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A Canadian private school has decided to ditch traditional textbooks, and the backaches that go with them. Book bags may become a thing of the past, as well as the backaches from all of those heavy backpacks. Students at Blyth School will be carting a Sony Digital Book to their classes, and it will be uploaded with the majority of their textbook material. The school made their switch because:
(Books) are pain to carry and a pain to buy.
Anyone else remember when it was "uncool" to carry a backpack over both shoulders? At my school, the practice was lovingly referred to as "Nerdpacking." Instead, we all lumbered from home to school with our bag draped over one shoulder. We resembled Quasimodo, but instead of having a hunchback, we were sporting an Eastpak.
When my kids began preschool and had their first backpacks, "Nerdpacking" was now in vogue. My kids have only known a world where carrying the backpack high and in the middle of their backs was utterly acceptable and fashion forward. And I sighed with relief.
While both of them can handle the heavier load they now carry academically, I do worry about the amount of stress those thick books put on their thin bodies. Seriously, I believe my younger son's textbooks could totally take him if they ever had to rumble.
I can understand why parents at the Canadian school might be really happy with the decision to switch to e-textbooks. No more schlepping of the backpack filled to the brim. There is also another reason parents might embrace the switch. If their child has a learning disability, the use of the e-reader may increase their child's self esteem or help them to feel more included in their classroom.
While e-readers have been around for a long time, the only way they were being "mainstreamed" was by students with learning disabilities who have been utilizing e-readers as devices to assist them in class. LD Resources Foundation sees why switching to e-readers could potentially be a good thing for a school community:
E-Readers and E-text book have potential promise closing the gaps for Students with learning disabilities.
If all the students are using the e-readers, it makes it far less "special" need and much more "everybody" need. Which I think is a definite positive when you consider how children with learning disabilities often can have unique social challenges they may face as they work alongside classmates.
But will the e-book totally take over the real book? No, say the administrators of the school. They will not be uploading novels and there are still versions of traditional texts that do not bode well as an electronic option. So while the e-reader will be heading into the classroom it's not going to be completely taking over. So the Canadian students will still have a book under their arm, and it may be paper or it may be electronic. Which is great, because it means the kids are learning a couple of ways to read.
I do wonder, however, will my kids would be able to figure out how to use the device or would they just lose the device? I'm not alone in my pondering. There's a discussion going on right now over in the Family Connections Forum.
