Sam’s blog

After having read Talia’s interesting post on e-books i was intrigued to learn more about this new technology. After visitng the sites Talia provided, I was not greatly impressed with what was available. As a book reader myslef, I did not see the appeal in reading a book online. The ‘books’ looked like a word document and I personally would not enjoy reading a book that way.

However, keen to not disregard this technology without some more research i googled e-books in the classroom and found a great article by Eric J. Simon “Are e-books ready for the classroom?” Although this article is a bit dated it raised some points that helped answer some of questions.

Eric was curious about e-books and conducted a survey on their use. He gave 22 biology students e-books for a semester and monitored their use and response to the technology. The way in which they were used was how we would use textbooks in our learning. The e-books allow for highlighting and note-taking so students used them as they would any ordinary text.

However, some problems were noted. The screens were small and in black and white, this would be sufficient for a subject that relies on written information only, however a subject that requires visuals and diagrams would be disadvantaged with a black and white screen. Colour screen e-books are available but for a higher price, at the time they were $699 opposed to the $199 for the black and white. When surveyed 84% of students would pay $199 for the e-book but not $699 as they would still need to purchase the texts.

Also, a major problem was the availabilty of texts. There were not many texts available, as many publishers were willing to provide e-books of their texts but, not until the e-books become more popular. However, one of the main reasons that the e-books were not being used was the limited texts available. So it was going to be difficult for the e-book to be a success.

After reading this article, I think that i may use an e-book if it was available to me, as i think that carrying an e-book rather than actual books to uni would be easier and less of a hassal as you would have all the books you need in one device. However, i do not see this being a good technology for a primary classroom as young students will benefit more from using real books, we do not want them to lose touch with authentic texts they way they were originally written. In a high school or tertiary environment i think the e-book could be a success as students will have access to texts all the time, however, i they were to forgot their e-book at home…. there could be a problem. The only other thing i can think of is whether students and parents will be willing to spend the money to purchase an e-book.

If someone gave me an e-book i would give it a go, as i could see the benefit of using one and hopefully they continue to work on the e-book or even software to put on laptops and pcs that will develop this interesting technology to become a part of the classrooms of the very near future.