Hellobee Boards

I agree it probably depends on how you were raised,.

I still prefer to print documents at work when reviewing so I can write on them and highlight stuff on paper rather than doing it on the computer!

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.

@.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.

I like an actual print textbook, because I like to highlight and make notes.
That being said, having digital textbooks probably would have saved me a whole lot of back pain lugging them around.

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.

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.

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.

@chopsuey, if you have a power outage, you have no light by which you read your paper textbook, anyways

@blackbird: candles!
plus we can read during the day!

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.

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.

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?

I don't think it's going to mess up kids in any way.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ETA: In 2004, Pluto was still a planet!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I LOVE how real books feel and smell.

@Mrs. J: I don't think iPads are the best educational tools. I think we need ereaders/tablets that are purely designed for education.

@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.

Basically I think a lot of improvements could be made to a tablet/ereader to make it a better educational tool.

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!