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Given all of the budget cuts from the state and from the possibility of lack of levy funding, we are looking at the option of going to e texts, (electronic texts), instead of purchasing physical textbooks. As a middle school teacher, I'm not sure how I feel about it. There are some definite advantages to the students when we don't have lockers and they have to carry everything around in their backpacks. The disadvantage of course is not everyone has internet access available to them at home. While we encourage students that do not to use the local library or come to school early to use computers on campus, the reality is, it is an equity issue. As a University professor with an online Algebra text, I see students fail because they need to have the interaction with the text, being able to thumb back and forth between examples in order to complete the work. I know you can open two screens, but sometimes the screens are small to begin with, and this makes the text even more difficult. I would love to hear how others have dealt with the issue and if there has been any impact on student learning as a result of going to the e-text.

Hi Sandra, You make a good point in that e-text books being cumbersome in functionality...font size, electronic page turning…etc. If you’re like me...I like to keep my textbooks handy in my education home library where you can thumb through at easy and review existing markers from previous readings which is not as easy with the electronic version especially for students that are “e-challenged”. I am sure you can create e-folders for each but time is always an essences. “I need it now”. On the flip side e-text have their place in keeping cost down, not to mention environmentally friendly and accessibility are among the advantages. At my university we use MyMathLabs…that serve as a Course of Study to go along with the e-texts to complete math exercises such as homework, quizzes, informal evaluation, self evaluation to support understanding and competency of the subject matter. Good point Sandra thanks for starting the thread.

I would also be interested to know from any teachers out there who use e texts how this has impacted your teaching. What adjustments have you had to make to your instruction due to the change in format of textbooks? Did you receive any professional development to support that?

I do not agree with transferring over to E books, at least just yet. I feel eventually in time we will get rid of paper books to eliminate paper trail but at this time it is just not plausible. As you said, several students may not have the internet which would not grant them access to the material. Yes, they could go to the library to access the material, but what if they cannot get a ride? Then the student will not be able to complete their homework. This also singles out students and lets their peers know that the student cannot afford internet which could add extra stress to the particular student. I have seen in some schools that the textbooks come with the option of being available online. So, in the case that the student does not remember to take home their book, they can still gain access to the material. However, if the students only option is to read the book online, I feel a higher failure rate would occur.

I wonder if E-books are less expensive than regular textbooks? They should be. Even with regular updates and additional resouces, they really do not seem significantly better. Publishers already supply internet resource content. I also wonder about the efficacy of reading on a screen vs the tactile experience of a text. Finally, I am not convinced that books are going away any time soon.

Dan wrote: I wonder if E-books are less expensive than regular textbooks? I purchased an Ebook reader (Kindle) for college because the textbooks were a fraction of the price. However, not all books are available as an Ebook. I think this is an interesting topic, I can imagine E-readers such as the Kindle and the Nook could solve many problems in schools. Like Adah's district, most of our middle and high schools no longer assign lockers so students are carrying these huge backpacks or teachers have to manage a classroom textbook collection. EReaders would definitely solve this problem. However, I agree with the earlier comments, I have trouble flipping through the book to find information I need to revisit. Has anyone tried the Ereaders in the classroom? Could there be additional advantages for helping students with disabilities?

Wow There is lots of great discussion here. Sandra I agree that the equity issue is critical. I recently read a study finding that among lower income groups, internet access is most often through a mobile device. These do not have the same functionality, especially when it comes to accessing on-line class material. I have an 4G i-pod touch which I can use to access the internet. I tested the system as an interface with my Blackboard Vista resources. Disaster! I ended calling the help desk only to be told that "We do not support i-Pods" This cannot be a good for my students whose primary internet connection is through a mobile device; often an i-phone.

In reading this thread, I recall a discussion in Jin Collin's book "Good to Great" about the appropriate use of technology; his point being that technology should be viewed as a tool and not a solution. I strongly recommend reading this discussion which compares the different approaches to technology taken by Walgreen's and Drugstore.com. Considering this perspective we should focus on how technology can further promote learning rather than how it can solve budget problems. I have played with several online instructional packages including MyMath Lab and Mastering Chemistry. I wonder to what extend these encourage rote learning as opposed to understanding? When I use the programs I find myself spending very little time on developing and applying a problem solving strategy. This concerns me. The only measure of correctness in many of these packages is "the answer" which must be entered in just the right format. I found myself getting lots of problem wrong because I could not figure out the right format. I would prefer my students focus on problem solving strategies. Does anyone know of any research comparing learning outcomes in classes using online packages versus supplemental instruction in problem solving strategies?

With all that has come before, I should note that e-texts are getting better. The newer versions make liberal use of hyperlinks to connect topics, allowing readers to electronically flip back to refer to previous information on a topic. Many e-texts allow electronic highlighting and annotation. I am also seeing more use of animation and other visual learning techniques that are technology enabled. ...and yes e-texts can support students with some learning disabilities. If a student has a screen reader for example, he or she can "listen" to the text rather than read.

