Static, Dead-Tree or Dynamic, Engaging-Blog 3

Yet another new wave in technology (has everyone polished their digital surfboards recently?) are digital textbooks. They come in many forms and have many features and, as with any other new technology, there are advantages and disadvantages to each. But before we go there, let's take a look at student attitudes on the issue.

Student Attitudes

• Students are anxious to move away from "expensive, heavy, dead-tree textbooks." ("Connecticut Teachers 'Bring Physics to Life,' Provide Students with 'Clearer Understanding" from LexisNexis Academic)
• For reasons of "novelty or interactivity," students surveyed prefer digital textbooks ("Paperless Learning"http://www.edutopia.org/paperless-learning).
• One student claims that she "has a short attention span" and "pages of boring text-- it's not interactive enough." ("Paperless Learning")
• However, the same student admits that she would miss books if they disappeared entirely.

Features

Some digital textbooks, like Kinetic Books, have (LexisNexis Article):

• course-long, computer-based text
• automated homework
• interactive simulations (hundreds of them) and animations (thousands of them)
• hours of audio and video
• standards-based text and curriculum

Some digital textbooks, like those developed by Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFBD), have:("Digital Textbooks"http://www.edutopia.org/digital-textbooks)

• computerized text files linked with digitally recorded sound files
• the ability to be distributed over the Internet or on CD-Rom
• "text being read in natural, human voice" rather than synthetic
• "advanced searching and navigation capabilities of computerized 'E-Text' books"

Advantages

• Students with disabilities can learn better from digital textbooks with audio features than with print-based textbooks. ("Digital Textbooks")
• Standards-based curriculum makes it easier for teachers to "fit in" these resources. (LexisNexis).
• Digital textbooks (roughly $25 a student) are typically less than one third of the cost of standard textbooks ($100+ a student). (LexisNexis)
• One teacher says, it engages his students in ways a standard textbook cannot. (LexisNexis)
• Students build better problem-solving skills because of their interactions with the text. (LexisNexis)
• Digital textbooks lend themselves to different learning styles. (LexisNexis)
• Digital textbooks allow students to form a better connection with the content than static textbooks would. (LexisNexis)
• Digital textbook quizzes and homework give students immediate feedback on how they did and provide students with the opportunity to retry. ("Paperless Learning")
• Automated grading saves teachers hours of grading time. ("Paperless Learning")
• When students are working with these "texts" in class, the teacher is free to graze and monitor progress rather than being tied up with lecture. ("Paperless Learning")
• According to one teacher, using digital textbooks in the classroom yields a situation where, "It's a classroom environment where they're leading the charge and the teacher is guiding that learning." ("Paperless Learning")

Disadvantages (many subject to opinion and debate)

• INERTIA and RESISTANCE TO CHANGE on the teacher's behalf is the largest deterrent for digital textbooks (not just digital textbooks, but technology in general, I'd say). ("Paperless Learning")
• Digital textbooks raise the concern that we are requiring that much more time where students are glued to a screen instead of a book. This raises concern both because we are raising student dependence on computer-based learning in place of text and also because prolonged periods of computer time have been shown to cause physical issues (see my future blog on CVS). But one student's response was that she'd be online doing something else if it wasn't this. ("Paperless Learning")
• To develop these textbooks is an "enormous project" that takes considerable time and most textbook companies aren't yet willing to make that leap. ("Paperless Learning")
• The interactivity of these textbooks is more crucial for certain content areas than others (according to some), for example, math and science. ("Paperless Learning")
• Programs that use synthetic speech are more difficult for students with dyslexia and hearing impairments to understand. Moreover, the audio features of these digital textbooks are incapable of "reading" graphics to students that need that support (but how is that any different from a standard textbook?). ("Digital Textbooks")

What's the Issue Here?

There are several issues that digital textbooks attempt to be the solutions for, the most important of which are:

• addressing different types of learners, including students with disabilities
• engaging digital natives
• integrating technology in a meaningful way

What're We Gonna Do?

By using digital textbooks, we are encouraging students to self-regulate, self-motivate and self-learn, which are all skills that we are trying to foster in this age where self-direction is the key to professional survival. Similarly, as one teacher pointed out, it promotes problem-solving skills, not only a key objective for standardized testing but also a critical skill for day-to-day life. Moreover, multiple intelligences, such as visual learners and spatial learners, benefit from these types of interactions and demonstrations. Additionally, it becomes easier for students to reevaluate unclear concepts by reenacting demos and animations.

Harnessing technology in this way, brings information to students in a format that they like and are becoming increasingly familiar with. Digital natives (our students) are accustomed to constant saturation of stimuli and an "old-fashioned textbook" only comes at them with one stagnant page at a time. Therefore, digital textbooks minimize the divide between how students are used to retrieving information and how it is presented in schools.

As reflective educators, we are constantly looking for new, meaningful ways to integrate technology in the classroom. This approach not only engages students but also it does so for a fraction of the cost of its soon-to-be outdated predecessor. Moreover, because digital textbooks can be revised and reissued, they become obsolete far less often than standard textbooks.