Weblogg-ed – The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
While some of Will Richard’s points are valid, e.g.
# You can’t link it to other relevant ideas or concepts in any organized way.
# You can’t access it if it’s not in your posession.
# You can’t copy out important information and paste it with other important information.
# You can’t share it in any meaningful way.
# You can’t have the most up to date information about the topic.
, clearly he has more careful students when it comes to books than some I’ve seen …
# You can’t annotate it. How strange is it that students can’t add their own reflections or thoughts or reactions, that they have to do that in a different space?
# You can’t edit it.
His is however a somewhat one sided view, as the benefits of the portability of text books (not to mention the fact that they are replaceable should they meet a wet end in the bath etc.) isn’t really considered.
Cleary, e-texts have great advantages over books in some cases, but not in others. Maybe the fact that he was referring to “text books” rather than “books”, was that he was thinking about factual books – used primarily for reference, rather than novels, which could be text book for some, relaxation for others.