Is Gutenberg dead?
Since Johannes Gutenberg invented the first modern mass printing machine and printed his first bible circa 1450, the business of publishing books has led to improvements in education and society. In the last century, textbooks were the authority in a classroom.
Now, as new digital forms of information become more prevelant, what role does the traditional textbook play in our schools? Will they continue to play a role, or is the image of a paper-based text (or even a novel?) simply a romantic notion that is quickly becoming outdated?
What might replace the text? How might teachers manage this change?
posted by Jeff Whipple at 8:26 PM
34 Comments:
Gail said: The textbook (written word on paper) will never be replaced because it is a permanent record. It is not words floating around 'somewhere' in cyberspace. Computer technology doesn't easily lend itself to all the various uses that the world has for the written word on paper. We will always be paper-based as long as we have paper because on a practical level, it is more functional, convenient, and user-friendly. I don't believe anything will replace text. There is a small minority of the world that is pushing for the dominance of technology (either because of profits or ego). Computer technology is merely an overrated fad. Hopefully, once the 'jury is in' on the nil or ill-effects of computer technology in the classroom, the world will be 'jolted back' to their senses. The written word on paper will dominate and serve as a reminder to us that we should deal at a level of reality rather than live in la-la-land!
That is a tough question. While I hope that books(in paper form), will not become outdated and not needed, part of me believes that it will. I believe that in the distant future, "traditional" textbooks will not be needed or used in classrooms. I come to this conclusion, because technology is going to continue to grow, whether we like it or not. We,as teachers will have to accept that and accommodate that. (Remember those big books we used to look up info. for our projects, during elementary and middle school?....I think they were called excyclopedias.lol I am only meaning that we now are compelled to look up info. on our laptops, rather then flip through huge books.
Honestly, I think that the possiblity of text books, way in the future becoming obsolete, is a chance. A great possibility in fact. There are already online textbooks available. Online manuals, online manuscripts, and even online story books now. Why wouldn't they completely dissolve the idea of wasting paper and prefer to move everything to the internet. There is a greater urgency now, for the decrease in pollution. And the decrease in destroying the environment. I wish there was more recycling available! But in order to slow down the death of millions of trees, and stop the paper chase, everything would have to be put on either hard disk space, or the internet. How much easier and more cost efficient is it to blog, to put up a free website, or other place to show your work, voice an opinion, or write a book? It costs so much to have the materials to write a book, then the cost of editing and publishing and all kinds of coffee or tea...when an author can sit in front of the computer, on his newly created space, or website, write a whole book in a couple of days and then publish it right then and there practically.Ok what I am saying, is there is a greater chance of the text book becoming scarce in the classroom in the future. But I am praying, that there is no book-burning ceremonies to host new online book websites. Please, save our books, put them in libraries or where ever you can, archive them, love them, treat them with respect and they'll treat you with the same, but don't destroy them. If I am not satisfied with my response by tomorrow, I'll write back in again, give me a chance to think more about it! :) Melissa
I think that there will always be books, but just not at many. Only certain people will have the books, as permanent records. The way technology is moving, I do believe that all information will be digital and you would have to access it from your computer. I dont think this is one of those trends that are just going to go away.. technology and computers are here to stay, and the only problem, is making them more accessable to everyone. You can already buy unabridge (digital) books for protable devices, such as the ipod, and your computer and the selection is growing everyday. Another 10 years, i dont think there will even be public libraries. I think it would be much easier this way anyways!
for as long as there is book lovers there will be books. People who love to read will not replace thier books with a computer. Cosing up to a book in bed or near a fire can not be prelaced by any computer or program.The authors of these book mknow this and relie on these people. Life can cange and will change with the computer world but there will aways be be need for close contact with people places and things. Nothing can take the place of a hug or a warm winter fire and a good book. This is what is needed in our classrooms today.Passion and Compassion.
I think that the text will always be here, but I think that computers will dominate the future. Just think about it for a minute. Do we ever use the dictionary or the encyclopedia anymore? People just get on their computers and look up what they want to know. I guess teachers have to be more open the change, and learn more about computers and technology. Some of the teachers who do not know anything about computers are going to be retiring and the new teachers that come in will be more knowledgeable where computers are concerned. Personally, I hope that texts do not become outdated.
