When you are
driving home from work or school, do you notice students walking hunched over
and holding their backpacks up? Or the classic dragging of the backpack on the
ground? Textbooks are the main culprit for these students struggling to carry
the heavy load from a long day of learning at school. Many schools are
lightening the load in backpacks and not allowing books to be taken home, or
better yet, the use of digital textbooks; light as a feather that you can
access anywhere in the world.
Some people think that digital textbooks are
good, while others believe they are bad. According to education world digital textbooks can be beneficial because the
book will always be up to date. But can be bad because it can cause problems
with server problems at the school. For example, at the schools in Fairfax
County, school servers could not handle the massive digital load that the
online books were bringing. But once fixed, the digital textbooks worked well
and helped improve the student’s education experience.
Worldwide Center of Mathematics brings
up another pro and con of digital textbooks. Because digital textbooks do not
require paper, the cost is less to purchase the digital book compared to a
regular textbook. Many students are turning to digital books because of the
cost and also the accessibility to finding information quicker. But on the
other hand, because of digital textbooks, paper textbooks have decreased in
cost. Paper textbooks also give students the feeling and satisfaction of
turning a paper, jotting notes, and putting a ‘dog ear’ fold on important
pages.
According to
the Facultyenlight, one of the most beneficial
features of digital textbooks are the add-ons such as quizzes, practice tests, study
guides, etc. These features help students better understand the content and
prepares them for tests. On the other hand, students can be tempted to wander
from the digital textbook and go to Facebook, Twitter, or any other internet
game or social media website. This is very hard to control in the classroom
because students can switch screens in less than one second.
Lastly, the Chicago Tribune points out a major issue
with digital textbooks. They agree that digital textbooks can be good, but
points out the effects that it can have on the eyes. According to a study by
Indiana State University, students who use digital textbooks will more likely
suffer from computer vision syndrome, or eye strain caused by looking at the
technology for long periods of time. Some symptoms are eye strain, headaches, migraines,
and nausea. In the study, half the participants used digital textbooks, and the
other half used paper textbooks. Most of the students who used the digital
textbook experienced one or more of the symptoms.
In my opinion,
I am split. I take full advantage of the add-ons digital textbooks offer, but
paper textbooks sometimes have supplementary websites that go with the book. So
whether I’m using a digital or paper textbook, I will use what is offered. If I
read too long, I will experience the computer vision syndrome with any source
of textbook, so I am also split on that. But one of my favorite things about
paper textbooks is feeling the book in my hands, even if it is heavy. The satisfaction
of seeing how much I have read gives me confidence that I can read just as much
in my next textbook. I was raised on paper textbooks, but have been introduced
to digital textbooks within the past few years. I am learning and adapting to
the new and improving technology we have today, but I will still use a paper
textbook every now and then.
·
Chicago
Tribune- http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-07/features/ct-x-0807-college-kids-eyes-20130807_1_print-textbooks-digital-textbooks-computer-vision-syndrome
·
Education world-
http://www.educationworld.com/a_news/educators-explore-pros-and-cons-digital-textbooks-918163934
·
Worldwide
Center of Mathematics- http://bostinno.streetwise.co/channels/digital-vs-print-textbooks-a-pros-and-cons-list/
Do you think we'll be debating this in 20 years or so?
ReplyDeleteA lot of reference materials my partner uses for his job have gone digital. He says he misses paper because he had liked seeing what was "around" the topic he was looking up. He know the information he needed in interference was at a certain point of the book, after impedance and something else, and he doesn't have that type of context when he's searching digitally.