Pros and Cons of the E-book

          

  Our responsibility is to debate the pros and cons of the e-book. Does the e-book benefit the classroom? The answer is simple. We are teaching a generation filled with technology savvy students. They have better access to the Internet and gadgets. I had also observed that the youth culture also revolves around the tech world. So yes, I am in full support of implementing the e-book into the classroom. It would fit well with our learners.

            The e-book will help students become more organized and efficient. I love how the e-book allows hyper-linking. We could hyper-link to interactive websites or clips relating to the topic. My favorite feature is the ability to create notes on the e-book. Students would be able to create, highlight, or strike notes. Another great point that Glenn Dietzel (2002) discusses is how the e-book accommodates students. Students are able to change the font size of the text. This will help students who have a difficult time with the small letters in the traditional textbook. Another great feature that he elaborates on is the ability to change the background of the page. This will accommodate students who have low visions.

            Other than accommodating students with vision issues, the e-book addresses the different learning styles in the classroom. For the visual learners, students would be able to watch videos or look at info graphics. This would be great in my social studies classroom! For the audio learner, students could follow along with a narrator (Nolen, 2013).

            According to the National Literacy Trust, the e-book helps children read more. I found this interesting because I would have had assumed that students would become distracted. They also reported that children were 69% likely to read an e-book than printed material. It gave them more motivation to read. Although this sounds like good news, they also reported that comprehension skills dropped (Picton, 2014). Yes, they’re reading more but does that matter if their reading scores are dropping? Does the con outweigh the benefits?

            As a social studies teacher, I would love to implement the use of e-books into my classroom. I would enjoy the benefits of the e-book. Students would appreciate the interaction and portability. Since our textbooks are outdated, the e-book would provide a more updated resource for the class.

Resource

Nolen, B. (2013, October 7). How Students Benefit from Learning with Ebooks. Retrieved September 04, 2016, from https://www.southuniversity.edu/whoweare/newsroom/blog/how-students-benefit-from-learning-with-ebooks

Picton, I. (2014, September). The impact of ebooks on the reading motivation and reading skills of children and young people. National Literacy Trust.

Dietzel, G. (2002, May). The benefits of eBooks: Learning with an attitude!. Teachers.net Gazette, 3 (5). Retrieved from http://www.teachers.net/gazette/MAY02/dietzel.html