Mary
Since I was young I have always loved reading books, thanks to Johannes Gutenberg. Some books only have illustrations, which is one of the reasons that I love to read. The thought that takes place after reading and closely examining the pictures creates a relationship between authors, readers, and illustrators. Wheather there is a similar experience between reader and author, we(readers)can somehow relate their(authors)stories personally. I don't think that books will ever become extinct if so then how will publishers, illustrators and authors survive? It wouldn't be fair to lose that kind of special sharing experince between reader and author.
Also, a tradition of handing books down to younger generations would be lost. Years ago one of my aunts gave me a book right before she passed away, to me it was an honour to recieve one of her most prized possessions. The Book itself was about near death experinces and how we take life for granted. The auhtor of that book was Betty J Eadie which i will never forget. This book honestly changed my life. I am still proud of having that book today because it is a precious memory of my aunt who still lives within me today. Someday i will have the responsibility to share that book with one of my own nieces or nephews
In loving Memory of
Norma Clair(Aunt) & Kobe Joseph Clair (Nephew)
Rose Levi
Textbooks are still the authority in classroom; in our classroom books are available for students who want to read. Most of our curriculum is based on textbooks. Yes we do have students who are on Plato and other computerized studies, but we still need textbooks for other subjects. Students who come into our system may not want to do their work on computers. Our policy is to accommodate them with all kinds of resources, which help them advance their education in less overwhelming situations.
Yes textbooks will play a big role in classrooms with computerize subjects taking the lead. Technology has made our world more dependent on them.
A good book will never be replaced by technology. Computers cannot be taken everywhere whereas a book can be. Imagining myself taking a computer on adventurous camping trip. I don’t think so. Too much of heavy load.
Yes technology is forever improving and replacing other things. It might even replace textbooks but hopefully never the teachers and schools, because children need the interaction that they receive in schools. As for the textbooks it would be cool to have a lot of the courses on line so that all teachers will go by the same curriculum and have access to the exact same books and other materials found on the internet through the use of computers. When this happens then the teacher-student relationship will not be close anymore.
I have published a couple of childrens books which I translated into Mi'kmaq and I have been getting royalty chequs. which means that people are still buying them. I hope I get to publish a few more in the future. People will need to read no matter what, whether it be a book or on the computer. For me, I need to print out information on paper so I can read it over and over again if I want to. With todays technology, people can save pictures, documents, etc.. which they can retrieve at any time. You cannot post the different kinds of responses that children express when being read to. I think that there will always be books because children need to be read to constantly and they love it. Children need to be exposed to literacy and still need to learn how to read. I can't imagine myself not reading a good book to the children, just seeing the expressions on their faces is an unforgettable experience and I will always treasure that.
I personally love to read and love to read to my daughter. When my daughter and I read to one another I consider it a very special time because it gives a chance to spend quality time together. Reading is not just about retreiving information it is so much more. Therefore, I hope that text books are never replaced with digital forms of information. I can not imagine a school without "traditional textbooks", I believe books should never become outdated especially in the educational system.
texts book play a critical role, in our classroom and i beleive that technolgy will not replace them totally. We might not used them as often, but still we will depend on them. As long as we still use them in school, home businesses the authors will keep publishing them.
we also use our sences when we grab a book we need to feel, touch and write our comment in our book, we cannot do that from our laptops. I don't like reading from my laptop, usually i print out the article.
There is already health studies comming out about reading and using computer to much have lots or risks and health issues. So to replace totally, i beleive not.
Teacher thought will use the technology more so than before, once they are comfortable about the computer, it's faster and efficent way to look for information.
Text books in schools have been and will always be necessary in our classrooms. Replacing them would be a shame. Our children need to be able to transport materials such as text books and scribblers to and from school and manually open up a text, find what they need to read and study. If these responsibilities were eliminated, i think, children would loss out on learning, gain less responsibility, and even get lazy and dependant. Another thing is that computers are not free, therefore, many low economic status families would not have the privilege of owning a home computer. We cannot forget that the cost of living is continuosly increasing and not everyone has the means to purchase this type of equipment. I dont think we should depend completely on technology like that in our future, it would be unhealthy.
