[Web4lib] Reimagining The Textbook: The Risks And Rewards Of Electronic Reading Devices

[McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]]

Colleagues/

 

This Must Be eBook/eReader News Week ... [:-)]

 

/Gerry 

 

Education Week / Vol. 29 / Issue 11 / Pages 24-25 / Published Online:
November 9, 2009 ; Published in Print: November 11, 2009 

 

By Michael L. Miles & Bruce S. Cooper 

 

The word "kindle" usually refers to fire, using "kindling," or small
pieces of wood, to build a flame. But in today's high-tech marketplace,
an electronic reading device called Kindle, marketed by the online
bookseller Amazon.com, has started another kind of fire, igniting
competitive forces in a movement to deliver books and other written
materials in fast, inexpensive ways that fit more easily into the
computer age.

 

 

Though Kindle is the best-known of these electronic readers, Sony and
other companies have developed their own devices, and the bookseller
Barnes & Noble plans to offer its version, the Nook, on Nov. 30. All may
soon be vying for the favor of one extremely active book-buyer:
America's public schools.

 

The devices are small, portable, and relatively inexpensive. They are
softly readable, with little of the glare often associated with computer
screens. And material can be downloaded in seconds from a potential
listing of millions of books, for little cost per tome. [snip]. And the
devices will continue to improve.

 

Traditional paper and hardcover books may go the way of the abacus,
chalkboards, and ink pens-replaced by a small, plastic gadget that
offers immediate access to unlimited potential learning resources.The
stage is set for a radical change in education: going electronic to
replace the dozens of textbooks students use in school. The availability
of these portable readers, as well as the use by some schools of easily
assembled and updated digitally based hard-copy readings for students,
gives us a glimpse of the classroom of the future.

 

The potential benefits of using the Kindle or similar devices in
teaching and learning are substantial. But these should be weighed
alongside the risks and limitations of the technology before we envision
a universal "e-book" for every class, program, and activity of the
nation's 56 million schoolchildren.

 

Here are some of the advantages school leaders, teachers, and parents,
should consider:

 

 

* Ease of carrying. [snip] An electronic device like Kindle can "carry"
all those books, and more-and weighs a mere 10 ounces.

 

* Costs, access, and uses. Consider how many different texts and reading
books the average child uses in 12 to 13 years ... . These costly tomes
get dirty, go out of date, and are often lost, while the Kindle is
relatively cheap ($260) and can download and update texts in mere
seconds. [snip]

 

* Instructional options. Teachers would no longer be limited to a single
textbook in their classes, and reading assignments could be expanded to
include different points of view, improving exposure to ideas and
enhancing the critical analysis of a subject. [snip]. Using these
devices, ...  would be like having a pocket library, open 24 hours a
day.

 

* Eco-friendliness and durability. Durability for the Kindle appears to
be greater than for the average school textbook. So instead of regularly
replacing each subject-specific text (approximately eight books per
term) with a new edition, a district would need only to buy and replace
this single electronic device. [snip] Everyone would benefit. Plus its
use would have the added advantage of lowering carbon emissions and
reducing the demand for paper.

 

Before school leaders are tempted to put one of these devices into the
hands of every student in their districts, they should spend some time
contemplating a few important issues:

 

[more]

 

Link To Additional Excerpts and To The Full Article [Subscribers Only ?]
Available At

 

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EnJOY !

 

/Gerry 

 

Gerry McKiernan

Associate Professor

Science and Technology Librarian

Iowa State University Library

Ames IA 50011

 

gerrymck at iastate.edu

 

There Is No Answer, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying

 

The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed

Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace