About eBooks in Schools
Separation anxiety exists in the minds of many when replacing traditional textbooks with eBooks, but schools that lack this innovation will be increasingly left behind. EBooks are affordable, up-to-date, light-weight and mobile: buy them once and update them forever. Standard textbooks are expensive, out-dated, and cumbersome. Omitting digital technology from schools is like preparing students for the space-age with a horse-and-buggy. Educators and parents need to anticipate students' futures by giving them access to and training them to use digital technologies. EBooks and their related technology enable students to take advantage of the Internet which is the future trend of work.
Other People Are Reading
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Future Impact
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Digital knowledge The first national all-electronic book or "eBook" classroom was installed in the Resurrection Catholic School in Dayton, Ohio with the goal to harness the use of digital technology in the classroom. The eBook classroom saves the school money on out-dated books and on the expense of paper. Students use eBook to create, assemble, send and receive documents, and to research and reference up-dated material. The classroom prototype employs a portable, electronic "reader" which is smaller and easier to use than a laptop.
Streamlining paperwork
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Ebooks reduce paperwork EBooks streamline paperwork in the classroom for both students and teachers. EBooks enable teachers to create an innovative curriculum from many diverse sources of current knowledge available on the Internet. The eBook system improves education because it affords a mobile and individualized learning experience. EBook reading devices like the Sony Reader hold up to 160 books, increase mobility and save paper and space.
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What About The Cost?
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eBooks are affordable and current When considering the cost of implementing eBooks in schools, the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, pointed out in 2008 that California set aside $350 million for updated, standard school books. The governor stated that even if teachers who use eBooks have to print material, it would still be more economical in the long run to use eBooks which are easily updated than replacing out-dated, printed textbooks regularly. EBooks ensure that students will not be studying out-dated information.
Paper vs. Paperless
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Paper vs. eBooks In 1998, a study published in the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society journal cited a drop in speed and accuracy and an increase in fatigue in students after reading a computer screen vs. a printed book. It also is surmised that editors prefer to proof-read from paper than a screen. Other concerns are that some students do not have computers at home and therefore lack consistent training and study and that students are unable to sit in front of a screen for long periods of time. Since that study, screen resolution and scrolling have vastly improved making screens easier and more enjoyable to read.
Children Adapt Better
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Children like eBooks Just as the baby boomers had to adjust from radio to TV, the current aging generation must adapt, however reluctantly, to the eBook. Children now growing up with computer technology as a staple are much more able to adapt to eBooks than adults. EBooks encourage a child's learning because the interactive nature of eBooks makes learning more fun, like playing a video game.
Clear Advantages
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eBooks give students the edge The advantages of eBooks in the classroom increase exponentially every year that technology continues to advance. EBooks in schools enable students to electronically bookmark and highlight information, perform keyword searches, have access to electronic mail, and link related resources on the web to a given topic.
Publishers must innovate
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Many of the major publishers of textbooks are wary of making the transition from the printed textbook to the eBook. They are concerned with retaining the digital rights to their books and managing piracy and the potential loss of print sales, especially the updated, printed versions of old textbooks. The future advantage to publishers of eBooks is that encryption and copy protection prevents piracy and also the competing printed, used, textbook market.
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- Photo Credit work in office image by salimar6 from Fotolia.com Children outdoors with laptops image by Marzanna Syncerz from Fotolia.com paperwork image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com books in dvd image by Yuriy Poznukhov from Fotolia.com Data image by Oleksiy Ilyashenko from Fotolia.com children image by Orlando Florin Rosu from Fotolia.com school bus image by Lombok from Fotolia.com