Books will play a role in our schools for quite a while. Technology is here to stay. There are inventing new software for schools. Most of our books we use are curriculum based. Children need to learn how to read in school and at home. But some children do not have a computer at home to read on line so it is good for the parents to read to their children at home. When you assigns us a reading i usually print out the text. thats how i learn.
Gutenberg is alive and doing well at our Elementary school. Traditional text books still play an important role in our schools and will continue to do so. Although digital forms are becoming more prevalent and teachers are incorporating them in their lesson plans they still rely on a paper-based text. Not all schools are fortunate enough to have computers for every student and what would a library look like without books or would we even have a library? Also, why would we let a student sit at a computer just to have an assigned novel read to him (it would be useful for children with learning disabilities, etc...) Another thing, how much time do we want our students sitting at a computer? Personally, I have been getting an increasing amount of headaches by staring at the computer and working on my assignments even for a couple of hours.
David Warlick comments on his blog, 2 cents worth; "I still believe that we should be teaching our children literacy skills that are relevant to an increasingly and ultimately an exclusively digital networked information environment, and believe that this is where they need to be working" I can see this apply to the sciences, math, or social studies but not entirely in language arts. Digital forms of information might be a good way but, somehow, I don't think it's going to replace text books altogether, anytime soon.
Teachers are pretty resilient and probably would manage the change if they needed to, everyone has their own pace. I just started learning about blogs, wikis and podcasts and applying them myself.
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/
Well technology is starting to take over but I dont think that they should take away text books, reading from the computer hurts the eyes, well it does for also gives me headaches so I prefer to read from paper. It would be difficult for teachers if they were to take away text books cause they would have to learn a whole new different material all the time cause technology is always upgrading. Which would be difficult for teachers to always have to go to training and have no class.
i dont think that they should take away books because my self cant read stuff on the computer screen it hurts and its hard to read. i always have to print stuff out when its time to read it. and if they did take away books then all the teachers would have too go to meetings and teach them how to use the computers.
That is a tough question to answer. Personally, I sure hope that textbooks, and books are not completely wiped out by digital forms of technology. Having been in the school for some time now. It is rewarding when a student reads you a book that they just learned. As a parent I love when my children read to me. Not to mention, when I read to them as I get right into the story. The reactions i get is wonderful. As a future teacher I realize that Technology is here to stay so I would adjust and work with it. Not forgetting the importance of reading good books. Don't get me wrong digital forms of info is good but to me reading is much more beneficial.
I don't think that books are going to be obsolete all together, especially for now anyway, but maybe later in the future there may be less books around, because of all the technological advances. Technology has so many great things to offer a teacher, such as doing tasks & lesson plans more quickly, but I still believe that a teacher needs to teach students about the joys of book reading, because in reading a book, a student learns on how to be patient, how to use their imagination to be quiet and to be within their own thoughts. A teacher could also interact with a student from reading a book, by asking students questions on how they felt or what the students were thinking or feeling of their readings. On the other hand laptops are already replacing a lot of things that students do in school, and teachers can only go with the flow in technology. From Carla Ward
Good Evening Jeff and fellow classmates: Now, as new digital forms of information become more prevelant, what role does the traditional textbook play in our schools? I am sure that this plays a big role in most schools. I know here in our school we are always struggling with funding especially having to purchase materials and equipment. I asked one of the teachers how often they use their textbooks, she said not very often, if and when we do we have to share them b/c we do not have enough to go around or they are outdated.
