we are introduced to the “e-books” known as the electronic reading device which includes all books and digit texts to read. The discussion of banning books and replacing them with the new e-books is still
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if schools got rid of textbooks students would use laptops instead? I think that we should replace textbooks with laptops because using laptops instead of textbooks would be better for the environment. Additionally, laptops are more organized with more space for information. Furthermore laptops help motivation for students! textbooks could have hundreds of pages!
In conclusion, America provides many ways to help reduce the cost of college textbooks but society is still not satisfied with the outcome. The Open Textbook, Affordable Textbook Act, and book store rentals are wonderful programs, but has its disadvantages that hopefully would be resolved in the 2016 presidential elections. The statistics show that many students across the nation benefit from learning with quality of teaching, the amount of accessibility it provides without having to worry about paying off student loans. School administrations should consider about transferring to an act that would benefit both the school and the students, but also provide more equality to the publishers and students.
Along with these problems, some professors demand a specific edition of textbooks, which would cost hundreds of dollars more than the older version, and the only difference students can find is the physical appearance of the books. The California Student Public Interest Research Group published a study in 2004 that found new editions cost 58 percent more than older editions and newer editions are not that different from previous editions (PresslerE01). Therefore, expenses on text books must be reduced as it has a direct effect on students’ performance. In addition, it can be accessible anywhere at any time, so, students shouldn’t carry heavy textbooks all the time.
Our schools have progressed tremendously in the past century.In fact, in the past three decades, we have seen much progression with the use of computers in the classroom.We have gone from one room school houses with one teacher teaching many grades, to schools that may be two stories high or more with many teachers for each grade.More students are in school in today’s society than there...
During the past few years, the publishing and reading world has been facing a veritable digital book onslaught. E-books have been outselling print books on Amazon since 2011 (Polanka, 7). While digital book sales skyrocketed, print book sales, especially those of mass marked paperbacks, diminished. Even the fact that e-books are not much cheaper than print books does not seem to interfere with the former’s popularity. It would seem that the age of print books is about to end, and quite soon.
However, I still want to stand on my opinion, I think e-book is better than printed book even more students prefer using printed books. I know using a e-book for long time may be harmful for people’s eyes, and the device may not support enough power for them to read books, but I more care about the advantages of e-book. An e-book is obviously cheaper than printed book, and it brings a lot of convenience into my study life. The most important thing is using an e-book is saving the earth resources. I believe that e-books will be more and more popular, and then replace using printed books in the
The art of reading doesn’t come with instructions, if it has to be with paper or digital; it is just an art to acquire knowledge. Although, some people say they prefer paper books, because they can smell the scent of every sheet of paper, they consider that it is better to concentrate, their eyes don’t get dry and they do not need to be worried about charging the phone or tablet, since the paper books are never going to die on battery. On the other hand, some others like the electronic book way, and they indicate is easier to carry on, to manipulate, the price is lower than paper books, and the fact that they can have many books in one file. At the end, both are used with the same purpose to learn or entertain, but there is some advantages and disadvantages between them.
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.
Getting educated is one of the most important things in life when it comes to getting a good future. By developing good knowledge of schooling, it helps establish and maintain new information as needed throughout the real world. As books are one the essential tools in learning, eBooks are being used in a everyday lifestyle. Traveling to get away places from city life, helps give reading a comforting feel. Students that use print books are eventually going to use ebooks in the future. By educating students with ebooks, it is more efficient than carrying textbooks; ebooks is more convenient and reliable to read, write and store notes. Print books are being replaced by eBooks, it helps on keeping files together and it makes notes