Should students’ textbooks be replaced by laptops? One study done by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) found that 77% of K-12 teachers found technology to "increase student motivation to learn”. Laptops should replace textbooks because they're more Eco friendly, cost less in the long run and are easier for students to carry. Laptops are significantly more Eco friendly. The number of trees cut down annually for the production of books sold in the U.S. was estimated at 30 million in 2008. That is a ridiculous amount of trees to go into something with such an easy alternative. Replacing textbooks would not only benefit the students, but they would have a huge effect on the environment. Laptops cost less in the long run. The
In addition, textbooks are heavy to carry around and it takes longer to find a page. Likewise with digital textbooks they are compatible with tablets, smartphones, and laptops; it’s much easier to carry around and affordable price. However, some people may argue that digital textbooks can be a distraction for people because they would not bother read anymore. The author and poet Dana Gioia argues that electronics alternatives may be a bad influence that will lead society to not read anymore. Gioia complicates matters further when she writes, “While no single activity is responsible for the decline in reading, the cumulative presence and availability of electronic alternatives increasingly have drawn Americans away from reading” (161). I think Gioia is mistaken because she overlooks on electronics being a bad influence; but doesn’t see the benefits of electronics. To demonstrate, most of my textbooks are digital, which I can easily carry my tablet around where ever I go. Also, I save more money on digital textbooks and are simple to annotated the text. Journalist Ellen Lee interview a student from Liberty University, and he states that he prefers digital textbooks because he can tap his iPad, opens the digital copy and quickly open the page. Nevertheless, he also like digital textbooks because it has a feature that allows to highlight and mark the
Media technology is helpful in so many ways; on the other hand, it can be disruptive too. In the article “Why I Just Asked My Students to Put Their Laptops Away,” Professor Clay Shirky claims that students are not able to focus on the lesson and easily get distracted with their laptops, leading him to ban the use of technology devices in his classroom. Similarly, in article “Our Photoshopping Disorder,” fashion reporter Erin Cunningham addresses the topic about the use of photoshopped images in advertisements creating unrealistic standards causing harm to people’s health and well-being. Both article oppose the bad habits that people get by using media technology. Shirky and Cunnignham completely agree in their assessment
However, computers do have some downsides. Basic arithmetic and correcting spelling and grammar are less important to students that have software that virtually does these tasks for you. “…Drilling addition and subtraction in an age of calculators is a waste of time...If we do, then drilling reading in an age of multimedia is a waste of time can’t be far behind” (David Gelernter, p. 187). Children are less likely to read as much. If you see a Shakespeare book next to a laptop, most kids these days are going to choose to pickup the laptop without second guessing it. Computers can also be
...are huge and heavy. Online textbooks have answers and if they don’t have them the student can easily find the answer book online. Some online textbooks cost money. Are student now going to have to pay for their own textbooks especially in public schools? It may save the school some money but cot a whole lot more to families who can’t afford it. There has been no research what so ever to prove that having online textbooks makes you smarter than having hand held textbooks.
In the readings of Everything’s an Argument, Per the text, “ …eliminating physical books from college campuses would be a positive step for our 21st century students...” (14). I must disagree with the idea that all eliminating paper course materials would be a step forward for future students. Personally, I like having paper books and other course materials because I enjoy the break from electronics. When a person reads on electronics consistently, it can damage their eyes or cause other health for the students.
Classrooms today are much different than classrooms 50 years ago. Classes today are much more technology oriented than they were in the past. High schools are now loaning students their own personal chromebook to carry till the end of the year. High school students should be required to carry chromebooks. Students should be required to carry chromebooks because it is more efficient in classrooms, it gives students a sense of responsibility, and it gives all students the same resources to be successful.
Along with these problems, some professors demand a specific edition of textbooks, which would cost hundreds of dollars more than the older version, and the only difference students can find is the physical appearance of the books. The California Student Public Interest Research Group published a study in 2004 that found new editions cost 58 percent more than older editions and newer editions are not that different from previous editions (PresslerE01). Therefore, expenses on text books must be reduced as it has a direct effect on students’ performance. In addition, it can be accessible anywhere at any time, so, students shouldn’t carry heavy textbooks all the time.