Will they continue to play a role, or is the image of a paper-based text (or even a novel?) simply a romantic notion that is quickly becoming outdated? It is probably becoming a notion of being outdated and I believe that Bill Gates is hoping that schools keep plugging away with technology. But schools need to consider funding sources for technology. It can be expensive if each student were to get a laptop and then to regularly update them or what if they dropped them? I know that when my children receive photocopies of their textbooks or notes they are always fidgeting around trying to put them back in order or misplacing one. What happens when there is not electricity or there is a storm students will not have access to their textbooks, what if their laptop gets a virus, and last but not least I myself find it very difficult reading the computer screen after 1/2 hour. So imagine the students who have to sit there all day looking through a screen and laptops and internet can be very distracting, and how many students can actual stay focus at the task on hand.
I personaly don't think that books are going anywheres. Mind you there will be less of them floating around in the classrooms but they will still be somewhat required.
Reading will always be one essential skill required at an early age. Furthermore, reading if even required for these fancy up to date software that they are strongly advising us to challenge or implement in our school systems. Kids today are more passionate about computers than ever. I say that if a kid has the choice to spend hours and hours on computer which will provide them with the same amount or even more information than a regular text book. We all know what they are going to choose.
I believe that text books will be around for awhile, I also think that at one point that there will be less and less text books published. Even before computers in high school we only used textbooks that were in poor condition and most were just photo copied pages, we shouldn't blame the computer only for the lack of sales or the declining of text books, and schools have long hesitated on buying books. The important thing is receiving the knowledge and learning, it really doesn't matter how we get the information as long as we learn and get something out off it.
I dont think textbooks will dissolve just yet but i think they will eventually. With the use of technology tho, and all the tools that are out there... literature, or text from textbooks on the computer would benefit some students now. Theres students out there who dont know how to read, and with the tools online... they would be able to hear the text being read by a computer animated voice. But then... that would make that student not even attempt to read, and i think its important that students do know how to read. But.. there are students who are very good readers but cant comprehend what they read would also benefit if textbooks were online. All students have different learning styles so some students would benefit more so if textbooks were available online and had many options and tools available with it to help accomodate the students. I think the cost of textbooks, and paper, pencils, and all of the supplies a school uses for writing/reading could cover the cost of some computers for students... I know schools dont update their textbooks every year, but information is being found everyday and it would be easier to update a text book if it were available online.. and wouldnt be so costly to keep up to date with the information in the textbooks. I dont think we're ready just yet to get rid of all text books but i think eventually we should. I'm not too sure what our elders used when they went to school but im sure what we have now is an advancement from what they had years ago. so... i think with generations to come, the new advancement will be most school work being done on computers...and the extinction of text books...
Nicole S.,
I think that books will be around for a long time or at least I hope they will be. I think that books are an important way to keep track of history. I also find it hard to read from a computer screen.
Technology is constantly evolving and it makes you REALLY wonder where will textbooks or any printed material for that matter be in the future with respects to the classroom environment. Textbooks that are now used in classrooms as primary resources, may be the “supplementary resources” of the future. Teachers will have to manage this change by becoming knowledgeable about the internet, blogs, wikis, resources, and the ethics of the computer as well as empowering our students to become their own authors and publishers.
I think that eventually text books will be no longer a part of the school. Technology is changing everyday and eventually all reading materials will come from the touch of a button. It would be nice to still have children learning the way we learned when we were in school but things are updating everyday and it would be easier for all text books to be published on-line. Things change and updates need to be made in text books so it would be easier to have them on-line to change rather than wait a few years for a text book to be published. Alot of children like reading from text because it is easier to see and you don't have to look at a monitor.......but i think eventually the text will be out of schools and every school will be equipped with computers at everyones desks. This might help some kids but i think others will have a hard time to adjust to it. Some things now are being done on computers like take wikipedia for example you can find alot of things at a touch of a button so why would finding different texts and readings be any different.....so i think down the road we should be prepared to be finding readings and texts on-line.
I believe that textbooks are still a big part of our schools and don't seem to be going anywhere soon.I realize that technology is playing a bigger role in our schools everyday, but I don't believe that books will be completely wiped out of our schools.Books are a hands on learning tool for children of all ages.
i think textbooks are not going to used in the near future because textbooks become outdated very very quickly.. technology is happening so fast that the information being published...is the most recent and updated information and that is what people want..most recent, by the time we do get the textbook.. in classrooms the information is usually out dated.. teachers need to start relying on using the newest and updated information which is on the web. Teachers will have to start creating their own classroom site for students, i believe wikis and weblogs are going to be taking over, its about sharing, and posting peoples information,in a collabrative way. also i feel its going to be easier for teachers to meet each childs educational needs through the newest technology out there. it will become easier to manage each indiviuals needs for succeed.
