Wait- did I just come off as a technophobic geriatric sourpuss? Yes? I certainly-hope-as-hell so!
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that major textbook publishers are in the process of inking deals with software company ScrollMotion Inc. to transfer their textbooks into an e-reader form that can make it compatible with digital devices like Apple’s iPad. The publishers are tapping the know-how of ScrollMotion Inc. to develop textbook applications and test-prep and study guides for the iPad (WSJ). The publishers on board, include Kaplan Inc., which is best know for its test prep guides and the education unit of McGraw Hill and Cos.
So far, the Journal reports, college kids have been slow to adapt to digital e-textbooks, partly because of mobility problems- the desktops and laptops and netbooks were too large to lug around. But with the iPad’s portability–that issue could be addressed. So now college kids can download their e-textbooks and school kids could “enhance” their learning by taking notes online, recording lectures and taking tests online.
The iPad also will be helped by the interest that schools have always had in tablet-form computers. Science teachers, for example, could use them for taking lab notes, which often use a combination of sentences, charts and mathematical equations, while others could use them on field trips. “This is the beginning of handheld education,” said John Lema, chief executive of ScrollMotion (WSJ).
BARF! Try getting kids to pay attention when they have access to video online–it’s hard enough already to get them to get their digits off their cell-phones, you think they’re going to pay attention when they have a shiny iPad? And didn’t we all buy into that study that said that multi-tasking actually makes the kids more ADD? What are we doing to our kids?!
I know. We’re developing a breed of attention-resistant, multi-tasking brats, who won’t know how to use a pen or remember what they learnt two minutes after exiting class. And I should know- I read on the internet all the time to never retain information and my hand-writing sucks. There- game, set, match! Over.
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