|
Online textbooks just a click away
(Record, The (Hackensack, NJ) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 27--Some students at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale will be ditching their textbooks next year and studying biology and geometry online.
"It brings the real world into learning," schools Superintendent Benedict Tantillo said. "Students can manipulate DNA, look at photosynthesis actually happening or perhaps learn how to build a house using the geometry they have learned."
Online textbooks are so new that only a few school districts in North Jersey use them. But the cutting-edge trend is beginning to catch on nationwide.
Of the $7.5 billion that U.S. school districts spent on textbooks in 2004, $2 billion was for electronic textbooks and other digital teaching materials, said Stephen Driesler, executive director of the Association of American Publishers.
Six years ago, that number was nearly zero, he said.
"The textbook's days are numbered. It just doesn't make sense," said David Warlick of the Landmark Project, a Raleigh, N.C.-based education and technology consulting firm. "It's too expensive to print them and they're too limited in what they can convey.
"We live in a world of rapid change. A five-year-old textbook just doesn't do our kids and their world justice."
Whether they're used to replace or supplement traditional tools, online textbooks can enrich learning with interactive audio and video. By their very nature, the digital texts are more timely.
That's important when considering research into topics such as genomes, cancer and stem cells, said Paul Cohen, Pascack Valley's assistant superintendent.
"If I buy a hardcover biology textbook today, it was written three years ago," Cohen said. "With an online textbook, the publisher can change it immediately, so the kids are getting up-to-date information. That's a tremendous difference."
Online texts also eliminate the need for students to lug around hardbound books. A study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that more than 3,400 pupils between 5 and 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms in 2002 for injuries related to backpacks or bookbags that were too heavy.
This was one of the major reasons why the K-8 Rockaway Valley school district in Boonton Township decided to use online textbooks for all math classes for students through seventh grade this year.
"We had a lot of complaints about the backpacks being so heavy, and children were really facing injuries due to the weight," said schools Superintendent Roseann Humphrey, who noted that students use traditional texts in class but the online versions at home.
Rockaway Valley sixth-grader Jaimee Carrazza said she prefers online learning.
"You don't have to carry home the books," she explained.
Classmate Christina Jenkins, 11, also likes the new technology.
"Online, you get to take quizzes, and that's easier to study with," Christina said. "If you need help, it gives you references to look at online."
"It's an opportunity for students to almost have a teacher at home," said Rockaway Valley computer teacher Krista Merkelbach.
Online textbooks are suited to today's techno-savvy children.
"These kids are coming up as learners in the digital world, and they're used to using technology and understand it," said educational consultant Mark Gura, the former head of technology for New York City's public schools. "When they face classrooms that are purely hard-copy text-oriented, I think they are uncomfortable with that.
"It seems like an artificial environment [to them]."
The online textbook program at Pascack Valley is the latest technological innovation from Tantillo, who was named New Jersey Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) last fall. Last year, with the help of Pascack school board member Bertram Siegel, Tantillo introduced wireless laptops for every student in the district.
In partnership with publisher McGraw-Hill, the pilot initiative won't cost the district anything the first year. After that, the program will be evaluated, Tantillo said.
"McGraw-Hill will be coming in, observing our teaching and assessing how effective this is," the superintendent said.
"We work very closely with teachers to hear their feedback and what works for them," said Nicola Soares, McGraw-Hill's vice president of product innovation. "We want to make sure that whatever we create in terms of applications, tools and content is very relevant to student learning and achievement."
Pascack Valley students are excited about the prospect of online learning.
"I think it's a good idea," said ninth-grader Stephanie Schneider, 15. "I'm one who has back problems and leave a lot of my textbooks at home."
Classmate Meghan Simio, 14, agreed.
"If you have homework from the textbook, it's so much easier to go online on a laptop and just type in the Web site than to bring home a textbook," Meghan said.
As the approach grows, school officials need to keep in mind the students' resources, experts say.
"Students who don't have access to technology at home, or whose technology is very old or have dial-up Internet connections, would be out of the loop," said Susan McLester, editor-in-chief of Technology & Learning magazine. "Schools need to have enough computers for all the kids to use the digital textbooks and other resources."
It's a situation that some fear could slow the growth of online textbooks.
"With digital [textbooks], you have issues of equity and the haves and the have-nots," said Driesler of the AAP. "Those are the barriers that have to be overcome."
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
INDUSTRIES
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.