Paper has officially been replaced with iPads. Just kidding, but there are over 1.5 million iPads that are being used in classrooms by students on a daily bases rather than using printed textbooks as main learning resources (Graduating With Technology). With recent advancements in technology, many school districts have turned the focus off traditional learning methods of using textbooks, and are now focusing on integrating the use of tablets and computers as the main means of learning for students. Technology is going to continue to advance throughout this digital age and is going to gain popularity within education, but there are questions arising of how effective technology is when used in the classroom. The opportunity of using new technology to enhance learning should be seized, but textbooks should not become extinct within the education system or become a secondary learning method due to tablets and other types of technology becoming more popular in the education system. Textbooks are reliable, they can be used by anyone, and there are enough textbooks for each student to have their own, and be able to take them home. Also, technology is impacting the way the brain receives information. Reading digital print isn't as productive for readers as printed text, and there is limited access to resources needed for tablets to be effective when used by students. While this is true there are benefits to using tablets and other forms of technology in the classroom. It is easier for teachers to have assignments emailed directly to them, or post assignments on the internet, the use of technology is required in many core classes, and textbooks are easily worn, and expensive.
As more people began to access the Internet through smart phones and tablets rather than laptops and computers, it is not a surprise that they would also want to transform the American education system by bringing tablets into classrooms. In fact, a few schools around the country have already replaced textbooks with tablets and have seen improvements in students’ standardized test scores. Using tablets instead of textbooks is not only convenient and helpful, but it can also reduce the amount of paper wastes in school. However, it is not a good idea to completely transform textbooks with tablets with the current technology, for it can not only be damaging to the environment and costly to set up, but also might not be effective in improving K-12 education in the long run.
However, I still want to stand on my opinion, I think e-book is better than printed book even more students prefer using printed books. I know using a e-book for long time may be harmful for people’s eyes, and the device may not support enough power for them to read books, but I more care about the advantages of e-book. An e-book is obviously cheaper than printed book, and it brings a lot of convenience into my study life. The most important thing is using an e-book is saving the earth resources. I believe that e-books will be more and more popular, and then replace using printed books in the
We all know technology is changing everyday. As laptops are becoming more popular in today 's society, especially in a college classroom setting, professors have noticed more and more students with their faces engaged on the computer screen and not the lecture. There have been recent studies that show in classroom use of laptops can affect students and their learning. Should the use of laptops be banned in the classroom?
Getting educated is one of the most important things in life when it comes to getting a good future. By developing good knowledge of schooling, it helps establish and maintain new information as needed throughout the real world. As books are one the essential tools in learning, eBooks are being used in a everyday lifestyle. Traveling to get away places from city life, helps give reading a comforting feel. Students that use print books are eventually going to use ebooks in the future. By educating students with ebooks, it is more efficient than carrying textbooks; ebooks is more convenient and reliable to read, write and store notes. Print books are being replaced by eBooks, it helps on keeping files together and it makes notes
To conclude, there are many distinguished advantages that e-books have over traditional paper books, as e-books are lightweight, portable and hence convenient to carry, have greater update capacity, have greater storage capacity, easily accessible through online downloading as well as being environmental friendly (with saving trees). With ongoing technological development of ebooks, there have since been many added functionality for ebooks (rotational screen, hyperlink, split screen) with even many more functionality to be developed in the near future.
The CEO of Viacom/Blockbuster was once quoted for saying, “The information superhighway is a dirt road that won’t be paved over until 2025” (The Freeman Institute). Obviously, this was an erroneous quote. The information age is currently at its peak. The use of technology and the Internet are an essential part of higher education. In the past few years, colleges have begun providing laptops to all students. A few colleges have even developed programs that use wireless network cards to access the Internet from anywhere on their campuses. Giving students a laptop and a wireless network card has increased the learning possibilities at schools nationwide. This is a very recent idea being practiced by hundreds of colleges around the United States. However, this idea is one of controversy. Despite the many benefits, these laptops have their flaws. They create problems such as maintenance efforts, depreciation value, classroom misuse, faculty training, and raised tuition (Beebe 2-8). Another issue is whether or not the laptops actually benefit the students or just distract them.
According to Sasson (2005), there are many positive impacts of e-book. One of them is environmentally friendly. Compare to printed books which consume a lot of paper pulp which used up many woods, e-books do not required any papers which could save more trees and as well keep the environment to continue green. Furthermore, e-books can also be printed too. For those people who prefer to use traditional way to read books, they can easily print them with home printer or simply to go printing station nearby.