This sentence is one I hear over and over. With eight classes to attend and only one knapsack it is no wonder something gets left behind. On top of that, textbooks add the most weight to the load and so I can hardly blame them for leaving them behind. While perusing articles about technology in the classroom I cam across a Maclean’s magazine article about the use of iPads and eReaders in the classroom. These lightweight, one stop devices make it simple for students to always have their textbooks handy. They lighten the load and ease the organization. I would love nothing more than for high schools to go this route as well.
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It is true that we ask the kids to carry a lot of stuff. Sometimes I joke with my students that they are moving in and out each day.
On another note- Do some of your kids textbooks come with a CD-rom version? When I was in high school (early 2000’s) some of my books would come with a digital version and I would just carry the cd’s to use on our laptops?
I’m actually not sure if they come with CD-roms, to be honest. I like the idea of using them but the ideal part of the iPad or eReader is the “one stop shop” and the lighter load of even a laptop. Our school is looking into this as the load is getting a bit heavy for our kids…I am very interested to see the benefit it would have and the new obstacles it may produce… “Miss, my iPad is out of battery life.”
Hi Christine,
I am so glad you mentioned the Maclean’s article and the value of iPads and eReaders in the classroom. For the first time, in my grade 10 English class, I have suggested that students purchase ebook copies of their ISU novels. Many students’ faces lit up, as they asked, “You mean I can read my book on my iPhone?” I said, “If your phones have that capability, then why not?” They certainly would be able to secure a copy of their ISU book choices far more quickly (within minutes on a Kobo, Kindle, or iReader) than to wait on an order from Amazon or Indigo/Chapters because their book choice is on back order (frequent dilemma of securing an ISU novel by a 15 year old). I would also like them to explore the capacity of their iReaders/eReaders in terms of highlighting and annotating.
It is already part of the reading practice to have students annotate their books and to prepare chapter notes while they read, but I somehow think, just as when they demonstrated enthusiasm for reading on an iPad, they might respond more favourably to notating important elements of a novel through the use of the same devices. Hopefully, they will be able to see, as you indicate in your post, the “ease of organization” in these devices.
This recent globe article had me reflecting on some similar ideas. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/in-a-digital-world-what-is-the-right-kind-of-reading/article4637037/
Do you think it the platform change will impact the depth at which they read?
Hi Justin, Sally, Marcie and Christine,
I really like the article that Justin provided, and I’ve done some work with Robert at Crescent and he is a very thoughtful teacher on this topic. Justin brings us this article and the idea that “As soon as I assign my students a piece of reading, they begin searching for Web-based shortcuts. They read biographies on authors, commentaries on style and context, explanations of themes and conflicts. Just the sort of thing I want to be doing with them, but they beat me to it.” This goes back to Christine’s earlier post about engaging with the technology and leveraging it.
This would be a great pathway to explore further with peers in the Cohort – how does reading digitally change the nature of understanding what is being read. Marshall McLuhan once said “the medium is the message”, and this article argues for a different approach: http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/kindling-the-classroom/22949
I look forward to more on this thread! I hope Tim Hutton, our Teacher-Librarian at RSGC chimes in!
Justin,
I’m really not sure to be honest with you. I do hope that the platform does not change the depth. To me, the depth stems from where the teachers leads the students and the thought provoking questions that accompany reading. But above all, depth is found by a reader who is engaged and interested. My hope is that by having so many reading selections available at their finger tips that students dive in head first. One bonus of this digital age is that it does prevent the problem of a novel being sold out or already borrowed from the library.
I have a couple of disparate thoughts on these topics. I have to say I am all for getting rid of the hard cover textbook and replacing them with digital versions, whatever the platform. I would go beyond that to argue that the classic textbook, whether in print or in digital, is undesirable as a learning tool. Rob Beamish, a sociology professor at Queen’s, has some interesting thoughts on the form of the textbook .
One of Beamish’s arguments is that textbooks, by their nature, do not permit deep exploration of a topic. He argues for exploration of fewer topics in greater depth. This might fly in the face of the sentiments expressed in the Globe article. I appreciate the skill of skimming, but I do not look favourably on it becoming the dominant strategy in English studies or any other discipline. Students might be able to manage to meet the needs of the curriculum this way, but something much more important might be missing.
Keith Oatley, a U of T Psych prof, and others, have researched the impact reading fiction has on personality. In one recent study a group read a short story by Chekhov while a control group read a factual account of the same story. Both groups were administered various tests and measurements of personality and emotion. The group reading the literature reported greater changes to scores over the two tests. This is pretty initial research in this area, but it suggests there might be a measurable impact on a person when they read fiction. If you do a search on Oatley you can find his stuff pretty easily.
The question again seems to be what is lost when we adopt new learning strategies and give up the old ones?
A library specific comment – while I have not experimented with this much I know many of my t-l colleagues have started building e-book collections using services like Overdrive. It seems to be quite popular at some schools. If you do not know about these services you may want to ask your librarian colleague!