Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
School Replaces Textbooks With Kindles
I don't see this happening on a mass scale in K-12 education. College-level, yes; K-12, no. I notice the reporter didn't mention any of the difficulties the school has had with issuing Kindles....
I don't remember if it was you or another person who posted on a program to issue computers to high school students..and it didn't help improve scores and also the computes were damaged or lost/stolen (to be found later in pawn shops)....
So you guys imagine that in 20 years, students will still be lugging around a pack of individually bound, paper-based textbooks?
Really?
The Kindle is a kludge. Wiser schools will adopt iPads. So much more powerful than Kindles or textbooks. Families will opt in with a contractual obligation that will keep the iPads functional (and out of pawn shops) throughout their high school years. During the transitional phase (maybe as long as five years), paper and electronic books will be options. It's not really rocket science here.
The thing is, iPads can do so much more than textbooks that textbook content will be thought of as a trivial aspect of its functionality.
I'm surprised you don't see the inevitability of this. It seems pointless to decry it; it's going to happen. I'm sure there were naysayers and glitches during the implementation of chalkboards, too. Nevertheless...
In California, it's illegal to charge for books--or even to require deposits for books. What do you do for people who move? That's a bigger issue in schools than a non-teacher might think.
If we were smart, we'd go back to small books, not these monstrosities filled with unrelated pictures. Cheap and effective, and capable of surviving being dropped.
If the book gets some water damage, you can charge $20 and the book is still useful. If the Kindle gets water damage, you have to charge $200 for a new one. That seems excessive.
If you lose an AP textbook, you pay $150. For one book. That may seem excessive, but it's reality. Good incentive to be careful with that book. Losing a Kindle would be equivalent to losing all your textbooks.Compared to replacing the whole set, replacing the Kindle is cheap.
"If you lose it, it's cheaper than replacing all your books" doesn't strike me as a good argument in favor of switching to electronics--at least not until students are required to provide *their own* Kindle.
Darren
ReplyDeleteI don't remember if it was you or another person who posted on a program to issue computers to high school students..and it didn't help improve scores and also the computes were damaged or lost/stolen (to be found later in pawn shops)....
why do I see this a repeat here
Because it's a logical conclusion.
ReplyDeleteSo you guys imagine that in 20 years, students will still be lugging around a pack of individually bound, paper-based textbooks?
ReplyDeleteReally?
The Kindle is a kludge. Wiser schools will adopt iPads. So much more powerful than Kindles or textbooks. Families will opt in with a contractual obligation that will keep the iPads functional (and out of pawn shops) throughout their high school years. During the transitional phase (maybe as long as five years), paper and electronic books will be options. It's not really rocket science here.
The thing is, iPads can do so much more than textbooks that textbook content will be thought of as a trivial aspect of its functionality.
I'm surprised you don't see the inevitability of this. It seems pointless to decry it; it's going to happen. I'm sure there were naysayers and glitches during the implementation of chalkboards, too. Nevertheless...
In California, it's illegal to charge for books--or even to require deposits for books. What do you do for people who move? That's a bigger issue in schools than a non-teacher might think.
ReplyDeleteIf we were smart, we'd go back to small books, not these monstrosities filled with unrelated pictures. Cheap and effective, and capable of surviving being dropped.
Can you charge students for damaging or losing books? Yes you can.
ReplyDeleteIf the book gets some water damage, you can charge $20 and the book is still useful. If the Kindle gets water damage, you have to charge $200 for a new one. That seems excessive.
ReplyDeleteIf you lose an AP textbook, you pay $150. For one book. That may seem excessive, but it's reality. Good incentive to be careful with that book. Losing a Kindle would be equivalent to losing all your textbooks.Compared to replacing the whole set, replacing the Kindle is cheap.
ReplyDelete"If you lose it, it's cheaper than replacing all your books" doesn't strike me as a good argument in favor of switching to electronics--at least not until students are required to provide *their own* Kindle.
ReplyDeleteAs Gavin's comment is directly related to the subject of this post, I'll consider it non-spam.
ReplyDelete