The Pros And Cons Of Textbooks?

Thesis: Students should be knowledgeable about the problem of textbooks being too expensive to purchase, therefore they should take a stand and enforce a new plan to reduce the cost of textbooks for college courses.

This is one reason that materials in many school libraries today date from the 1960s and early 1970s, before funding was diverted. (p.141-142). the school library not update many new edition textbooks, sometimes we can find many earlier text books with old edition in the school library that not related to the fact that we need in classrooms. Since the new text books are more expensive so the school library budget should be increase to buy more new textbooks because outdated books will give students misinformation. I agree with the source, I think it is important for students to select what to read and what to learn to help them gain the knowledge. If they still learning from the old materials, this causes students to disengagement and impact on student effecting learning. By select of instructional materials that meet the needs of students and fit the constraints of the learning environment, student can be more actively learn. Therefore, encourage students to use the new textbooks can make them ask more questions from the books that require more critical thinking skills. Also, new information can help students develop higher thinking skill related to the fact. For example, students go beyond the textbook to study complex topics based on real-world issues, such as the recent industry in the communities or the health develop... they can

Many schools have switched from using paper textbooks to iPads or chromebooks, which allow students to access online textbooks. But is this a good change? There are many factors that need to be put into consideration, including the age group of a kids receiving the technology, the classes this tool can be used for, and the children’s ability to interact with others.

Electronic textbooks can be updated faster than traditional textbooks and can also provide resources that traditional books cannot supply. Because reprinting textbooks is expensive, they are rarely corrected and schools frequently have outdated versions that

Marc Presnky argues that college should ban the use of physical books to encourage the use of electronic books. He gives three reasons to support his argument. The author of the article “College Should Mandate That All Textbooks Be Digitized” states three main advantages of having a bookless higher education. He believes that society should move beyond “physical books of the past” in order to move “education into the future” (Presnky). By employing the use of digitized books, Presnky believes that people will have features not quickly available to physical books such as comments or analysis about a book. Lastly, Presnky believes the biggest advantage of fully transitioning to e-books is the liberation of ideas from printed pages. He thinks

With the rampant year over year releases and innovations in the consumer sector, computers and tablets are cheaper than ever. While one may argue that devices still remain more expensive than a simple notepad and pencil, students opting not to use a computer will accrue incrementally more costs for notebooks and/or paper, binders, the printing of class notes, and hard copy textbooks for each course. With PDF and online textbooks now available, at substantially lower costs, tech savvy students have additional cost and use advantages. Further, digital resources permit publishers to regularly update e-textbook forms. This is relevant for schools that utilize one text for multiple years and better ensures accuracy and currency. Beyond the economic benefits, computers have other practical advantages. They significantly reduce the amount of weight students carry in knapsacks, improve ergonomics, and ameliorate possible future absenteeism and medical costs due to back injury. Finally, reduced paper consumption and its footprint are more environmentally friendly and consistent with the University of Toronto’s sustainability

Once when I was in 7th grade, I was beaten up by my teacher when I forgot my textbook at home. Such behavior used to be legal in the country where I was raised and teachers regularly used this kind of punishment. Had this teacher read Neil Postman’s article The Fallen Angles, he would have realized how wrong he was in requiring extensive use of textbook in learning process. In his article, Postman provides a radical view in education and relates this to the role of textbooks and teachers. While Postman makes a great argument to advance his ideas to reanimate public education and make learning meaningful, it is hard to agree with his concepts such as banning textbooks, making teachers teach subjects that they are not experts in, and requesting students to learn simply by catching mistakes of others.

David Anderson, chief director for higher education at the Association of American Publishers, said that “this report is highly distorted and biased”. He also said that “comparing online open source content with textbooks is not fair” (Cost). Anderson may be right, but in the long run, America’s college students are going to be paying millions of dollars just for textbooks. There are not many effective alternatives. Digital textbooks may be an option, but right now, not everyone has access to a computer or cell phone. Therefore, students have to face the consequences of costly textbooks.

