Are digital books for students going to save the failing schools?

"When a student reads a textbook and gets to something they don't know, they are stuck," Genachowski said. "Working with the same material on a digital textbook, when they get to something they don't know, the device can let them explore, it can show them what a word means, how to solve a math problem that they couldn't figure out how to solve." Gee...I'm pretty sure you can do that with regular books, too. :o) I think digital books are great, and are usually less expensive, but not everyone can afford a tablet or e-reader, and it will add to costs if the school chooses to supply them. **** Yeah...the incidence of loss would be a factor, too. A textbook is more likely to be returned than a tablet, if left behind. An iPad would just disappear.

As a student in a high school that seems to be running out of money, I think it's a really great *idea*. We have ONE, yes ONE, textbook for our P.R.E lessons, one textbook for 200 pupils.... And we're meant to learn how? These electronic text books would be cheaper to buy. However, who is buying the tablet for the books, does the pupil hand the "book" back in? Or are the books being re-bought year in, year out. Who fixes the tablets when they fail? If you forget this tablet... how many classes worth of textbooks are you going to have no books for that day? I like to doodle in my books, highlight things, I like to be able to lob said book across the room or drop it and not worry about something breaking. That said, I pay for half of the price of a book if I make notes in it. I bought my own copies of Animal Farm, of mice and men and 1984 so I could write in them. Real books are much easier to use when referencing things, flicking though and gauging what has been read. I'll stick to paper textbooks for now.

Technology is not the one-button answer to all life's problems. When technology fits seamlessly into what we were already doing with our lives, it's a fantastic HELP (never replacement). When technology is bought just for its fanciness and promises, it's usually a huge effing mistake and waste of money. That goes for anyone, anywhere, not just education. Many businesses make similar mistakes of hoping that a technology will fix their woes. Only the RIGHT technology applied in the RIGHT way within an existing RIGHT framework and plan will ever work out. Period.

may save some failing backs. i doubt it would "save" anything else. i am a little wary of overreliance on "interactive learning" if what that means is a loss of any opportunities to sit down and actually read something without bells and whistles (though i don't think whether one is reading a traditional book or an e-book matters at all). i have this worrying vision of future textbooks being sesame-street-ized for the attentionally-challenged, with so many hyperlinks and graphics and games and so on that nobody ever develops the skills to sit down and just read one thing for half an hour. but i can see that besides making backpacks lighter, digital books would make getting updated textbooks to students much easier, and might possibly lead to long-term financial savings (though presumably short-term financial pain). i am frankly clueless about the economics of it in terms of how long it would be expected to take to recoup start-up costs for something like that. i know my district is just starting to talk about digital textbooks, and our superintendant is trying to make a case that it's economically a good idea in the long run. i reserve the right to make up my mind after i've heard more numbers. **probably it's a good lesson for the 17-year-old to mow a few lawns to make up for it. the damage issue is more of a concern in my mind for very young kids. i would hope that any plan that required e-readers would also come along with some hefty insurance coverage if it was for that age group.

It will save money and make it possible for even poor schools to always have the updated edition instead of a history book that ends with JFK. Kids will have to be taught how to take care of the e-readers just like they were taught in the past to take care of their paper books ... and charged for damaged. They make really tough cases to put those in too. E-readers inside a good case may even be more durable than paper text books. IMO it's just annoying when old fogies have to ***** about any new technology. It's just like when your great grandparents wouldn't have a microwave because they thought the radiation would eat their brains. Btw, the cheapest Kindle actually costs less than what schools pay for a single hard backed textbook.

Well I think a teenager is old enough to not break his computer and would learn not to break the schools Kindles too. All those books - think of how many trees are cut down to make them, how much damage that can do to the environment...and think of how heavy they are to carry around. If you could eliminate everything in your briefcase but a kindle and some paper and pencils wouldn't you do it? Also changes to the books can be easily implemented with a "update" .......new information can be added to the books as they happen. A valuable tool for social sciences and political science students. A lot can be said for digital books - it helps the environment- it helps students - it keeps the students informed of up to date information.