12 reasons why e-books are inevitable

Heathorn, RJ 1980 Learn with Book.In: Hills, Phillip J., ed. The Future of the Printed Word. Greenwood Press.

 "A new aid to rapid - almost magical - learning has made its appearance. Indications are that if it catches on all the electronic gadgets will be so much junk. The new device is known as Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge. The makers generally call it by its initials, BOOK.

Many advantages are claimed over the old-style learning and teaching aids on which most people are brought up nowadays. It has no wires, no electric circuit to break down, No connection is needed to an electricity power point. It is made entirely without mechanical parts to go wrong or need replacement …" via Stephen Krashen in e-mail to AASL Forum

The resisters are plentiful. Scattered research on comprehension is worrisome. Pricing and compatibility and copy protection are problematic. But the future of books, textbooks, and other educational resources is digital, especially in schools, and here are a dozen reasons why...

1. E-books do not get lost or stolen or damaged.
2. E-books can be updated, revised, corrected.
3. E-books can be accessed at any time from any place.
4. E-books do not require physical storage space or labor for shelving.
5. E-books have assistive/adaptive features for readers including built-in dictionaries, text-to-speech, translations, font-size adjustments, etc.
6. E-books do not stigmatize readers by having covers that may indicate reading abilities or tastes.
7. E-books are transportable and always on hand if read on tablets, phones, and other devices that people seem to always have with them.
8. E-books can be supplemented with multi-media resources like video and sound and animations that help illustrate and explain concepts.
9. E-books and digital resources can be easily curated and linked to courses and lessons in learning management systems helping differentiate instruction.
10. E-book highlights and notes can be easily created, found, and exported.
11. E-book completion can be tracked, recorded and analyzed.
12. E-books mean never running out of something to read.

I suspect when the automobile was introduced, horse lovers compiled a good number of reasons why these noisy, slow, unreliable, gas-dependent, road-dependent, and uncomfortable machines would never replace Ned and Nellie. History is on the side of e-books. Get over it.

See also:

http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/future-of-books.html

http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/future-of-books-revisited.html

http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/turning-the-page-e-books.html

http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/the-e-book-non-plan.html

http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/managing-digital-resources.html

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Comments

[Robert Schuetz]

Thanks Doug,
As much as I enjoy turning page after page of a John Sandford mystery, I have come to appreciate the interaction and accommodation of e-books. I appreciate the collaborative capabilities afforded by digital text. My vocabulary is richer because of built-in dictionary and thesaurus features. I prefer to travel light when I go on vacation. Instead of packing one, I can bring a dozen books with me to the lake. Even though it's not recommended by sleep experts, I spend the last minutes of every day reading books or articles on my iPad. I'm at a point where I'm not sure how I could live happily without e-books.
Bob

[Kenn Gorman]

I wonder if the reason most schools have not gone entirely to e-books is the teachers and administrators, not the students or parents. I still see students with 25 - 30 pound backpacks and even more books in their lockers.

From a student's point of view, I believe it is the need to annotate, which I teach but I doubt other teachers do. We are fortunate enough to have the entire Adobe suite on school computers, but I know there are other on line and free pdf annotation tools.

And then there is the biggest irony of all - the Advanced Placement Computer Science exam is all on paper...

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Bob,

I will go so far as to say I now feel put out when I must read a book in print!

I read on my Kindle Paperwhite instead of my iPad before bed. Not sure if that makes a difference or not, but screen can be dimmed.

Doug​

Hi Kenn,

As with most new technologies, reading on an ebook takes some getting used to. I could add weight, however, to my list of why ebooks are inevitable.

And to tell the truth, I wish all testing would go back to bubble sheets. I am tired of computers being tied up with testing far too many weeks of the school year!

Doug