Why does E-textbooks have to be an all or nothing thing. My school has purchased textbooks and the textbook has an option where students have the option of using the textbook online. I specifically like the ebook because it has a feature where a narrator is able to read the book to them. This has really helped my poor readers improve thier reading skills and understand the concepts explained in the book. I would suggest making both options available until everyone is able to get internet access

This is a great discussion! I am a proponent of using e-books. While I understand there is an equality issue for students who do not have internet access at home, the majority of e-readers have built-in, over air internet capability. The Kindle uses Whisphernet, which is similar to a cell phone internet signal. Lifetime access to Whisphernet is included in the purchase price of a Kindle. The Nook uses the 3G cell phone internet signal (again, the price for lifetime access is built into the purchase price of the device). The iPad also uses 3G, however for this device it cost $14.99/month to access 250 MB of information over the AT&T network. At right around $100 for e-reader devices, they really are a great deal. Here are some of the benefits that I see in using e-readers/books for our students: 1. All of their books are located in one device. There is no chance that a book is forgotten at school or at home 2. With the built in dictionary and internet search abilities of e-readers, students can look up a word or an event. They can access the Webster's dictionary meaning, find internet references to the word, and find other occurrences of the word on their reader 3. Ability to immediately update texts without needing to re-print 4. Less expensive than traditional print books I have converted almost exclusively to e-books. If I cannot find a book in electronic format, I tend not to purchase it. I've also started converting most of my teaching idea books to the ebook format. I only print out the table of contents for reference. My sagging bookshelves are happy I'm giving them a break! I look forward to hearing more ideas on this subject! Maureen

I am also in favor of the eReaders. I think putting technology in the hands of our students will help to lessen the technology gap between the low socioeconomic and high socioeconomic students. The eReaders also have built in accommodation functions such as: 1) Text to Speech capability 2) Changing the Font size 3) On command dictionary

Love e-text. So convenient to use and allows great portability. Need significant inservice training so that teachers know what they are doing. Also need to make sure that all students have laptops or provide them with laptops. The greater challenge is internet access at home for all children.

I love the idea of e-texts, but as many others, I have found them to be quite cumbersome to use because of lack of graphical capability in most of the texts. I like to use all those sticky tabs on the edges of my books to help me find my way around. I use a laptop about half the time, and have kindle software, but still find that having that many copies of a book open (I.e. problems and text) can get confusing. I do agree that it would be wonderful for our students to simply bring a reader to class than the whole backpack. I would like it even better if we could get them to bring a laptop with the reference library available on 4G, as well as apps available online so students could write and do other activities.

I have actually had this same conversation with my students. Our textbook comes with a e-textbook option. I did give the students the hardback book, but have encouraged them to use the e-book. I informed the students about diigo.com to help them highlight and make notes about what they are reading online. Unfortunately, how the students access the e-book they cannot use diigo. I asked my students last week how many were using the e-book and maybe 10% of them are. I asked why they were not using it, and they said it was too hard to read. Their eyes hurt, it is hard to navigate, and they prefer to have the book open in front of them. I thought it was interesting getting the 7th graders' perspective, since we are often told they prefer e-books. I am not sure students really prefer e-books, I don't know if that is the way districts should be moving.

Jennifer wrote, 'I do agree that it would be wonderful for our students to simply bring a reader to class than the whole backpack. I would like it even better if we could get them to bring a laptop with the reference library available on 4G, as well as apps available online so students could write and do other activities.'

I am at an one to one laptop initiative school. My students have their science textbooks on their laptops in every class, but chemistry. I like having computerized texts for several reasons. Students never 'lose' their texts or 'forget' to bring their texts to class. They always have their computers with them. The computerized texts have additional resources automatically included. The texts have a 'read to me' option with a real person reading. This has been an amazing resource because my students have absolutely no reason why they cannot read the chapter because if all else fails, they can have the chapter read to them while they are doing something else (i.e. getting ready in the morning or driving to school). The 'read to me' option is also good for my auditory learners. We also have online applications that we can use to supplement the text. Finally, the computerized texts are less expensive.

Ruth, I agree that students are less likely to forget the computers or tablets. Most of the time the textbooks are loaded locally onto the computer, so they should not need internet access all the time, only when adding content. One district I work with is implementing a one-to-one initiative next year, and they seem to be challenged with getting the students to use the tools appropriately, especially those with built in photo and music software. How is your district dealing with that?

