Indeed, Scott. The sheer size of this book, which is the 2008 edition of Prentice Hall’s Discovery (Channel) Education series on American History, has 1,264 slick pages. The layout, IMHO, is structured by the publisher as a salvo against Internet sites, rich with interactive media, that might be adopted by teachers, schools, or districts over traditional print. For instance, the publisher uses splashy infographics, colorful headings, and numerous photographs from “current” events (which by the very nature of print, can’t remain current).
But, ultimately, this book is no interactive device. In fact, interacting with the pages, beyond reading them, is prohibited. It says so on the inside front cover:
“PUPILS to whom this textbook is issued must not write on any page or mary any part of it in any way.”
In other words, children, enjoy this colorful brick with your eyes only.
Eventually books like this will lose their competitive edge to the web because in order to continue to compete they will need to add even more pages. Maybe publishers will move it all to the web (behind a paywall).
The added insult to the student is that only one copy of the book is available for each student, which means all 8 pounds must be carried home and back to school — along with the 6 pound Math textbook my daughter has in her bag.
It will be interesting to watch how much longer the use of textbooks can be justified. Surely not much longer, right?
The high cost of replacing the textbooks with netbook/iPad type devices has always been the reason I have been given for not doing it. But, we’re nearing the point where that is moot. My district is in the process of spending millions adopting a new reading curriculum K-6.
Rather than waiting for textbooks to migrate onto eReaders I think IMHO that we should be moving away from the concept of a textbook.
A product like Inkling will have its place but imagine a classroom where student learning is not directed by the resource — where students research/learn as they pursue lines of inquiry.
Indeed, Scott. The sheer size of this book, which is the 2008 edition of Prentice Hall’s Discovery (Channel) Education series on American History, has 1,264 slick pages. The layout, IMHO, is structured by the publisher as a salvo against Internet sites, rich with interactive media, that might be adopted by teachers, schools, or districts over traditional print. For instance, the publisher uses splashy infographics, colorful headings, and numerous photographs from “current” events (which by the very nature of print, can’t remain current).
But, ultimately, this book is no interactive device. In fact, interacting with the pages, beyond reading them, is prohibited. It says so on the inside front cover:
“PUPILS to whom this textbook is issued must not write on any page or mary any part of it in any way.”
In other words, children, enjoy this colorful brick with your eyes only.
Eventually books like this will lose their competitive edge to the web because in order to continue to compete they will need to add even more pages. Maybe publishers will move it all to the web (behind a paywall).
The added insult to the student is that only one copy of the book is available for each student, which means all 8 pounds must be carried home and back to school — along with the 6 pound Math textbook my daughter has in her bag.
one more example of the need for eText, eReaders, primary sources and getting rid of the textbook
Better case for netbooks than eReaders. Larger, color display, and able to access online content for the price of one of the texts.
It will be interesting to watch how much longer the use of textbooks can be justified. Surely not much longer, right?
The high cost of replacing the textbooks with netbook/iPad type devices has always been the reason I have been given for not doing it. But, we’re nearing the point where that is moot. My district is in the process of spending millions adopting a new reading curriculum K-6.
It is a depressing waste of resources.
Math Curmudgeon extends the conversation:
http://goo.gl/qhhr
Take a look at the video on this site for Inkling, a new interactive textbook app for iPad: http://www.inkling.com/
This type of app is the future of textbooks. I can’t wait until we start seeing K-12 textbooks with this type of functionality.
Rather than waiting for textbooks to migrate onto eReaders I think IMHO that we should be moving away from the concept of a textbook.
A product like Inkling will have its place but imagine a classroom where student learning is not directed by the resource — where students research/learn as they pursue lines of inquiry.