What nonsense. You have to carry a few books around at Uni, so what? Did this really need 'fixing'? I didn't pass all the time ago through moaning about a heavy bag, students just get on with it. And most of the time you're in a library anyway, tucked away with your own stash of books. I can have as many books as I want open, and just used some PostIt's to keep important pages. You own a book;
- It doesn't live off a battery.
- You drop it, it doesn't smash.
- You buy the books you need without a base cost just to 'read' them.
- Re-sell value.
- Using 'real' books would develop better cognitive skills than learning how to use an iPad.
Call it sentimental value, but I can't see myself warming to a virtual 'textbook' in my iBook shelf, which is basically a piece of a software anyway. Many of the texts I bought for University are beautiful things, and I pride having them sit on my shelf, ready to flick through. They may not be 'interactive', but isn't that what an imagination is for?
I'll bite on the troll bait. It has been over a decade since I regularly been on a campus. Last year I attended one of those rich alumni, dropping money, slap my name on part of a campus building ceremonies and receptions with the deans and alumni affair types hitting us up for more cash. Told them I was in town to take care of other business and the alumni office handed me a complementary campus pass so I could do some crawling around. The changes I saw were astounding.
First, carrying textbooks in backpacks or duffle bags were non-existant. Almost every student was working from a laptop. A lecture hall was no longer a pen and paper notebook site but full of the back of laptop screens facing the lecturer. With permission of the lecturer, I observed the classes. Rarely was any student with their total attention on the talk.
Almost all were typing in notes in one window, some were just recording the lecture to their laptop's hard disk and WiFi was everywhere. Many students I talked to didn't have have printed and bound textbooks for their class, they had a campus web site to address or reading the "textbook" via PDFs. Also, Facebook and other social network sites were used a lot for collaborative efforts. In some cases, projects were worked on remotely via other campuses with cross-project agreements.
Back in our days the "computer guy" was an isolated nerd / beatnik that kept in computing laboratories or in their dorm working odd hours not getting drunk nor laid. Today, it is pervasive and the one without a computer and smartphone as a social tool is the outcast. Had a good time at the alumni club coming to my conclusions that a part of what I built professionally after college has gone full circle and is in the hands of the next generation.
Thus, my take is that iPads are not replacing print textbooks per say but replacing laptops. First, with a tablet computer that wall of laptop backs facing the lecturer starts to disappear. With this obstruction gone, students are back to the old look down at your notes and back to the chalkboard pace but now the "notebook" is more fluid. Also, a tablet computer is lighter than a laptop and less distracting since an entire PC desktop is not in front of you. It is a more social portable computer.
Finally, this new publishing tool is another kick in the teeth to Adobe. They are giving away a digital publishing tool that Adobe makes bread and butter on. With wireless integration, more and more is going on. Passing notes in class is all more slicker.
So there
