In recent times more and more people are turning to Kindles or iPads for the source of attaining textbooks. Do you think eventually school will substitute textbooks and reading books for either kindles or iPads in order to make things cheaper, more efficient and more convenient?

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it certainly is more conscientious to the environment

Yes, I think that eventually schools will switch to electronic text. It is much cheaper and more convenient for students. Having so many books in their backpacks is a hassle. Having all of their text books on one device is easier to transport. The negative to this however, is that it is not as easy to highlight, underline, and write in the books which are bought. Many students like to do this for when they study for an exam. 

Thanks for the comment. You know many apps for iPad and other devices now have a way to highlight and write comments on text. For example, on my iPhone I have a Bible app in which I can highlight text, write comments on verses and even bookmark my favorite passages. Not to mention many other things you can do that aren't possible in a textbook like type in a key word and have all the verses show up that mention that word. You can also have many different translations or look up the Greek root word of any word and all the different meanings. I know you can do that with just about most text based apps as well!

I love my Kindle and I'd probably love an Ipad even more. However, I think that books offer students the ability to easily refer back, review and make connections more than ipads. With studying and taking notes you can flip back to the previous chapter or last few pages. Also the pictures and diagrams are larger and more clear. They both have there advantages. The Ipad is much lighter and more mobile - although its ability to multitask, surf the web and go on Facebook might be a distraction for some and they may not be able to stay focused. Picture books would also lose a lot.  I am an art teacher and I so enjoy sharing large coffee table books about art with my students. I really think kids need to have both.

Yes. Kindles and iPads are the modern "green technology" (Any paper you use- a tree has been cut somewhere) and we are to embrace it. For now they appear cumbersome to most of us at transition generation. In future, students will be asking, "And how were they managing to read those papers?".

Great question! I do see schools eventually making the switch to electronic textbooks in the near future. They are definitely cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Also, many university text books are now accessible online, so I would say the change is coming soon. 

I want to say yes but the old fashioned part of me wants to say no. I think that in classrooms books could be eliminated for Kindles or iPads. However I think that their will always be a book filled library in every school. Real libraries should never, ever be replaced,but with the current technology anything could happen.

I hope that e-books will soon substitute paper books. I happened to lift one of my students' rucksack the other day and realised it was too heavy for an 11-year old child. It was heavier the rucksack I take with me when I go out for a week end. Why should children carry such a weight when they can carry a tablet or an e-book reader and have everything in there? On top of that, paper books are uneconomic and environmentally-unfriendly.

I think there is a huge possibility for schools to substitute textbooks for electronic devices. There are many advantages in that they would be lower in cost, smaller, and easier to use.

I think it is probable, but not likely very helpful. I need to be able to hold the book, turn the pages, and really highlight it in order to use it. E-books just don't help me very much. On the other hand, students today are growing up in a post-analog world, so it may not bother them quite as much.

I do think schools will eventually turn to ebooks. There are many benefits to having them. They allow districts to add books to their curriculum without having to order a whole new set of text books. Ebooks are also more convenient. Image high school students having their math, reading, and science text books on one IPad. It would save them from having to carry a 20 pound bookbag everyday. Its also a positive that the books are linked to the web. Whenever my students come across an unknown word in a story, I love to pull it up on the internet and talk about it. We look at pictures and get a better understanding of the new word. It would be great if the students could do this on their own. Even though the initial cost of buying all of the tablets will be pricey, I think it will save money in the long run. And of course we can't forget the fact that they are environmentally friendly.

But as great as they sound, I do have a hesitation about tablets. As with any technology, there is always the risk factor of some type of failure. Schools also need to think about systems becoming outdated. Obviously, schools do not always have to have the "latest and greatest" in tablets. However, there is going to be a point where the technology needs to be updated. Schools also have to take into consideration that the students are going to be the ones held responsible for the tablets, which causes a problem within itself.

I do believe that kindles or iPads or another device that does the same will replace textbooks.  By the time a textbook is proofed, printed, and purchased it can be already out of date.  A book sent digitally however would be more recent, cheaper, and use less of our renewable resources to create.  Additionally, someone can print from, highlight, or choose excerpts of an e-book without damaging the book and they are cheaper to purchase or free to borrow from a library.  Even now, books are sitting unused in classrooms for more recent online alternatives.  This benefits the student with more material, material accessible from anywhere at any time, and through devices that are enjoyable to use. 

Digital Book Wire ( states that an average of 27% of sales to major book sellers were in e-books.  Additionally, they state that a popular book which sold 30 million copies was sold by half in e-book formats (2012).

Me personally, almost all books I am reading now for pleasure are in an e-book format, while I am reluctant to purchase an educational book that I know I will want to use later in that format.  However, students used to using the technology will not feel the same reluctance. 


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