Personally I love having a book to read, even if it is a textbook. It's so nice to curl up on the couch with a book and a coffee that I can't imagine trying to curl up on my couch with a laptop or personal computer. That said, I do believe that textbooks have an important place in the classroom because although the times are a-changin and information is readily available on a computer some things never change like history for instance. A textbook is easily transported from the classroom to home, it can be opened up and read anywhere, on the bus, while waiting, at the kitchen table,or outside under a tree on a nice spring day. Take for instance the "book" you have posted on the wikispace, Coming of age, you can't imagine the problems I've had trying to get that thing printed off, first it won't open anywhere on my computer then I can't find a printer that works so I can print it off and how many pages is it, like 90 or something, that would use up all the ink in my printer anyway and there is no way in the world that I am going to sit at a computer and read it page for page, life is too short. If it were in book form I would have had it read by now. So, call me old fashioned but I can't see textbooks going the way of the dinosaur anytime soon. Some people just don't have the money to go out and buy themselves a computer and I don't think a childs education should be compromised because their parents don't make enough money.
The idea of paper being none existant is not totally out of reality. Although if it does happen, I do not imagine it will be anytime soon. It might happen hundreds of thousands of years from now. I do not think that paper records are not out dated. Although they have been around since as far back as paper has been first invented, books are constantly updated, so its basically about the content not the form in which it is available. By saying this I mean that just because the idea of having information available on paper (books), does not necessarily mean that the information in the books is outdated or not good enough.
What comes to my mind about litterally one day abolishing the text book, is a little over six years ago, everyone was stressed out about the Y2K scare. My question is, what if that really happened, not the Y2K thing but what if something happened to technology and everything shut down, you cant say that it is impossible because it is more possible than a text book spontaniously combusting. So my point is that all the information could be lost, because that is possible to. What might replace the text book is obvious, probably technology based gagits, it would have to be small enough to be carried with ease, even for younger students, and in that case, durable.
If the text book were to be replaced then I imagine that teachers would deal with the change the best way they can with the resourses they have available for them.
I think that the written word will always exist. Not every student has a laptop to allow for online journals/periodicals and information to be accessed and shared in the classroom. AS well, the textbook provides a lot of background information that is concrete for the student to view right in front of them where ever they are.
I doubt that they will actually replace the textbook or novel. IT's too much of an industry that it would seem stupid to annihilate a medium that everyone has access to and makes the literary word accessible to the masses.
I think that a lot of our education will be improved to include technology and electronic texts, but the textbook/written word will never go out of date for the simple fact alone that it's easier to give information when the technology is not available. IT is a valuable resource and it stands to always be included I think.
As an avid reader, I could not imagine that the novel/paper book would ever not be important. I read anything and everything I can get my hands on. I have a very hard time to look at a screen and read off of it. Not only is it hard on the eyes but it's hard to focus on anything thats on the page. I couldn't imagine teaching a class without texts and other books and I probably wouldn't want to either.
I hope nothing replaces the "text". In my situation where I don't own a laptop, imagine having to sit in your computer room, on an uncomfortable chair trying to read a couple chapters let alone read shakespeare or a novel. And with my sensitive eyes, it's very hard to read off of a monitor for more than an hour. With all the rules to follow when using the computer, for example the posture, keeping mointor at eyelevel, so on ... not very comfortable when reading for a long time. which most books are.
But give me a text book and I can sit or lie anywhere even with a beverage and not worry I'll spill on my computer.
It may not play as a big role as the way we were taught but it should be incorportated in the schools system at all times no matter what kind of computer advancements there are. Especially the effects computers have on a students physcial well being. I know I wouldn't want to be staring at a computer for the most part of the day and then have to stare at it again for homework. Books are very important. Technology and Books can make a good balance together.
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