https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 07 May 2026 06:08:14 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1401268 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:05:28 +0000 Bao 1401268@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would have a really hard time using a digital textbook. I like my Kindle for basic reading but if I had to try and learn something, take notes, refer back to things in a digital form....I would get frustrated! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1401260 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:02:43 +0000 Mrs. J 1401260@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pui: exactly. I completely agree. Plus, the kids are always distracting themselves, which, granted, they did before, but now it's worse. We blocked certain things, but they still troll the internet/play games/ etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1401114 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:21:15 +0000 pui 1401114@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: Also it'd be nice if they had some physical buttons for like flipping pages or skipping to the next chapter, making navigating the book during a class smoother and easier.</p> <p>Basically I think a lot of improvements could be made to a tablet/ereader to make it a better educational tool. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1401102 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:17:33 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1401102@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pui: I agree with this. If it's going to be done at the elementary level like this, then I wouldn't want my child to have access to all the things that come with having an iPad. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1401095 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:14:45 +0000 pui 1401095@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. J: I don't think iPads are the best educational tools. I think we need ereaders/tablets that are purely designed for education. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1401050 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:00:51 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1401050@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am all for digital learning, but I think just replacing text books with e-books isn't going to help education. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1401035 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 13:55:40 +0000 Mrs. J 1401035@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My school (HS) went iPads this year, and even the kids are iffy about it. The cost of books is nice, but things like the teacher edition/workbooks are not digital, and my edition has different page numbers, so I have to work out of both books and digitize any worksheets I want to use before I can put them on our class website to be downloaded. </p> <p>Most of the "apps" have little value in an English classroom. I'm on the fence about them. Additionally, there has been a push from admin to use only digital books, which eliminates classics like Catcher in the Rye because Salinger's estate won't allow for digital publication. That would be a tragedy if we stopped teaching books just because they aren't on the iPad. </p> <p>I LOVE how real books feel and smell. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400952 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 13:33:40 +0000 mediagirl 1400952@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JennyPenny: hi from maybe right down the road! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400769 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 12:35:20 +0000 brownie 1400769@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>As a college instructor, I love the price of e-books. It is harder for me because I can't jump as quickly, but I am learning how to use them better. </p> <p>I only have one issue with them and that is the idea of an open book exam (I offer 1 of my exams that way). I don't allow other students to have phones, etc but they have to have a device in order to have their textbook. Granted I find if they do use the internet, they usually get it wrong. </p> <p>We have computers in my classroom and again when we have the e-books for an open book exam, the screen is distracting to other students. So I have to move the e-book students to the back of the class room. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400707 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 12:15:41 +0000 pui 1400707@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JennyPenny: This is why e-ink would be great for textbooks! They even make colour e-ink now! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400697 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 12:12:51 +0000 JennyPenny 1400697@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This article is actually about my county, and I have to say I support it. Especially when I read that the old science textbooks were from 2004 and talked about how much cheaper this digital license is. Personally, reading from screens hurts my eyes after a while, but I think its worth it so the kids can have access to relevant information.</p> <p>ETA: In 2004, Pluto was still a planet! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400685 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 12:10:17 +0000 rattles 1400685@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I miss the tactile experience of reading hard copies. It helps my memory to picture where things are on the page or in the book, and I like feeling my progress as I work through things. That said, I do think the availability and cost associated with e-books is appealing, and it's the reality that our kids will engage technology differently than we will.</p> <p>@mrs. tictactoe: That's really interesting! I would think it hard enough to teach the material without having to focus on the means by which it's tested. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400677 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 12:07:34 +0000 anandam 1400677@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For reasons I can't explain, it feels like all the "screen time" is somehow less enriching than "page time." Feels very Fahrenheit451 - like gradually we will become post-literate and all the e-books will just be pictures and interactives. </p> <p>For some things, like books the kids must return at the end of the year anyway (and probably aren't allowed to write in), or for rapidly changing fields, it can save a lot of backache and waste to go digital. Beyond that, it bums me out and I don't see the benefit.</p> <p>But then again, I still don't have an e-reader and have no interest in getting one. I love having shelves of books in our living room, some are beloved old textbooks that are wonderful references. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400643 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:57:13 +0000 blackbird 1400643@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey, i would totally burn my house down trying to read by candles! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400607 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:50:49 +0000 pui 1400607@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I like the idea of digital textbooks if it would save students money. It'd be great to buy one device and then be able to download all the textbooks to it.</p> <p>A stylus could still allow you to write notes "on" the textbook and may even give you far more options and organizational perks. Like imagine being able to keyword search your notes? Or attach diagrams from other files to the "pages" of your digital book?</p> <p>I don't think it's going to mess up kids in any way. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400600 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:48:55 +0000 mediagirl 1400600@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. tictactoe: Common Core was the reason we solidified our decision on private school, where they don't follow this! That being said, I completely agree with you. Kids need to be trained to do things certain ways. No matter when they make these changes to all digital textbooks, someone is going to have trouble because they won't have been used to doing it that way their entire lives. