I would like to be able to talk about my experiences of using an eReader, but I can’t. The only time I have ever used an eReader or a tablet was a year ago, sitting next to a friend of mine at our annual teachers’ convention. He was reading something on his wee Archos one, […]
Continue reading The Old Man and the e… Reader Posted in: Week 06: eBooks
I have had a Sony e-reader for 3 years now and I had quite a difficult decision to make when I purchased it – but the touch screen won me over (of course, others have that feature now!) Â I didn’t want a glare on the screen, I wanted to be able to copy and paste […]
Continue reading e-Books and Poolside! Posted in: Week 06: eBooks
Hey Brenda,
My story is quite similar to yours. I recently bought a Kobo, which was definitely a big step for me because I love real books-holding the book, turning the pages, the smell….I ended up buying a Kobo because I’m living over in Europe and it can be very expensive bringing books over for the weight and is especially difficult to find books that I am interested in reading. Needless to say, It is one of the best investments I have ever made! I use it all the time and bring it with me everywhere! I love how it is small it is and how I am able to access my email on it- I have not yet tried to ePub as I was told I have to be in Canada to do so. Hopefully I can try that soon:)
Jenaca
Brenda and Jenaca,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Your views are similar since you both wanted to take books with you to different parts of the worlds and the ebook saved you by providing a light weight option to store all of those books. This is an outstanding benefit of ebooks. They take up less space. You practically don’t need any space to store them. You don’t need a library or a room for them. You can store hundreds and thousands of ebooks in your computer and hence you can take them anywhere in the world with you.
Keisha
Brenda,
I absolutely agree with you that paper books take up so much space, especially when you want to carry them around. That’s why eBook works better. It should cost less eventually compared to buying books. We can also borrow books from library, but how many people would have time to go to the library to check out and return books? If you consider gas for driving to and from the library, it’d cost about the same as purchasing a eBook reader in the end.
I use my iPhone to read books and watch movies. It took a bit of time to get my eyes adjusted to the tiny screen, but I love it now since I’m used to the small screen and fonts. However, older people like my mom and dad didn’t like the experience watching movies or reading books on the iPhone because they couldn’t really read small fonts.
I recently canceled the order of a laptop that I purchased, so I want to buy an eBook reader instead. iPad may be a good idea too.
Any suggestions?
Deb
I take the public transit going to work. I try my best to be productive by reading some articles, marking papers, or anything that would keep me busy. I am using an IPad. Advantages I do not have to print the articles I would like to read I do not have to carry too […]
Continue reading Just a thought Posted in: Week 06: eBooks
interesting reflections on using the iPad; I like how you draw attention to whether there is measurable benefits in learning and performance.
I have neither a tablet nor a e-reader; I am thinking of getting a Kindle, however, and for me the draw of the Kindle is that it isn’t reflective, as you say – my biggest concern with iPad/Macbook for electronic reading is eyestrain, which I think the dedicated e-readers address.
From my limited experience in publishing, my understanding is that a lot of books now being published are being done in hard copy and e-versions. Granted – my experience is with academic publishing, not textbook publishing.
Hi,
You could be right about the e-versions. In our college, we still sell the traditional textbooks. Out of 34 students per class, only 5% actually purchase the book. Other students? They would borrow their classmate’s book and secretly photocopy the pages they need.
Thank you for kicking off this week’s discussion, Stephen and Allie, and it is interesting to see the Kindle leading in the WordPress poll. I personally thought the iPad would be the front-runner, but it is clear that something designed to do many things will fall behind devices created for the single purpose of reading – although many of the read-only handhelds are adding on Web and other social networking features.
When I had to buy numerous textbooks for my BEd (and even ETEC 500 in the MEd) most of these very expensive items had a pull-out card which allowed me to login to the publishers’ webpage to make use of the e-versions, but I never got around to checking them out. Has anyone found these on-line resources helpful in their studies? Could this be one area of eBook development, one-time only login to electronic editions once you purchase a textbook? As Stephen suggests, it would be telling to see how effective these resources could be if there was more of difference made with students’ grades. Excellent point!
Last spring I purchased a Blackberry Playbook, and one of the main reasons was so I could have mobile access to MET course readings and discussion forums. I was using public transit quite a lot at the time, and it really helped my get ahead of the readings by spending an hour or more on the bus or skytrain, reading papers. The sharp screen and small size made the Playbook great for my purposes. With the right pants or jacket, I could tuck the tablet away in my pocket – it is very convenient.
Interesting to hear about the BB PlayBook in the wake of BBM outages this week. With increased competition from Apple’s latest gizmo Siri (your iPhone talks back!), plus the legion of Androids tablets makes me wonder what other features the PlayBook has to offer. I look forward to seeing how their story progresses in weeks 10 and 11 of this course.
