The concept of computers supplanting textbooks is not new. Check out how one school is phasing in laptops in lieu of textbooks. After reading this Baltimore Sun article, post your comments.
Click on link: Learning with Laptops
Photo credit: Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam / January 29, 2008
Click on link: Learning with Laptops
Photo credit: Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam / January 29, 2008
2 comments:
As I read this article, I thought about my 13 yr old's backpack. Quite frankly, it is a mess; filled with notebooks, textbooks, and random papers. Could he benefit from a laptop? It would certainly lighten his load and perhaps help him with his organizational skills. It seems like great idea, but I think he will miss out on the education that goes along with textbook. A textbook has beginning, middle and end. Where you are in the book can be easily measured by the number pages of completed. At the end of the year, when all the chapters are complete and the students turn in the book, they take one last look at the book. I believe in that moment, that a sense of "something" occurs and it is just as important as all the lessons that came before. This moment is not probable with electronic textbook. I believe that students should benefit from technology, but not at the expense of the foundation of education: textbooks.
I think it would be a fantastic idea! We kill so many trees each year with all the handouts that we provide for students. I would benefit from having all my students on laptops. I had a students last year that needed everything online due to his disability and it was great. We were able to keep in contact through the Internet and everything was available for him on his laptop. I feel like I am more organized in how I save my files on my computer than any other area of my life. I do see a potential problem with such an expensive/technical equipment, such as Internet access, stealing laptops, crashing memory, and all the wonderful damages that come with such a piece of equipment. I think that we will all move to something along those lines...I mean...look at star trek! haha...yes I'm a trekky. The new notebook apple is thinner than any other notebook out there! It's beautiful! There is also the health problems that are occuring with young children having back issues later on in life due to the heavy load they carry. It awful seeing some of my freshman walking around with these extremly heavy and unorganized bag.
Post a Comment