Personally, I do not find e-books useful to study from. I find it harder to concentrate on what I am reading and often find it hard to relocate or summarize the information later. It is even harder to take notes. E-books take up more time and energy than simply reading from a textbook. As the article states, "the process of locating information takes longer, they have less energy or other tasks, and their ability to maintain their desired levels of productivity suffers." (paragraph 14). Reading from e-books is very monotonous and makes it tempting to do other things such as surf the net and go on social networking sites. It enables people to put off doing work they know needs to be done. Reading from a textbook is a little more entertaining without being distracting. Reading from a textbook allows a person to pay more attention to what is written. Another reason why I think it is better to study from a regular textbook is for medical reasons: Staring at a kindle screen or computer screen ruins eyesight and causes headaches. Textbooks ensure that a student will actually be able to do their reading or studying without the dilemma of a dead battery or technical difficulties.
"The printed page continues to be a remarkably powerful reading tool, and it seems to be particularly well suited to the needs of students." (paragraph 15). According to students at the University of Washington, many students were given kindles, but by the end of the school year, most of the students had become frustrated with them and stopped using them. Obviously e-books are not as well suited for students as people thought. I am slightly concerned about the idea that kindergarteners may be starting off their education using e-books. In a world where my generation's writing and reading skills are being heavily influenced by texting lingo, and shortened reading passages, imagine how the use of e-books will affect the reading skills of kindergarteners throughout their education! It will also be much harder for them. If college students are having trouble using e-books, what makes anyone think 5 year olds will have an easier time learning to read with e-books?
Even though I am against the use of e-books for studying, I do actually find technology a useful and beneficial part of my education. I think that word documents are extremely helpful when writing essays, because they are easier to edit and are more organized. PowerPoint presentations are also useful for projects, presenting information, and student note taking. They are used in classes to make them more entertaining and organized, rather than listening to a teacher's lecture while students try to keep up and take notes at the same time. In some classes, such as American Sign Language, homework is mostly based off technology because it is easier to look up a video to watch how to do a sign than it is to read about how it is done.
"New technologies are seductive, but we should always think twice before rushing to replace old tools with new ones." (paragraph 17)
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ReplyDeleteThe quote you've included at the bottom is perhaps the single most important concept regarding technology that hardly anyone understands, ESPECIALLY in the education world. Many teachers do not know the difference between the App Store and the Apple Store, or Facebook and Twitter. Many researchers do not understand that students already have fluent knowledge of most of what they're researching. Think about it~what does an average 40-something have to teach the average teenager about the internet?
ReplyDeleteToo often people are convinced to use technological tools when completely suitable and tested methods are already available. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Seriously though, excellent job picking that quote out. When I talk about App development with my brother that is the centerpiece of our design; "how is this different and better than what's already out there?"