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400499 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:29:36 +0000 mrs. tictactoe 1400499@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The new Common Core Standards (for the whole nation, instead of just state by state) have a huge focus on technology. In our state, all the standardized testing is going to be on a computer starting this year. No more scantrons and bubbling, more clicking and typing (they never had to actually write anything before, but now they do). I think that to prepare them for those tests, they need to be more familiar with reading digital texts because it is very different from reading on paper. I don't think we should teach to the test, but I do think we can't NOT prepare them at all for the format of the test. We just did a practice test and our students did horribly. They usually do really well on the paper and pencil tests, so this shows us that they need to be trained for this new format. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400496 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:29:06 +0000 teamjse 1400496@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was one of those that needed book, paper, and pencil to learn better. This is why I decided against getting LO any digital books because I wanted him to know what it feels like to read a real book and go to a real bookstore. I'm sad that it's all moving digital and before we know it, book stores will be a rare thing too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400482 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:26:15 +0000 chopsuey 1400482@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@blackbird: candles! :P :D<br /> plus we can read during the day! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400471 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:24:35 +0000 Alivoo01 1400471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I love physical books over digital books even though I see how much more convenient digital books are (like as @redsmarties: said, the back pain!). But I feel like the kids are losing out on something becoming 100% digital. So many kids don't even know how to address an envelope, and I think sending and receiving snail mail is so much fun (given it's not bills!).</p> <p>They don't even teach cursive handwriting in schools anymore either. I'm a little sad about that as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400456 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:21:41 +0000 blackbird 1400456@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey, if you have a power outage, you have no light by which you read your paper textbook, anyways :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400445 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:20:36 +0000 chopsuey 1400445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not a fan.<br /> What happens if we have a power outage?! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400435 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:18:54 +0000 blackbird 1400435@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it's great because it's a very affordable option and most kids are gearing towards digital everything. That being said, engineering doesn't lend itself towards digital textbooks, because I like to be able to write equations and notes and tag all my pages and stuff. How can you search for a mathematical equation? Oh, you can't. There are too many weird symbols. But if i have a post-it stuck onto the page with the symbol on it that i'm looking for, then i can just grab that and open it up. </p> <p>I think it works well for some subjects but poorly for others. I struggle with digital cookbooks, too, because i like to flip through them and my kindle is not as good for that.</p> <p>eta: this is the way the world is changing and our kids need to be on board, I suppose! And if they start at a young age with digital text, then it won't be some drastic change in learning for them, the way it would be for us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400392 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:13:01 +0000 .twist. 1400392@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: ah! That is awesome! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400358 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:05:56 +0000 Mrs. Oatmeal 1400358@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I like an actual print textbook, because I like to highlight and make notes.<br /> That being said, having digital textbooks probably would have saved me a whole lot of back pain lugging them around. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400337 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 10:59:07 +0000 LovelyPlum 1400337@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am a print person, mostly because I like to be able to keep the book as a reference. So that side of me isn't excited about e-books.</p> <p>On the other hand, I know that a lot of my students don't keep their textbooks, and those things can get pretty pricey. For many of my students, renting an e-book is a cost-effective way to get them to actually have the text that they're going to need for class. Otherwise, a lot of them won't buy it. Especially for non-majors, I don't think buying or renting an e-textbook is a bad option. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400336 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 10:58:47 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1400336@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@.twist.: there is :) with my iPad I can write notes or highlight any section in my textbook! I can also sort by past notes and skip to highlighted portions in my text book. I also love the search function, which helps make studying more efficient because I can find what I need to study right away. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400329 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 10:57:16 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1400329@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh, I should mention that I truly hope that elementary, middle and high schools don't switch to 100% digital learning. I think there is something sacred about printed text that should be preserved and passed on! I don't really want my child to learn to read on an iPad or kindle. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400326 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 10:56:16 +0000 .twist. 1400326@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree with you. Writing in textbooks helped me a lot. I wonder if they'll come out with a textbook like the kindle or something that you can write it? With a special pen? That'd be cool. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-feel-about-digital-textbooks#post-1400321 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 10:55:43 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1400321@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I felt the same as you for awhile... but this year I went with a digital textbook for one of my upper level biology classes. I have been hesitant but it's worked out well! The biggest thing for me is how much money I saved by getting the e-book version! My other bio class I am using an actual textbook, and I find it less convenient now because all I need to study my other class is my iPad since it's downloaded on there already. I am able to fit in reading in the most obscure spots where normally I wouldn't be lugging a huge textbook.</p> <p>Lastly, my husband is also a post-secondary educator and his school was the first in our state to switch 100% to iPads. Now with tuition, every student receives an iPad and purchases digital textbooks. All their homework is "apps". It has its ups and downs but my husband likes it. He finds it efficient and economic. </p>