Reply to Michelle River
Michelle's Post: http://michellerivers13.blogspot.ca/2016/02/week-5-death-of-textbook.html?showComment=1455767934799#c1741745890161651434
Hi Michelle!
What an interesting topic!
I enjoyed reading your blog “Death of the Textbook” – catchy title, got
my attention! We are definitely seeing
an evolution of the textbook from its physical paper-based form. With three kids in post-secondary education,
I can certainly relate to and agree with your first bullet point regarding the
high cost. On average we are looking at
approximately $400-$600 per semester for textbooks. It appears that certain programs have larger
and more expensive textbooks, such as Computer Science at university. When a student switches to a new
program, you are stuck with all these textbooks that you cannot sell because
the new students do not want an older edition (page referencing would be
different). I agree with all of the points
you mentioned. I was not aware that a
high percentage of students do not purchase the required textbooks (just
assumed they had to) or that most of the content is provided in other ways –
interesting trends. Let’s not forget the
weight of the textbooks and what that can do to a student’s back and
shoulders when the knapsack that they carry around all day weighs fifty
pounds.
I have a friend who works for a large publishing house – one
of the big educational publishers. Her company
has changed and is continually changing.
Based on the growing demand for classroom technology, the company is transitioning
from a print-based business model to customized content through subscriptions. This shift allows for the development of
adaptive learning systems, personalized learning and improved currency of
content.
My thoughts are that technology has changed how the textbook
market operates – the evolution has started, but many college/university
students still use physical textbooks.
But we know it can happen and our M.Ed program is a great example - we
can cover all of the required course content and leverage the open-source
textbooks and other online resources as our material at little or no cost. I believe we will see more of this transition
over the next five years. Is the death
of the textbook imminent? I think the
answer is “yes” for most programs/ courses, but not all. The transition requires schools determining
the broadband capacity at school and how students will get connectivity after
they leave for the day – so it will take time. There is an investment to be
made for the transition, but large savings in the end. I came across an interesting article titled “Why
digital natives prefer reading in print. Yes, you read that right” – have a
read.
Digital textbooks and digital learning should be a priority.
References:
Rosenwald, M. (2015). Why digital natives prefer reading in
print. Yes, you read that right. The
Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-digital-natives-prefer-reading-in-print-yes-you-read-that-right/2015/02/22/8596ca86-b871-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html
Reply to Rachel
Rachel's Post: http://racheleduc5101.blogspot.ca/2016/02/staying-organized-online.html?showComment=1455768034638#c252852741574560786
Hi Rachel!
I can
totally relate to your blog. I too like
to be organized. I am organized in my
physical spaces at work and home, but online, my files, emails, etc. need
help. I save everything and delete
nothing, hence my problem. So your topic
peaked my curiosity – how does Rachel solve her problem? I am also a new user of Twitter, but will
definitely check out TweetDeck as I follow more people. I have heard about TweetDeck, but have not
yet used it. The two tools you mention
to integrate multiple social media apps, on the other hand, I have not heard
about, so will need to do a little research to determine if they can help my situation. Zotero is a great place to house pertinent
readings/articles and seems to work well for this course. For this program, I have been saving my links
of shared articles in a Links folder for each course. It would be much better if saved in one
location, with extra benefits of organizing and citing sources. Delicious, another tool I have heard about,
but was not aware what it did. I have so
many bookmarks, so will need to check out this tool as well. So many tools to explore!
I came across a site that you might find interesting. It focuses on organizing your research
online. The topics might help you –
keeping current, managing citations, note taking, save now and read later (a list
of tools to organize items for future reading, file sync and backup,
collaborate and simplify (a list of tools for simplifying your workflow and
help you collaborate with others and automated research. The article also includes a video of how
information organization has changed.
Thanks for all the tips!
References:
University of Southern California (2016). Organizing Your
Research Online. USC Libraries, Research Guides. Retrieved from http://libguides.usc.edu/productivity
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