Many conversations in public education have focused lately on the death of the textbook as we know it. There are many contributing factors: content material being outdated upon publication, cost, and the sheer weight of textbook-loaded backpacks that raise health concerns for our children. Virtually all of the world’s information is accessible, well...virtually, which brings into question the life expectancy of static textbooks in our digital future.
I have seen a number of digital textbooks from major publishers that have been very impressive. Simply being able to immediately link to ancillary material such as videos, screencasts, or related images and articles adds much to a lesson on the JFK assassination or the power and influence of the Medici family during the Renaissance. This feature alone gives strength to the argument for switching to digital textbooks. Add to this the notion of always having the most current information available at your fingertips and it’s easy to imagine traditional paper textbooks going the way of the scroll, the Pony Express, and the telegraph.
I want to be clear that I’m not advocating for digital textbooks so much as I am for providing access to information that addresses various learning styles through multiple mediums and rich content. Digital textbooks provide one step that schools and educators can take toward preparing our kids for the future, but they are merely one element on the continuum of learning.
We want our students to learn, to be able to interact with society in meaningful ways, and to become productive, healthy, and preferably happy citizens. The world has passed the tipping point regarding digital media and knowledge acquisition. Our students need access to information as it is produced in today’s world, not the romanticized formats of the past.
(Interesting note: while writing this post, I received an email from a publisher offering deep discounts on their paper books. Good luck with that.)
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ReplyDeleteI have been watching Google roll out Books on Google Play for EDU. They are working with publishers to offer "rental" of books, so that a teacher can choose to give students access to a book they want to teach for as little as 99 cents per 60 days. Seems that what is the "correct" price to offer for a rental varies greatly from publisher to publisher. Will be interesting to see how long before the dust settles.
ReplyDeleteI'd really like to see more teachers create and/or curate their own resources. Publishers have a tight hold on the market for the time being because so many educators look at gathering or creating their own teaching resources as a giant obstacle: a version of "reinventing the wheel" as many of them call it. It really doesn't need to be, though, with more and more teachers willing to share content and ideas. Convincing teachers to find the time to learn about alternative ways to approach teaching and learning is the tricky part. So much of what we try to accomplish is stymied by time and/or money.
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