Re: Textbooks?

As for me, I have taken classes online without text books and taken classes with text books. At work all of our technicial documents are on soft copy. When studying new technicial doc's you can print out the most relevent parts as needed, it is cumbersome on softcopy but workable. Keeping a flash drive with the needed info is what I do to access my materials quickly. For children, this might be tough if the readig levels are not up to par.

Re: Textbooks?

Based on "Ev's" comment, it is obvious that more and more workplaces
will use "flash drives" as e-books. As LPS gets into EeePCs with open
USB ports each student can take what was done in school, with e-books,
as well as any completed assignments. This is the way of the future in a global economy and society.

Making this transition from softcopy to flash drives needs to be backed-up. The pilot classrooms with Eee PCs using flash drives v. pencil and paper means mastering a keyboard. And where students can use
open USB ports at a library, at home and even at an eating place.
Remember, there are many "off-line" times to do an assignment and put it on a flash drive stick.

An Eee PC with a solar panel on its top to recharge rechargeable batteries in the PC is a way to have back-up when the power line sytem
goes down.

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I, as a student, think that online text books are apsolutely AMAZING!!! They make my life so much easier!! Yet, i also like having the option of an online text book and the printed version is also really nice. That way when i forget to bring my book home i can easily go to the online one, but i find that i like to look at my tex book in class, if we eliminate the printed text book then i wouldn't be able to.

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I agree with the earlier comments, but much of literature does not change with time and is intended to be reflective for relevancy to our day based on knowledge from the past And, taking the time to enjoy a good piece of literature with hard copy is enjoyable and not just part of an assignment--i.e. many of the classics.

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As a student and an educator, I like the idea of online textbooks. I do have a concern for the, larger than realized, group of families that do not have computers or internet access in their homes. Also, if all textbooks went online, that would require that students have more access to computers within the classroom. Three to five computers in a class of 20 plus would not be sufficient.

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As a visual spacial learner parent, I think on line learning is another source for learning, however having a text book allows a student to see the material and reference it as they go through the class chapters/lessons. For example, my daughter's math book provides excellent examples of the problems covered in the math lesson, pictures & graphics help reinforce the lesson, and review summaries are great to gleen the material covered within the entire chapter. On the other hand, her basic 9th grade science class has no book. She has work sheets, and on-line materias/lessons she needs to cover. There is no big picture of what the class is trying to teach. Her labs don't seem to follow the work sheets and I'm trying to determine if she is getting chemistry, physics, or earth science as core knowledge? I'm not sure if this is the result of an on line approach or lack of a documented outline of here they are going?
Textbook - When possible provide a book to all students who request one (9th grade biology gives you a DVD, unless you have an amazing teacher who will give you the book too).
Textbook size - purchase a book series which covers the course ( 3 small books are easier on the back to carry, rather than one 25 lb. book, which takes a beating when dropped)

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I agree, overall, with the previous comments. I support e-book solutions as this is method our children will work with in their future.

One thought to add. I have a journalism degree. In my editing classes, I learned our eye/brain compensates for the CPU screen flicker. As part of this adjustment an editor can often miss some details.

I wonder if there are other studies which show complications we should be considering with e-book learning? Perhaps some subjects would be less applicable to e-books then others?

Again, I support the move to electronic textbooks. I just think it would be wise to make sure the research is done prior to making a move.

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Textbook or novel... it's never good to snuggle up with a good computer on rainy evening!

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students are taught at the third grade level to use a keyboard. you would be surprised if you went into any school and saw the abilities of kids and keyboards. it is very impressive. how about making the books the schools already own available at school. have a company scan books and make it available online or through a flash drive. this would get students through the transition and make both options available. what would be the cost to scan a book and purchase rights to the scanning to make books available online or through flash drives?

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Online textbooks are great as a backup. However, my children have commented that they still need hard books. They use their books to study at lunch time, off periods, in the car in the morning to review and even sometimes in other classes if they have completed their work in that class and have down time. Hardcovers should not be taken away unless all students have laptops with them all day. Otherwise we have taken away the ability of the students to utilize their down time if they can't get to a computer. Just like we are not a paperless society yet, we are not even close to being a bookless society, either.

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When the online world was being developed, the prediction by 'experts' was that public libraries and bookstores would be in severe decline by 2000. Here we are in 2008 and the public libraries in Littleton are more than busy and more bookstores being built.

