iPads Vs. Textbooks: Which Side Are You On?

Many US schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks

Many US public schools providing iPads to students, moving away from traditional textbooks

Stephanie Reitz, Associated Press, On Saturday September 3, 2011, 4:25 pm EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, hefting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and flipping electronic pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer.

A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near Boston will also start the year with new school-issued iPads, each loaded with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional bulky texts.

While iPads have rocketed to popularity on many college campuses since Apple Inc. introduced the device in spring 2010, many public secondary schools this fall will move away from textbooks in favor of the lightweight tablet computers.

Apple officials say they know of more than 600 districts that have launched what are called "one-to-one" programs, in which at least one classroom of students is getting iPads for each student to use throughout the school day.

Nearly two-thirds of them have begun since July, according to Apple.

New programs are being announced on a regular basis, too. As recently as Wednesday, Kentucky's education commissioner and the superintendent of schools in Woodford County, Ky., said that Woodford County High will become the state's first public high school to give each of its 1,250 students an iPad.

At Burlington High in suburban Boston, principal Patrick Larkin calls the $500 iPads a better long-term investment than textbooks, though he said the school will still use traditional texts in some courses if suitable electronic programs aren't yet available.

"I don't want to generalize because I don't want to insult people who are working hard to make those resources," Larkin said of textbooks, "but they're pretty much outdated the minute they're printed and certainly by the time they're delivered. The bottom line is that the iPads will give our kids a chance to use much more relevant materials."

Read the full article here.
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I have mixed feelings about learning via electronics vs. physical printed books, for a couple of reasons. The first and obvious one is that "yes", I work for a paper merchant, and I want to sell more paper.

The second has to do with my particular learning preference. When I was in school our only option was to learn from printed textbooks. There are so many different options now for the younger generation (iPad, Kindle, notebook, laptop) etc, but back in my day it was a good old fashioned book.

Studying (learning) for me involved having that book on my lap, a highlighter poised at the ready, and a pad of paper next to me for note taking.

Even now as a user (and lover) of several electronic devices, I still revert to paper when I am attempting to learn or absorb something new. I have to print out what is on screen, because if I really want to remember something, I have to hold it in my hand. That is simply how I learn best. I need to read and reread things often, and doing that with paper is much easier than attempting to do it on a screen. Running my finger under important passages is frowned upon when using a screen.

There is something about being able to flip back and forth between pages, clarifying, rechecking to make sure I really got the information properly that cannot be achieved via a screen.

And being a true paper lover, I also need to take notes in the margins, on the back of the sheet, to really make things gel.

Reading fiction for pleasure works okay for me on an electronic device, but if I need to learn, really grasp something new, I need a book. I need paper.

Paper is important.

How about you? How do you learn best? Which side of the iPad vs textbook issue are you on?