A good question to ask oneself is "How would school be different if everyone read off a Kindle?". The reason this is such an important topic is because now more then ever before the public school system is considering getting rid of paper textbooks. This has already been done at the University of Virginia. They have replaced 50,000 physical books with 50,000 digital books from Google. I believe that this is just the beginning.
Many professionals, students, teenagers, and even children posses a digital book reader called a "Kindle". This is useful in that you can have many books downloaded at one time, and it also saves money on purchasing these books. One might ask why should we change a school system with paper books that worked great in the past? Well, kids are growing much more rapidly and their electronic skills are surpassing their teachers. We need to prepare them for the future and also we must fit their learning needs. One of the downsides to the Kindle is that it does not process as fast as a paper book would. For those that are fast readers, this could cause difficulties. As time proceeds, I feel that the electronic portable book reader will grow and the kinks in the system will be fixed.
Another positive aspect of the electronic reader is that you can also use your iphone to read a book! This would be useful for those constantly on-the-go or traveling. The possibility of being able to catch up on your reading by using your cell phone is an exciting concept. Visually impaired learners will also benefit, because each reader has a built in text to speech reader that will read the book aloud for the student. This will help learners better understand what they are reading, and also help to fit each individuals different way of processing information. The invention of the electronic reader seems to have more positive factors than harmful, and I feel it is going to make learning even more exciting for our future students. I feel this will benefit both teachers and students in future classrooms.
-Sarah
Bull, G, and M. Sites. (2009). Digital Libraries: Shifting the Landscape. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37 (1), pp. 12-13.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your assessment, especially the part about having text to speech readers, which will help the visually impaired. I also feel that the kinks in the Kindle will be worked out as time passes. And who knows - maybe someday teachers will use those interactive books we learned about in class instead. I personally would rather have a paper book than a kindle, but the interactive books seem pretty awesome.
Thank you,
Lily
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI think you made a good point about students’ technology skills surpassing the teachers. I agree that we should prepare them for real world situations with the advancement of technology. As someone that is an advocate for special education I am definitely on board with the e-books since the e-readers have text to speech for hearing impaired and those with processing impairments. I do however still feel for visually impaired, Braille will still be necessary and will not be replaced by the text to speech e-readers. I can’t think of too many negatives associated with the e-readers other than internet interruption issues. E-readers definitely seem like the future for textbooks.
Thanks,
January