I've used e-texts for the first time this semester for two courses:

One text for a fully online graduate course. The e-text option was amazing! It saved the students $ 100 on their text (paper text was so much more expensive), and could be ordered and delivered online immediately to the grad students at off-campus sites. There was also amazing multimedia support at the e-text site. A learning benefit, students had access to in-text hyperlinks, highlighting, interactive animations to review major concepts and electronic note-taking options.

- One e-text was used for an on-campus college course. For this class, I combined an e-text with a paper text (bound in a spiral binder, which saved students $30 over bound text). Thus, students had the flexibility and mutlimedia of the e-text and the tactile support of the paper text.

A few college students did tell me that they 'just cannot read a text online', so I'm glad I had the paper text too!

I know my students really appreciated the cost savings on their texts. I also really appreciated the Green Publishing efforts that some of these text publishers are making (reducing inks, using recycled paper, e-books, etc.) Since I teach courses in Environmental Science, I could even work that information into the class :-)

I would say all-in-all working with e-texts was a very positive experience for myself, as the instructor, and for my students.

Dorothy

E-texts: Equity, Accessibility and Health

I also agree that equity will be a key issues at the K-12 level that needs to be addressed as we look at e-texts. The lack of equitable technology access will slow down adoption of e-texts.

However, e-texts have tremendous potential for increasing accessibility and accommodating learner diversity. They can be used with screen readers and other accessibility technology. You can also change the font sizes for visual impairment issues. I'm thinking that the creative publishers may also eventually customize e-texts to reading levels, etc.

That said, I think it is important to also have paper texts available for those students who prefer a more tactile reading experience. Also, we really don't know yet how much computer screen reading is too much for kids .....

As a parent of a middle-school student I'm also very concerned about the weight of all the textbooks these kids have to lug around. I'd vote for e-texts just to reduce the weight of my kid's backpack! Carrying such heavy loads daily is not good for their backs and health!

Dorothy

Sandy, given the robust conversations on this thread, you opened a great conversation about etext books. I will have to read each post carefully and chime in a bit. First, I would like to state that I have used etext books very successfully in physics classes. They can be so interactive for students, enabling them to go through the thinking process necessary to design elegant solutions to problems. Students become part of the solution process rather than just reading about or studying static solutions and examples in printed textbooks. There also are great sims embedded in many of the lessons and not all lessons are laddered sequentially but students can toggle back and forth easily among them. I think that one of the biggest pedagogical questions is how does a teacher use a textbook in her or his teaching. Is it more of a reference rather than a primary source of learning? Does most of the learning occur via brainstorming, asking what do you see, what do you think is happening, how would you explore the phenomena, what data do you obtain, how do you analyze your data, what do they mean, what now are your explanations, where do you want to go next etc. etc. True inquiry does not require much reading on a daily basis. Inquiry involves students more actively in their learning and they may read for content or physics words etc by merely reading the equivalent of a page or two per lesson. I tried never to overburden my students with reading about physics but rather involved them in thinking about and doing physics. They liked ebooks. And students who were absent from class were better able to understand a concept via interactive learning rather than silent reading. This reflection emerges from my teaching style and may not be beneficial to others; however, I highly recommend it. ~patty

Hi Pam, As always, you raise great questions and I would like to chime into the one about using technology to enhance understanding in science and not to promote rote learning. There have been other discussions about great interactive cyber-learning tools throughout the year and even on whether sims apps and other applications are games or true paths to acquiring knowledge. As with the inclusion of any tool within a classroom; it is how it is used that benefits the understanding of the student, not the tool itself. Even the best designed tools can hinder rather than promote learning if not used in pedagogically sound ways. Cognitive research walks hand-in-hand with the use of technological innovations within the classroom. Also, we need to examine the items that reside under the umbrella of technology. All too often, technology only has one meaning to administrators - computers or other compatible machines, now including ipods, iphones, kindles, and reading apps. Technology also encompassess tools for gathering and analyzing data as well as discussing results and presenting them to co-learners within cooperative groups or to larger communities. I sound like I am preaching but I do not mean to impart that edge to my voice; I only want my voice to reflect the very strong data correlations between eliminating misconceptions and enhancing student understanding through the use of multiple types of technology. The active envolvement of a student in the 'reading' process underpins a stronger platform for questioning and discovery than the more passive 'reading' process. Given access to public libraries and even to schools supplying technology for reading and learning to students, we should be mindful of how we may use etext books to augment the 'printed word' or to stand instead of the printed word. I must admit that I have great admiration for states and school systems who use technological dollars to provide each student with notebooks. or laptops, or kindles. The state of Maine is one such place and perhaps someone from Maine will join into this discussion. I am of an older generation that did not matriculate with anything but a slide rule as 'technology.' Our current generations readily think of kindles as something to use --and wouldn't those many backs that carry loads of books home (let us anticipate that they are opened and used) benefit from having a notebook loaded with appropriate software and/or a kindle to use. It would also be interesting if someone knows about a cost analysis of loaded kindle type/IPad type device vs. multiple textbooks. thanks to all for listening and chiming in --these words look for rebuttal and clarification :} Cheers - patty

We reviewed an "techbook" (that's what the company called it) this year as part of our adoption process. We only looked at one book but found it lacking in content, having little or no support for improving math and reading skills, and having little RTI or differentiation involved in it. We were also concerned about the lack of computers and/or internet access in the home. It was, however, about half the cost of the textbook we chose.

