Ebooks in Education
This is a funny topic for me. I am an Education Technology student, an Open Source advocate, been previously employed in IT and computer troubleshooting, I carry an iPhone yet in terms of e-books I am a total Luddite. This is not to say that I don’t like or appreciate e-books. I have read them and I have thought about getting a kindle, or another type of product, but I never have. I still prefer the tactile feel of books, it’s how I was raised. However that is not what I want to talk about, because the younger generation doesn’t seem to have that problem.
This brings me to ebooks in education. It’s funny that this is the topic that is being covered this week as I touch upon this in my learning ventures paper. To me they will be prevalent in classrooms over the next few years. They are affordable, use no moving parts and are simply easy to use. With more advanced tablets (think iPad) their use in the classrooms will be even more beneficial. Students will be able to edit and post notes on a paper as they read it. Great stuff. I think that the biggest challenge will be getting (convincing) educators and the districts (especially those who control the purse strings and decide what to purchase) to move in this direction.
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Deb Giesbrecht 6:30 am on October 16, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yes, I think that will be challenging – getting the education institutions ( and some educators) on board with thinking differently about personally owned technology. The other part of that is not everyone ones their own portable devices.
I had a teacher who taught from the same set of notes for over 20 years.The notes were now yellow (previously white). I cannot imagine him ever wanting to move to another source of ‘technology’.
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 6:08 pm on October 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
David,
Thanks for sharing. There are many of us who still prefer tangible books, but we must face the reality that one day very soon, students will start seeing electronic books on their curriculum that must be purchased for class. A major challenge I think would face students is the cost of ereaders. Can students afford to purchase these?