Are iPads better than textbooks in schools?

Once prices come down on tablets and iPad's, digital text books will take over and it will be a very welcomed switch; sadly I think I will likely be done with school before this happens but who knows. Going with digital text books would save text book publishers money as they would no longer have to print hundreds of pages per book with a hard cover, and these savings would in theory be passed down to the school, and because digital text books could be used on any computer, iPad, tablet, or phone the school would not even to provide or purchase devices for students, unless they did not have enough income to provide one. The school would also save money if what I said above was the case because books could no longer be damaged, lost, or stolen, meaning they would only have to replace the books when upgrading to a more current edition.

Notebooks are cheaper and have a keyboard. This seems like a real waste of money.

waste of taxpayer money.

books are cheap and can take alot of abuse from students..

Some issues:

1) LCDs are hard on the eyes after a while. (admittedly this is mitigated by screens seen on devices such as the Kindle)

2) From my experience with electronic textbooks, I have found page flipping to be a bit easier when skimming for a formula which is on some page which you can't quite remember. It's just faster to navigate, IMO. A search function might help.

3) You can highlight scribble notes in textbooks. I imagine this parity will disappear eventually.

While there is definitely room for improvement, for the time being, the answer to the question is a resound "no".

honestly I would find an ipad too distracting because as much as you can use it as a education tool, well, Angry Birds and many other games are just a finger touch away. I find my laptop far less distracting for some reason and thus more versitle.

Some issues:

1) LCDs are hard on the eyes after a while. (admittedly this is mitigated by screens seen on devices such as the Kindle)

2) From my experience with electronic textbooks, I have found page flipping to be a bit easier when skimming for a formula which is on some page which you can't quite remember. It's just faster to navigate, IMO. A search function might help.

3) You can highlight scribble notes in textbooks. I imagine this parity will disappear eventually.

While there is definitely room for improvement, for the time being, the answer to the question is a resound "no".

coolbeans90

I find using the search button far preferable to flipping through pages, but to each his own.

But lugging around heavy textbooks is the only real exercise most nerds get :o

But lugging around heavy textbooks is the only real exercise most nerds get :o

Egonga

[QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

Some issues:

1) LCDs are hard on the eyes after a while. (admittedly this is mitigated by screens seen on devices such as the Kindle)

2) From my experience with electronic textbooks, I have found page flipping to be a bit easier when skimming for a formula which is on some page which you can't quite remember. It's just faster to navigate, IMO. A search function might help.

3) You can highlight scribble notes in textbooks. I imagine this parity will disappear eventually.

While there is definitely room for improvement, for the time being, the answer to the question is a resound "no".

Serraph105

I find using the search button far preferable to flipping through pages, but to each his own.

For many cases, I would agree. That said, it depends on what one is looking for and how much information they have which is conducive to a search. For instance, I'm an engineering major, so finding which page an equation is on without knowing exactly what it is called is a pain without Greek characters. It rarely takes me more than a few seconds to grab what I'm looking for manually. In my experience, the search function has generally proved inferior in terms of time.

i see tablets becoming a staple of educational tools in the near future. however, due to the extremely expensive nature of the ipad, i doubt that it will be whats used. it will probably be cheap locked down tablets that are only capable of accessing educational material.

i see tablets becoming a staple of educational tools in the near future. however, due to the extremely expensive nature of the ipad, i doubt that it will be whats used. it will probably be cheap locked down tablets that are only capable of accessing educational material.

taterfrickintot

[QUOTE="taterfrickintot"]

i see tablets becoming a staple of educational tools in the near future. however, due to the extremely expensive nature of the ipad, i doubt that it will be whats used. it will probably be cheap locked down tablets that are only capable of accessing educational material.

comp_atkins

A tablet would be amazing but an iPad is not functional enough and cost way too much for high schools. A cheap Inspiron Duo Tablet-esque PC with Windows 8 and pen input would be absolutely amazing.

