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I was just on my alma mater website (private school) and discovered incoming students are being required to purchase an ipad (any size) for the upcoming school year, with assistance for parents who can't afford it.
Personally I think it's a great idea and I will make sure some of my alumni money supports the program. It has the cool factor, I'll give it that, and children's back muscles will be grateful, but I think there would be times that I would miss a physical book.
There could be other problems, what about "open book" tests? And cheating? How do you prevent students from accessing a hidden cheat sheet within the device?
Kids found ways to cheat with physical books, so I wouldn't let that be a deterrent. I'm moving to more of a digital curriculum with some of my classes, but we'll keep a classroom set of textbooks. Kids won't be taking them home, but since there is some benefit to kids learning to use them, we'll keep them around.
My understanding in some cases is that there is still a textbook, it is just online, and someone is still paying big money. Are you strictly talking about physical textbooks only?
That's ridiculous. Well, depending on age. For high school, I guess it's okay. I would be livid if my kids' elementary school were requiring that, though. I am keeping them as far from that nonsense as I can, so if the school were requiring it I would make sure they would be going elsewhere.
I guess it depends on the student. I know for me personally, I tried having textbooks on my computer for college, it went terribly. Couldn't do it. I found myself needing to flip back a few pages several times and that is a straight pain in the ass with an online "book." I also read much better with a real book. That's just me, though.
The district in which I live recently went to a 1-to-1 iPad program for middle school students. One of the schools is located near a rougher area and it wasn't long before stories surfaced about a few of the kids being held up for their tablets because everyone in the community knew they had them. The district's solution was to stop having the kids take them home and only use them in the classroom.
I hope not. When given a choice, my high school students prefer to study from books rather than computers. I offer them both when doing certain assignments in class, 3/4 of students use the book.
Computers are better at more things than books, but when you need to sit down and read some information, you can't beat books.
For leisure reading I love my nook.
But for any type of reference work I like a copy in my hands.
It's not so easy to go back and forth reading and looking up info with an e-book as it is with a hard copy right in front of you.
The cost of physical text books are insane. I wouldn't mind seeing e-books replace bulky textbooks. The only suggestion I have is they are locked so that they can't have appropriate apps. I would rather a kindle in that case.
I recently went to training for new on-line resources. The text is on-line and has many interactive components. It can read the text to the student, show videos of teachers teaching lessons, animate problems, has cartoon videos of real-life problem solving applications, as well as limited interactive practice and homework. On the teacher end it has the potential to collect data on each student's interaction with the problems, test the student, and allow emailing of assignments and questions. It has the platform to move the students totally out of the classroom and could easily allow students to access an on-line "teacher" for assistance.
The company also emphasized how teachers could easily store "your favorite personal lessons" on the cloud. The teacher access license has 3 pages of disclosures explain who then owns "your favorite personal lessons."
I'm sure that some students will find the on-line resources compelling however, I believe most will not be more engaged than using a text. I am concerned that students are spending too much time staring at a display. Television, smartphones, computers/tablets and now the classroom with little interaction with the physical world is having adverse effects on socialization and personal interaction.
Many publishers are using a consumable companion text to go with their on-line program. This is a necessity as the software and hardware are not there yet to easily work the material for math. However, many publishers are partnering with media, software and entertainment companies and are looking to take public education private to tap into what they describe as "a trillion dollar annual business opportunity." I'm sure that we will see fully interactive ebooks and interactive classes in the near future.
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