Recent shifts in the educational system have resulted in alterations to, among other things, pedagogical practices and educational approaches to learning. Using textbooks, taking notes, and paying attention to the instructor are all ways of education that many people are already familiar with. On the other hand, other institutions have adopted a different strategy, opting instead to implement e-learning, e-textbooks, and student usage of computers while classes are in session. Is it possible that laptops and desktop computers may soon replace traditional textbooks in the classroom as a result of this new method?
The Empire High School, located in Vail, Arizona, is in the process of digitizing its classrooms and is making progress toward this goal. Every student has access to their very own computer, which has been provided by the school, so that they can do their assignments and listen to podcasts of their scientific teacher’s lectures. Cienega High School, which is only a few short blocks away from Empire High School, has recently implemented a brand new system that enables students who possess their own laptops to sign up for the ‘digital component’ of many of their English, Science, and History classes.
A rising number of people are beginning to anticipate that education textbooks will soon take the form of scrolls as more schools in this region begin to adopt the digital way of teaching. Due to the fact that this is the case, educators who are committed to the concept of ensuring the continued success of textbooks in schools opt to strike a balance between the use of computers and notebooks, all the while avoiding disregarding the ways in which today’s youth are ‘wired.’ To get more specific, the majority of young people throughout the world are connected to the internet and have simple access to a variety of free educational resources. Downloading research information for use in a variety of projects and courses is a common practice among young people today, in contrast to the practice of conducting research at the library, which was common among young people twenty years ago.
Thankfully, classrooms have not yet adopted scrolls as a primary instructional tool, and textbooks continue to play a significant role in the majority of today’s schools. E-textbook learning is now being tested in Arizona, which is an important step because the outcomes of the final exams and assessments at the conclusion of the school year will show how beneficial this type of instruction will be for students.
The use of electronic textbooks in education has been criticized by a number of lecturers and other educational experts. Because traditional education textbooks have page numbers and electronic textbooks do not, the format of an electronic textbook can be drawn out and complicated. They are instead equipped with location numbers, which enable pupils to enter in on the keyboard and immediately advance to the desired area of the document. However, these location numbers can be quite lengthy, which means that students may have to spend some time looking them up and typing them in. In contrast, standard textbooks just require students to flip over a few pages before they reach the portion that they require.
In addition, several students have reported experiencing a few technical difficulties and mistakes when trying to locate particular sections using the computer, which has disrupted the flow of instruction and caused the class to run behind schedule. Students have also mentioned that it can be challenging to take notes inside the margins, which makes it take them longer to write material and makes it more difficult for them to keep up with the flow of the lecture. Keeping the aforementioned issues in mind, it would appear that the notion that digital means will eventually replace traditional textbooks is nothing more than a theory. Standard textbooks are not anticipated to become obsolete any time in the near future and will continue to serve an important role in the education of students.
It is important to maintain a healthy balance between using computers as a tool for teaching and using textbooks for studying in classrooms, despite the fact that big online book vendors are supporting digital learning. The concept behind this is that schools should make it possible for students to utilise digital resources in addition to the traditional textbook resources that are now available to them. An increase in the number of online bookshops that offer both electronic textbooks and traditional textbooks has led to an increase in sales of both types of textbooks.
It would appear that younger generations are moving away from the practice of using textbooks at home for research purposes; however, one of the first things that younger generations do when conducting research is use the internet to locate very specific textbooks that contain essential information that the internet is unable to provide. In addition, if they are pressed for time, they are able to purchase electronic versions of textbooks and keep a digital copy even if they cannot wait for a physical copy to come.
To summarize, it is not very probable that electronic textbooks will entirely replace traditional textbooks very soon. On the other hand, it is more possible that we will see a balance between the utilization of both types of resources in classrooms much sooner than we now anticipate.