Interesting observation on using iPad and your students’ academic performance. I haven’t used iPad yet so I can’t agree or diagree with the list of advantages and disadvantages you’ve listed. However, I can agree with you that it’s a hassle to scroll up, down, right, or left if a screen is too small.
As a matter of fact, I use my iPhone most of the time when I leave comments in this course. Before when the course I took used Vista, I used to sit in front of my laptop to read and respond to my coursemates’ posts because I wasn’t used to read from the screen. I liked it better when I read “paper” articles rather than “electronic”. However, as WordPress offers an OS application on an iPhone, I started reading people’s posts and comments using my iPhone whenever I had time.
During the first few weeks throughout this course, I was a little stressed out and frustrated that I wasn’t familiar with participating in the discussion as the ETEC522 blog was completely different from Vista. But since I installed the course blog on my iPhone, I’ve been participating more and have been getting used to it.
It hurt my eyes at first because fonts and the screen are way too tiny for me to become adjusted. However, since I became adjusted to the iPhone, I haven’t had a difficulty typing and publishing posts and comments.
Deb
Iphone? That would be a great challenge for me. I think what made the Mobile devices relevant are the apps. I often hear people say, “There’s an App for that. “
Great post Stephen! I like the way you critically examined the worth of the ebook. To make it more interesting, you own and use one which allowed you to povide factual information. I also particularly liked the features of ebooks you propose for the future. sounds like an interesting venture. Thanks for your thought.
Cheers,
Keisha
You are welcome. I am just a dreamer.
The eBook Emerging Market Team are pleased to present our findings on the electronic book. Â Two resources we would like to connect our classmates with are the Redefining Reading WordPress blog and the UBC wiki page we created. We have a couple of activities and discussion questions posted at these locations, but please feel free […]
Continue reading Welcome to the Realm of eBooks! Posted in: Week 06: eBooks We hope that everyone in Canada has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and for our friends in other countries, a relaxing weekend. Â The eBook Team will be posting our Emerging Market Analysis on Monday, October 10th, and we look forward to your comments and questions. Everton, Keisha & Kyle
Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving from the eBook Team! Posted in: Announcements, Week 06: eBooks
Happy Thanksgiving to you too! I’m looking forward to your presentation.
Deb
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
Jim 5:55 pm on October 11, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I am with you, Stephen. I don’t have the time to read novels right now… Two MET courses, two daughters, one busy job, my wife just got a new job, and well, the list goes on. Like you, I am an avid reader on the computer and on my devices.
I would argue that anything I read on my handheld devices, including my computer, is e-reading. I think the common parlance is that it must be either a handheld device or a marketed e-reader device. I would disagree.
When I read my readings, and there a fair number, for ETEC 540 which I am taking along with 522, I read all the hyperlinked readings using my iPad; my codex textbooks are never far away either. But my iPad and my codex books are there together. The iPad certainly is closer to the form factor of my textbooks than my desktop PC.
Just some thoughts…
mcquaid 7:58 am on October 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
E-Reading is an emerging and dynamic skill, isn’t it? The way we read now has so much more to it than it used to. It’s interesting to think what the next step(s) will be.
Karen Jones 6:31 pm on October 11, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think your approach to reading is much closer to the younger generation’s, Stephen, than that of an “old man”! I would guess that your comments would be echoed by the majority of my grade 9/10 students, and it is more a function of habits than reading ability. Kids today would be shocked if you told them they actually read a lot, but it’s in a more peripatetic style and in bite-sized pieces. Also, I’m not sure if you can consider checking one’s Facebook a reading experience. What do you think?
KJ
mcquaid 7:57 am on October 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Absolutely – I think my approach is pretty current, too. 😉
I think checking Facebook would actually be a rather complex reading task / skill – there are different data / text streams to pick and differentiate from, pics and vids in addition to text, poor e-spelling to wade through… lots of different hurdles!
Our new LA program from Nelson kind of leads into this whole “everything you take in is text” idea. Movies, music, books, posters… anything that gives information is text. The program focuses a lot on how students connect to whatever text they have in front of them. I hope it helps them see that just because they don’t like reading some large books that they’re not readers.
Deb Kim 1:45 pm on October 12, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for sharing your experience with an eBook reader. Nice pictures you added here! 🙂
I use my iPhone to save any pdf files, important documents, pictures, and videos, to read eBooks and the Bible, and to watch the movies.
However, my parents still prefer to watch the movies on a bigger screen and read paper books/newspaper/magazines. It’s probably because they can’t read small fonts as their eyes hurt. But I don’t think that eBook is for younger generations. Of course it’s a new technology that was first introduced not so long ago. Nonetheless, I’ve seen older people on the bus in the library reading their eBooks. No matter how old a person is, I think eBook is a very useful technology tool for many people.
Deb
jarvise 2:43 pm on October 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
You had me at “the old man and the e”. lol.
Good points, too. I think the move towards a multi-use device is inevitable, especially at this price point.
Emily