At one point, e-books seemed to be the wave of the future. But in 2006 publishers are still trying to figure out how best to market them and make them a viable alternative to the traditional paper-bound book. One area where they felt this could be accomplished was through the use of e-textbooks. Any college student knows that textbooks are expensive and have a low resale value, which makes them a poor investment for an equally poor student. E-textbooks allowed students to cut down on the cost, as well of the bulk, of a traditional book. Why, then, are they not a more popular form of study?

CNN ran a story this week that addressed the criticisms college students have of this type of technology. At the same time that publishers are loosening their restrictions on e-textbooks, students are realizing that they do not compare to having a physical book to highlight, mark up, or otherwise annotate in order to wrench its secrets out of it.

It is surprising to e-textbook publishers that in an age where students are going digital for practically every other aspect of their lives, they are not warming up to accessing their textbooks in the same way. A representative of Houghton Mifflin who was intervired in the CNN article attributes this to students’ being conservative about anything that affects their grades. It may also be a case of students simply not being aware of the availability of an e-text.

This is a form of tachnology that has its uses, publishers just need to find out what users require of this form of text. It must be more than a simple electronic version of the printed page. E-textbooks that are more interactive can have obvious uses in science classrooms, allowing students to view processes as they read about them. Links to outside sources for further information can help students with research, and a humanities e-textbook can incorporate music, art, and other creative formats within the “text.”

E-textbooks, although they have been around for some time now, are still in their nascent stage and may yet catch on as the tool of choice for college students. As someone who is doing an entire degree online, I’ve found the availability of e-texts on the internet to be invaluable for time and cost effectiveness. With the growth of PDAs, wireless access and other new technology, e-textbooks may still have their day. It seems to be a matter of one form of technology catching up with another.

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Check out the techLEARNING blog for cutting edge information about technology and teaching. The article titled “Laptops are 21st Century Pencils” has some interesting insights into different methods being used to integrate laptops into schools as a learning tool.

There is one site referenced in that article that I would like to point you toward. It is called epals and it offers tools for educators to increase communication through technology. They focus on safe methods for students to interact with others through email, blogs, book clubs and a mentoring program that connects students to various local businesses. There are many tools for teachers to use in the classroom and it includes a forum where teachers can share ideas and projects or find support in the confusing world of digital technology. Epals and edublogs both have safe and easy to use blogging tools to incorporate in the classroom. I am going to set one up for my next unit on existentialism in my honors Humanities class to allow students to share ideas and support each other.

Anyone else using blogs or other technology tools in their classrooms? How successful has it been?

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It seems like a viable position. If you can’t beat them, join them. This district is using the iPods and other mp3 players to deliver vocabulary homework, ESL and foreign language assignments, and other language based activities. While they admit it’s too early in the program to determine if it is successful or not, they give the impression that the students are reacting positively to this new approach.

Then there is the opposite approach. A school district in Sydney, Australia has banned the use of iPods and mp3 players in school because they feel it leads to social isolation. By tuning into their music, kids are tuning out everything around them, including teachers, classmates, and announcements. Students claim it helps them to focus, but the district felt that the safety and communication concerns were more pressing issues.

I can appreciate both sides of this issue. Too often, I see students walking through school, or even in class, listening to iPods and not paying attention to anything around them. In my own classroom I am continually telling students to take out their ear buds when they are supposed to be participating in a discussion. I don’t know that I support a ban per se, but the students have to know when and where it is appropriate to use this technology. That is where I think using the technology as a learning tool may help. Apple has introduced a program called iPod in the Classroom that offers lesson plans, resources and ideas for integrating iPods into education.

Allowing the iPods in the classroom could be a compromise that actually favors teachers. The students have them anyway, now they will be responsible for using them to learn instead of simply listening to music.

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