EBook Readers and Digital Textbooks

eBook readers are one of the hottest new gadgets around right now. Imagine being able to carry your entire library with you when you travel, being able to easily search through it at the touch of a few buttons, and have the device fit in your purse! And imagine all the trees that wouldn't need to be cut down to make paper.
 
One path leading to the wider acceptance and use of ebook readers will be their use in schools and universities for reading textbooks, but are the current devices up to the task?
 
In May of this year, Jeff Bezos acknowledged this by focusing on etextbook use as he introduced the Kindle DX. This new, larger addition to the Kindle family should be better suited for this purpose than it's smaller sibling, the Kindle 2. Definitely the screen shots of the Kindle DX displaying diagrams are looking good. "We're going to get students with smaller backpacks, less load", Mr. Bezos said. He also announced five colleges and universities that will be trying out the Kindle DX in the upcoming fall session: Arizona State, Case Western Reserve, Princeton, Reed College, and University of Virginia
 
Mr. Bezos also announced that Amazon has reached agreements with three of the leading textbook publishers: Pearson, Cengage Learning and Wiley.
 
Pilot programs at universities have so far met with mixed results. In several cases, students requested print textbooks after becoming frustrated with the digital textbook. Most of the problems seem to arise from navigational problems. Results so far would seem to indicate that additional features are needed on the devices before the use of ebook readers for reading textbooks can really take off. Classroom use of ebook readers would require advanced search functions, annotations (including shared annotations), and reliable multiple bookmarking functionality for example. Access to Wikipedia would also greatly enhance a student's experience Another problem is mismatched pagination between users of printed and e versions of books. And finally, of course, color would be much better for those anatomical drawings!   Looks like we've still got a ways to go before backpack makers need start worrying.  Certainly the Kindle DX is currently best of breed when it comes to digital textbooks; the new addition to the Kindle family does include many of the features necessary.  It will be interesting to see how well the device is accepted by the students in the trials this fall.

Textbooks EBook Readers and Digital Textbooks

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The Advantages of Digital Math Textbooks for Virtual Mathematics Instruction Considered

One of the biggest problems when teaching mathematics is moving all the kids in a classroom forward, when some of the kids are stuck on challenges of algebra. You can't really go onto higher math, until the kids understand how to work the algebra problems, and have mastered those skills. If not they will merely get all of the new problems incorrect, even if they know what to do, and are using the right equations for the right types of word problems.

Textbooks

This is why I believe that perhaps the digital textbooks might provide some assistance. If a digital textbook is in the cloud, and it only allows the student to advance after they complete so many problems of a certain type, then the student could not move forward on to the next math topic until they've mastered those skills. In doing this we would prevent kids who are lagging behind, from dragging down the rest of the class's momentum moving forward, because perhaps they didn't do their homework, or got lost on a certain type of math.

There was just a terrific write up recently in Campus Technologies titled; "Reinventing the College Textbook - A Wake Forest Professor Discusses a Digital Textbook Project that Uses a Non-Linear Approach to Leaning" by Bridget McCrea which was published on June 22, 2011.

Although this article didn't specifically discuss what I am proposing here, it gives all the background on what the future textbooks will be capable of, and with the right hardware and software, there's no reason we cannot keep all the students moving forward at the proper levels, with what is most appropriate for that individual student.

In fact, once someone has a digital textbook, they could work at their own pace merely going into visit the professor for a consultation once per week, meanwhile the professor would know how well each student is doing in real time, based on how far they've progressed in the textbook, connected to the cloud while downloading the next section. Am I trying to rewrite the way we teach math in our colleges and universities, perhaps even at the high school level? Yes, I think that is exactly what I'm doing.

You see, going to school I noticed some kids getting behind on certain types of math, and once they did they had trouble during the rest of the school year. They got left behind, and they learned to hate math, and therefore avoided those mathematical classes in the future. We live in an age of technology, and we need all of our students to be able to do not only basic math, but also higher end math as well. And this might just provide the solution we need to get there. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

The Advantages of Digital Math Textbooks for Virtual Mathematics Instruction Considered

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Free Digital Textbooks For K-12 Students

Free digital textbooks are the latest addition to the advanced learning aids based on technology. The digital revolution has been the essence of our age. And quite likely, the education systems are equally influenced.

Textbooks

Digital renovations in spreading literacy have seen the emergence of mobile learning technologies, digital textbooks, podcasting lectures etc. Free digital textbooks have provided complete liberty with online education. These textbooks are customized to meet the necessities of the K-12 students. But their purposes are not limited to serving the students only. Even teachers and parents can effectively utilize free digital textbooks.

Certain typical needs of the public and private school curriculum and the specialized schooling like home-schools are perfectly addressed by these types of textbooks. Home-schooled learners, teachers and parents have an easy and affordable access to web-based learning materials with the free digital textbooks. Online textbooks allow easy customization of the student curriculum, providing space to mix and match lessons, worksheets etc, from different grades.

Digital online textbooks provide the added advantage of being saved online. Free digital textbooks are accessible anytime, anywhere, with the least concern of losing or misplacing the materials. Online K-12 schools often recommend the use of these digital resources. Digital curriculum includes science, mathematics, language arts, social studies etc.

Each student has unique requirements. A student might need extra attention in a particular subject than the rest. Online textbooks enable the teachers to select lessons based on several grades. Thus, a student who has an aptitude for math can continue to further their math studies from curriculum of higher grades with the free digital textbooks. Extra levels can be incorporated into the curriculum, creating more challenging and yielding curriculum, custom designed to serve the student exclusively.

Free digital textbooks can also be of great help for the academically challenged students. The extra attention that these students need with special curriculum, exclusively based on their individual requirements, can easily be availed with the free digital textbooks. With the online resources, holding back a student in the school, for an entire year, is no more necessary. Within a short while, students would be able to accelerate and prepare themselves for the next grade level, appropriate for their age.

With digital syllabi, lesson plans, digital instruction manuals, the free digital textbooks create a comprehensive curriculum for the home-school students. Moreover, they are an economic alternative, in comparison to the annual school-recommended texts.

Free Digital Textbooks For K-12 Students

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