The future of education: textbooks vs. technology

Compared with traditional textbooks, the iPad and other devices for reading digital books have the prospective to save on textbooks costs in the long term, to provide students with more and better information faster, and — no small matter — to lighten the typical college student’s backpack. Santa Clara University student Christopher Paschal, 19, for instance, esteemed the search function in his economics e-textbook, and said the included video clips offered “ An alternative method of learning, ” and eliminated “ The monotony of endless pages of reading. ” But eventually, “ I feel that I comprehend material better in regular textbooks, “ Paschal says. “ Textbook publishers haven’t had a chance to modify things for the iPad. If publishers really get behind the iPad, I can see a day where it’s the only thing I would bring to school. ” Even then, some evidence recommends students see a downside to 24/7 interactivity when it comes to formulating for exams or doing homework. During visits last fall to libraries, coffee shops and other campus hangouts to scrutinize how students study, a test-prep company noted that, when it was time to study, cellphones, laptops and Kindles were put away. A 2005 review by researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, of 38 studies initiate “ Very little support” for the idea that all those links to additional information enhance the reader’s experience. The online environment “ Promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning, “ argues Nicholas Carr, who raises concerns about the long-term implications in The Shallows: What the internet Is Doing to Our Brain, which was published in June.