InfoTeacher

The  New York Times writes more on digital textbooks.  They are coming; they are going to change what we do (probably more than we expect them to), and they are going to change other aspects of teaching and learning.  One open source philiosophy textbook already online for high school math is MathOpenRef[dot]com. I have had links to certain parts of this site for years on my school’s resource page. My impression: it’s terribly under utilized (It’s not necessarily under utilized by my school’s teachers. I teach at an elementary school, and Math Open Ref is a high school curriculum. My school makes use of it’s visuals occasionally; and I do wish more teachers would use it. But I believe it’s very under utilized by high schools who could supplement their texts DAILY.  I think that by doing so, they would better  engage kids. Qualifer: I don’t know what really goes on in high schools. Perhaps they do make use of this, and other digiatal sources on a DAILY basis. I hope so).  I’ve also made use of John Page’s (Math Open Ref’s author) article, “Ten Reason’s Why Technology is Vital to Education”

My school just purchased a new reading series and a new math series. We spent tons of money and these series will last us a number of years (not including consumables).  These new paper books do come with great online supplementation, e books, online assessments and the like — it’s way different than the last new series we bought (only about 8 years ago). 

But, I was just wondering. When we replace this series in a few years, will there be a paper book at all?  Will the entire replacement be digital? Will it use digital readers, e books, online assessments, online projects and online assignments?   Will the reading materials be put on something equivalent to a Kindle instead of old-fashioned paper?  Will the audio reads be Itunes subscriptions instead of CDs that it comes with now? (Text for another post:  Itunes University).

These things are interesting to ponder.  The future will definitely be different than what we do now. How many of us are ready? How many of us are preparing kids now so that when the future gets here they will be ready?  I think we are making progress, but I think we are behind and playing catch-up.

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