EDIT - check this outhttp://www.mobylize.org/index.html

There's a downside... people will want to steal them. And they break. No one wants to steal textbooks, and they last far longer. Plus, they are far cheaper. If I were mayor of a city, I WOULD NOT OK the expenditures on iPads and tablets, especially when the economy sucks so much. Private schools? They can knock themselves out, but portable tech in public schools just isn't feasible.

they shouldnt use ipads, they should use tablets made just for school, which means no games or anything like that at all. but if they did do they I can tell they would be so UGLY and annoying to stare at all the time. books are betterhadoken

waste of taxpayer money.

books are cheap and can take alot of abuse from students..

comp_atkins

[QUOTE="comp_atkins"]

waste of taxpayer money.

books are cheap and can take alot of abuse from students..

SF_KiLLaMaN

I'm old-fashioned and just buy the textbooks.

If I had in Ipad in school, I would learn nothing. That would just completely distract me...

If they gave out iPads to high school students where I live, I think muggings of high school students would increase.

These days, they could probably get by without either textbooks or iPads. Just a notebook and a pencil is really about all that's required to do well in most classes. I can't even remember how many textbooks I purchased in college, only to end up reading maybe ten pages from them - if anything at all. Look up the subject on Wikipedia and you'll get about as much as you're actually required to read out of a textbook.

Does this mean they give you an iPad with e-textbooks already loaded, and you can keep them?

I wish I was at that school.

waste of taxpayer money.

books are cheap and can take alot of abuse from students..

waste of taxpayer money.

books are cheap and can take alot of abuse from students..

comp_atkins

:lol:

I wish school books were cheap.

I wont read this, because I already disagree. Its NOT iPads that are better than textbooks, its just any type of device that would allow you to hold a digital library of books that are better than text books.

These days, they could probably get by without either textbooks or iPads. Just a notebook and a pencil is really about all that's required to do well in most classes. I can't even remember how many textbooks I purchased in college, only to end up reading maybe ten pages from them - if anything at all. Look up the subject on Wikipedia and you'll get about as much as you're actually required to read out of a textbook.

Jackc8

Most professors I've had would beg to differ with you, in fact most of them would fail you on principle if they knew you were getting all your information off Wikipedia.

Anyways, I've been saying for a long time that digital distribution should replace textbooks to reduce costs. Aside from being easier to carry, there are fewer materials involved, you can do it at a far lower cost, and you can offer updates without charging students exorbitant sums for new editions. The biggest downside is if publishers decide that they're not going to pass the savings on to the customers and keep their prices high because they can.

As for using it for notes, less mess, less materials, less to carry around. The recognition software isn't great right now, but that will get better with time.

As others have said, shouldn't be exclusive to Mac.

As for people saying students can't afford it, do you know what books cost? I paid $190 for two of by books this semester, and my books costs are typically well over $100 (that's buying mostly used). Buying a $600 reader would pay for itself within three semesters easily, possibly even two.

[QUOTE="SF_KiLLaMaN"][QUOTE="comp_atkins"]

waste of taxpayer money.

books are cheap and can take alot of abuse from students..

comp_atkins

I don't get it, wouldn't it be better just to get netbooks/laptops for $500 or less? Netbooks aren't much bigger to carry around than an iPad is. JML897

Seriously, I think having your textbooks available electronically makes alot of sense for students and educators. BUT, publishers will lose alot of money if this happened andwill try hard to squash it.

I vote for Ipads rather than textbooks!

No.

Expensive, waste of money, mugging target, gimmick, unnecessary, ugh. Read the textbook, it's not hard.

I actually opted for a physical copy of one of the textbooks I need, since I figured the internet would be too much of a temptation and ultimately a distraction.

Besides, it's easier for me to focus on a real textbook. And they're not that much cheaper, a digital copy was still $110 or so, down from $140.

No, no they are not. Those iPads would be coming back in pieces. And it would also fuel the great old excuse of "I can't hand in my homework because the file got corrupted" Aaaah, the modern age...letting you get away with anything Overlord93

There would probably be insurance plans that are mandatory for students. Also, the excuse "I can't hand in my homework because the file got corrupted" doesn't fly with most teachers.