Although having access online is great - just as the previous writer inputted, having a hard-bound book to use to study in a car, during lunch or in the car on the way to/from school. A blended world is what we are now and will likely continue to be.

One aspect to all of this that the school district could implement immediately is ceasing to print ANY communication between the school and parents and forcing parents to go online to read the information. Our family would be thrilled to not see so much paper coming home!

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I think any move away from "real books" is a mistake. Yes, it's wonderful if your child forgets his textbook at school that there is a backup plan, but the thought of my kids staring at a computer screen for hours instead of holding a book in their hands troubles me. The argument that we don't need textbooks because technology is going the way of e books is for me right up there with "you don't need to know cursive because you'll be typing on a keyboard" and "you don't need to know math because you'll always have a calculator". I'm with SJK, a book in the hand is worth so much more than an eyeball exhausting computer monitor.

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Now I do agree with Samantha that I'd love to see less paper coming home....my dining room table is full of papers that I can't throw away because I haven't put the relevant info onto my calendar yet. LOL I'd miss soooooo much more than I do now if I was "forced" to go online to get the info. Much easier on me and the diningroom table, but my kids might be mad. The school website isn't the first thing i log onto every day, ya know?

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What happened to the importance of interacting with the text itself? It's so important for learners to be able to highlight or annotate what they've read so they may go back to it to clarify their responses and thoughts. The bottom line is that students need to learn old skills and usher in new ones, just like I have as a student and educator. Could you imagine a world where the written word is obsolete and exists only on a screen? I hope that day never comes--I love my tablets and post-it's too much!

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take out the apostrophe on it's, eeek!

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Yes yes and yes! I would love online textbooks! First of all I would be much happier without carrying heavy textbooks around. Also, if I forget it at school then I'm most likely doomed unless I can go back to school and grab it out of my locker. Last, a classroom wouldn't run out of books and make people share ( which is sometimes not always fun). Thanks!

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Theoretically sounds good. However, I agree with those who remind us that not everyone has online access, and I don't want ANYONE on the computer all the time. We study at the library - and I do not want to purchase a laptop on top of everything else, just so we can access "books" at the library. Before you tell me I can use a library computer, please remember there are time limits and you can't generally partner to study at a computer at the library.
I would be more willing to pay for copies of the textbooks to keep at home and prevent backpack strain, than to move to online books. Enough with the technology for now!

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.... but an online, backup copy would be welcome for those forgetful days when you really wish you could get in your locker after hours!

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Geesh.... and just trying to type a comment here, the LPS Web site tells me Web page has expired.... I don't think this is the best idea... maybe as an option, but not as the only offering. I had three new eyeglass Rx's in one year, due to monitor overuse, and we're on the computer, typing too much already. I don't think this has much to do with the global economy, either - there are a ton of "up and coming" trends around the world that I hope we can pass on.

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My son and I were just discussing whether he would ever get the chance to have all of his textbooks loaded onto a Kindle or some other reader. I think it would be wonderful - reduce paper use, reduce the weight of backpacks, allow for easier updates.

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If the spiral notebook was made into a 70 page Microsoft word document (with the same margins) filled with AAAAAAAA.... and so on and so on until it reached the end (not going over the 70th page) on a font size equivalent with wide ruled and college ruled equivalent font sizes how much space would it take in terms of bytes?

multiply the answer by 4 and then multiply the product by 8 and you have a estimate on the computer size of a digitized note book for high school hopefully it isn't a TB. Im having an idea obviously on digitizing the notebook
(sorry MAJ) not for putting it in a computer but making a computer out of it. but I can see some criticisms with it

(Battery life or plug in?)
(cost cost and cost)
(handwriting becomes vestigial to information age?)
so far i can only answer two of these and I'm pretty sure their are a lot more arguments against this...
cost: costs concerning technology are deflationary over time as long as Moore's law still applies. maybe the late 70s(this century)
vestigial handwriting: I'm thinking of putting Nintendo DS touch screen/touch pen(with electronic eraser) in this so you can write.but then I'll need to put in the paper lines so people could write ( and no more font.)I'm still thinking on this.... maybe it won't work. maybe it'll be too bulky with what I'm thinking here maybe it will be too fragile I don't know...