Has anyone out there worked with Flat World Knowledge. The current text that I am using in developmental chemistry is inconstant and difficult for students. I can not change texts so am looking for a supplemental work around. Flat knowledge claims to offer open source fully editable ebooks???? http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/ I would be very interested in experiences and opinions Thanks Pam

For our middle school. the discussion was over before I arrived (first year teacher). We are going to tablet based instruction next year and ALL text books will be e-books. Our science text books are old, but pretty good (Science Explorer), however, I am now in the position of having to recommend a specific e-textbook purchase. Any ideas? Schuyler Fishman 8th grade science teacher

Hi Schuyler, I am wondering if you will be able to attend the NSTA conference in Indianapolis at the end of the month- just 2 weeks away. All of the major science textbook companies will be there anxious to show individual teachers their wares. It is one way to see what is new and available. I assume that all of them already have online versions of their texts, so it is just a matter of choosing one that follows your curriculum more closely. If you are unable to attend the conference, the publishing companies usually have representatives nearby to come to you with samples and sales pitches. Since your school district is already using Science Explorer, that might be a good place to start - by contacting the rep who sold the district on those books originally. I will check out what's new when I attend the conference at the end of the month. Perhaps others will share what they are presently using and what they like (or do not like) about their respective programs. Carolyn

All Awesome thread with many varied points of view. It is insightful to read about pros and cons that seem to definitely vary by grade levels (middle, high, and higher ed). I recall Dr. Michael Odell at the University of Texas at Tyler doing an informal comparison study, and his students really seemed to prefer the Learning Center resources over a static printed text. I do see many social learning possibilities that may be "tied into" the e-versions. For example check out inkling.com for things to come beyond just interactive sims... Also, for those going to Indy, I and three science methods professors who have used the Learning Center for their preservice classes (including Dr. Odell) are having an NSTA Avenue Session titled: The NSTA Learning Center-ATool to Develop Preservice Teachers.mit will be on Thursday, March 29! 3:30-4:30, in the Convention Center, room 124. Come on by and hear first-hand how it is being used as an interactive e-text "system".

Hello, I understand your concern. As a student myself, I have found reading to be more difficult through online textbooks; however, I believe that exposing them to online textbooks earlier might help them in further schooling. Perhaps you could start by introducing them to online articles and see how they react and what they think. You could also ask them how they might feel if you were to use an entire book online. Another idea might be to use the library (or computer lab) in school. I know that class time is precious, but it may benefit the students who do not have internet access at home. -Allison Ziolkowski

Great suggestions Allison. I like the idea of starting the students slowly and building their stamina. As with all new things, I am wondering what the “price” for this may be though. As I get older and spend more time on computer, I am noticing a definite change in my eyesight. Being 54 though, it could just be old age. I wonder if there are any studies being done on the effect of students reading too much text online.

I have a similar textbook issue. My school purchased 50 hardcopies of the Chemistry textbook and the rights to use the online copy of the textbook. However, I have 160 students. I use the hardcopies in my classroom, and tell my students to use the online copy for homework, missed work, etc. It is not working. My students want to borrow my classroom books because they do not have access to a computer or prefer the hardcopy. Sometimes my textbooks disappear and I do not have enough for everyone in class. I believe there will not be any textbooks in the future and all textbooks will be on small computers. The school needs to stop purchasing books and check out a small computer to all students that they will be responsible for. All textbook work in the classroom and outside the classrom will be on the computer. It will require a large investment originally for the computers, but the cost of textbooks will decrease over time. Schools need to choose between hardcopies and electronic copies, they can not have both.

Sandy, You make an excellent point. I was talking to a school health director, and she was voicing similar concerns. The problems include more than just vision - students who sit at computers for extended periods are more likely to experience skeletal issues, and the incidence of carpal tunnel sndrome has risen tremendously. The use of flat screens has helped - the CRTs we used for many years produced vision problems because of the refresh rates of the screens - eyes became tired very quickly. But the fixed focal lengths tend to fix the visual focus, and unless readers are careful to change focus every few minutes, can contribute to diplopia. Personally, my job has forced me to spend large amounts of time each day at the computer, and it probably has contributed to a variety of health problems. Although we are more aware of the implications of ergonomics, I don't think that most schools focus on those issues as much as pricing and functionality. But there are long-term implications that we need to consider.