Students can save a whole lot of time by not waiting in bookstore lines, and save a lot of money by using digital textbooks, often called e-books. The State Law requires digital college textbooks by 2020, according to Jean Cowden Moore, ( Ventura County Star ) 11 Jan. 2010. The state law, Senate Bill 48, says any individual or company selling textbooks to the University of California, California State University or private colleges must make them available electronically by 2020, “ to the extent practicable.” Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, authored the law, saying digital textbooks are the future of the market and can significantly reduce costs for students.

Teachers are always assigning homework in the textbook and of course every student complains. Not only because they have homework, but because they have to lug home multiple textbooks. Many school districts have been trying to find a way to solve this complaint. What school board officials have come up with is replacing the textbooks with notebook computers or tablets. It is the 21st century, there is technology booming everywhere. However, converting the notebook computers might not be the greatest decision.

Electronic textbooks are more portable and convenient as they can be accessed by a tablet, downloaded onto a computer or accessed via the internet. The technological benefits available on an electronic textbook are endless. The audio and video capabilities will liven up learning and change the way students understand and retain the material. The emergence of three-dimensional technology may also play a role in the near future. In addition, digital textbooks are much more user friendly. Studying for tests will be more efficient as highlighted notes can be easily transferred into electronic note cards for memorization. The main downside to electronic textbooks is that students will have to purchase a reading device, tablet, laptop or smartphone in order to view digital textbooks away from home or on the go. Most college students have already made this investment prior to starting college.

The market for textbooks is constantly changing. As the demand for certain features in textbooks increases each supplier in the supply chain’s role will change and evolve. Authors need to be aware of the needs of the universities; books need to be concise yet full of information. Authors continuously need to update data and information in all textbooks. Text editors need to keep up with the authors and the ever changing data and information provided to students in textbooks; they need to be able to adapt to other forms of text as well such as e-books. As technology evolves as does the need for better graphics in textbooks. Many students are visual learners and graphic designers need to be aware of this. We have certainly come a long way in terms of graphics in textbooks and the need will only keep increasing. Printing companies also need to be kept in the know, and possibly develop new technology to make it easier to predict the demand for each textbook and even the possibility of e-books being the dominant form of text. As the industry grows and changes as will the roles of each supplier and everyone needs to look toward the future and realize the changes that are happening.

Moreover, textbooks tend to give students some specific knowledge, so its content must be evaluated and logically organized by authors, and it must take a long time to collect thousands of useful and reliable information to edit in the textbooks. Therefore, textbooks should be very hard to create. (Storey, 1998)

To start off, schools need to realize the amount they can save in the long run by utilizing technology and lean away from traditional, old fashioned, hard cover books. When books become outdated and used, schools have to spend endless amounts to replace them. To avoid this, schools can take the initiate and work proactively and replace hard cover books with electronics to avoid unnecessary expenses. An example of this occurred at Empire High School which recently made a switch from textbooks even though, “it wasn’t because of a funding crisis.” (Source A) Empire High School shows just how well technology can work. Not only does technology help in saving necessary funding, it adds a sure convenience factor to the students and teachers by not having to drag around large and expensive textbooks.

One of the significant drawbacks of e-books is the issue of compatibility. Various researchers argue that most e-books are not compatible with a variety of software. For instance, a book may be readable on a Kindle device and fail to display its contents in a different device due to compatibility issues. This makes it hard for readers to access all books. It also poses a challenge for readers as all software require a constant update. This is also a major inconvenience for readers as the books they purchase an older version of the software may become obsolete over time, and thus, require them to make a new purchase (Lai and Li 458). Notably, as much as the issue of compatibility describes the disadvantage of using an e-book, it presents a benefit of using the traditional books. This is because the reader will never encounter compatibility issues upon purchasing a hard copy book. Such a book can last for a long