Pro & Con Quotes: Should Tablets Replace Textbooks in K-12 Schools?

“Norwegian researchers conducted a study that took 72 10th grade students, divided them into two groups and gave each a fiction and a non-fiction piece to read. One group was asked to read both texts on a computer screen, while the other group was given hard copies. The study revealed comprehension was clearly stronger among students who read both texts on paper.

Researchers argue that’s because reading on paper is inherently a tactile (even multi-sensory!) experience that allows the brain to create a ‘mental map’ of the entire text. Unlike material read on an e-reader or computer screen, students can leaf through a book, quickly see its beginning and end. It’s that process, researchers say, that is crucial particularly when deep comprehension is needed for long and complex texts…

Moreover, reading a traditional book provides a respite from the sort of interruptions from texts, games and social media that readers can be bombarded with while attempting to read on a tablet or computer screen. While researchers still have much to learn about children’s preferences and behaviors, it is possible that books deliver a one-of-a-kind, immersive experience that even the most tech-savvy of generations can enjoy, just as readers have for hundreds of years.”

“Students, along with teachers and parents, intuitively recognize the value of using paper in learning…

Nearly two-thirds of K-12 teachers (64%) feel students comprehend information better and are more engaged (63%) when they read on paper. Close to two-thirds (64%) of K-12 teachers reveal their students even respond better to lessons that are based on paper textbooks. When students hold books in their hands, teachers see more hands raised, and that translates into more participation and engagement…

Moms and dads are more likely to help their children with homework when they are working with paper textbooks, written assignments or hands-on crafts (71%). Again, this isn’t a generational preference. Millennial-aged parents, the most proficient with digital technologies, are more likely than other parents (74% vs. 69%) to prefer to help their child with homework on paper as opposed to a computer.”

“Sometimes this technology [tablet devices] fails, leaving teachers to scramble for a backup plan. Some students do not have access to tablets outside of school. Disadvantaged students may not have Internet connectivity at home. And most problematic, studies show that kids typically understand less and take longer when they are reading from electronic textbooks as compared with printed materials.

This difference in comprehension and reading time is not huge, but it is pretty consistent, which probably explains why most students say they dislike electronic textbooks. Even students experienced in using digital technologies prefer paper.”

“Last week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan declared a war on paper textbooks. ‘Over the next few years,’ he said in a speech at the National Press Club, ‘textbooks should be obsolete.’ In their place would come a variety of digital-learning technologies, like e-readers and multimedia Web sites… Secretary Duncan is threatening to light a bonfire to a tried-and-true technology — good old paper — that has been the foundation for one of the great educational systems on the planet. And while e-readers and multimedia may seem appealing, the idea of replacing an effective learning platform with a widely hyped but still unproven one is extremely dangerous.

…[D]igital-reading advocates claim that lightweight e-books benefit students’ backs and save schools money. But the rolling backpack seems to have solved the weight problem, and the astounding costs to outfit every student with an e-reader, provide technical support and pay for regular software updates promise to make the e-textbook a very pricey option.

…With strength and durability that could last thousands of years, paper can preserve information without the troubles we find when our most cherished knowledge is stuck on an unreadable floppy disk or lost deep in the ‘cloud.’ Paper textbooks can be stored and easily referenced on a shelf. Data are as easy to retrieve from paper as reaching across your desk for a textbook. They are easy to read and don’t require a battery or plug. Though the iPad and e-readers have increasingly better screen clarity, the idea that every time a person reads a book, newspaper or magazine in the near future they will require an energy source is frightening.

The digitization of information offers important benefits, including instant transmission, easy searchability and broad distribution. But before we shred the last of the paper textbooks, let us pause and remember those old streetcars, and how great it would be if we still had them around.”

“The thing that worries me about tablets instead of textbooks is we think if you give a kid a computer, you solve the problem… When you have computers there, then there’s the pornography and the social media and the distraction of games and that sort of thing… I get in trouble every time I say this, but I would do anything to have better quality teachers, even if it meant bigger class size, even if it meant them standing rather than sitting… That’s in the end what really makes a difference. That human being who looks the student in the eye.”

“Textbooks are a known entity, schools and publishers have developed pretty efficient mechanisms to getting teachers oriented to a new textbook. The iText [Apple’s brand of digital textbook] adds a need to train teachers on how to incorporate the devices into their classroom practice. On an annual basis once a teacher has incorporated a textbook into their lesson plans there is very little fine tuning until the book changes. With a digital text the content should update every year requiring tweaks and updates to the teacher’s plans. Current content is a huge advantage for the digital text and one of the prime reasons to consider moving in this direction. But from a budget standpoint it comes with a real cost that can’t be ignored…

At every level except management the iPad texts are more expensive. The single biggest contributor to the imbalance is the iPad itself, followed by the network… We are likely to hear lots of bleating about engagement and how much the kids love to work with these devices. To which educators should respond with ‘great – where is the objective data on improved outcomes?’ As a long term advocate of ed-tech I hope the data supports the thesis, but until we see the proof, claims along these lines ought to be regarded as aspirational marketing…

The next time some ignorant bloviator refers to ‘outrageously priced textbooks’ remind them that at six cents per day a textbook is about as efficient as you are going to get for high quality, well designed, instructionally sound, standards aligned, and globally permissioned materials.”

“Students hold strong and passionate opinions about e-textbooks… While a majority dislikes e-textbooks, about 20 percent believe that they are the future – and should be. Perhaps I should have predicted such a reaction given that early in the school year many of these students had written a fiery editorial about e-textbooks in their social studies classes. In part it read, ‘… online textbooks hinder study habits and force the use of computers. … and are detrimental to learning and inconvenient.’ The editorial concluded with these words: ‘If the school wishes to cultivate the use of e-books, it should at the very least offer students the option to continue using the old, hardcover books.’ At one point, we did a straw poll with the option of a free Kindle with all their books loaded on it or their old textbooks. The result: 100 percent voted for their heavy, old textbooks…

Students were adamant that it was ‘much easier to learn’ from a textbook. (Several students did say that they don’t like carrying heavy books.) With hardcover books, they told me, they can highlight sections and flip through and scan pages more easily; reviewing the highlighted pages helps them remember facts. Portability also was an important factor: With a textbook they could study in random places like at after-school games or practices or they could take it with them to a friend’s house, and no one would ever want to steal it, unlike a Kindle. They said that digital devices in general were hard on the eyes, hard to read outdoors, required dealing with a battery, and are fragile… [S]tudents really find it easier to learn from a textbook.”

“[N]ot all socio-economic households and schools can afford a tablet, mobile apps, and access to WiFi for their school-aged children. For this reason, I am afraid that many families and classrooms will be left behind as tablet technology becomes mainstream. Only higher income households and schools scoring high on standardized tests will be able to afford these new technologies.

My other concerns are privacy issues and proper supervision of students as they gain access to the Internet. Teacher and parental supervision are paramount for all age groups to insure that they are not being exposed to improper online content. Teachers and parents must make sure that tablets are being used responsibly by their children and students, and that these devices are being used for educational activities, not just for playing games and online entertainment. We won’t know the affect tablets and computers will have on the quality of education. Goals must be established and educators must make sure that tablets and other mobile teaching devices are producing higher test scores and grades.”

“Just giving people devices has a really terrible track record. You really have to change the curriculum and the teacher and those things. And it’s never going to work on a device where you don’t have keyboard-type input. Students aren’t there just to read things. They’re actually supposed to be able to write and communicate… The device is not the key limiting factor at this point… I don’t see that as the key thing right now.”