After reading through the content of The Textbook Reimagined, Anatomy of a Digital Textbook and the Implications it has for all agents involved, describe how you, as an entrepreneur, would make an argument to district and school administrators that shifting to a digital textbook would be beneficial to their organizations and provide value to their students.
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Dear District and school administrators, Do you want to the students in our schools to have the latest, most engaging information possible? Digital books are the answer. They contain features such as interactivity, personalization, accessibility, content streaming and social connectedness. So why should you purchase them? First of all, students can easily share classroom notes and highlighting making collaboration through classroom resources easier. All you have to do ensure technology is available within the schools, or institute a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Program! Secondly, educators will have the most up-to-date information for their classrooms. Educational administrators will be praised for staying green and on-budget. Third, the library can have more e-books as opposed to traditional books as these are preferred by the general public. Did you know that Amazon sells more e-books than printed books?! Sincerely, Mrs. Christine Clayton BScH.BIOS, B.Ed, OCT, MET
As an entrepreneur I would make the argument that the ease of use is the main positive argument. The ability to personalize, interact and engage auditory and visual stimulates makes a digital textbook appealing. The use of digital textbooks would allow for a much lighter load to be carried by students, helping them with posture and spinal health. These books cannot be lost and would save many students from paying the hefty lost textbook fees. No paper is required, which would save on paper waste and printing. Although tactile and traditional books should still have their place on shelves, digital textbooks fill a different need. With the ability to implement videos, stories and clearer images, students will simply be less bored when doing required readings. Also, the school board could save an enormous amount of money using digital textbooks. Each year changes are made to books. These changes require entire re-printings and are a huge money grab for textbook moguls such as Pearson. Digital textbooks can be edited online, so that there is a much smaller cost associated with maintaining the relevance of each book. In terms of students accessibility, in 2015 87% of Canadian households had access to the internet. (https://cira.ca/factbook/2014/the-canadian-internet.html). Hopefully, the participation gap will continue to narrow and digital textbooks will be accessible to all at home. For now, libraries, school computer labs and other publicly accessibly online spaces will ensure that digital textbooks can be used by all. Digital textbooks should be made readily available to students at all educational levels. Universities and colleges that use digital textbooks currently could be used as case studies to show the true benefit of online textbooks.
As an entrepreneur, the things I would say to convince school administrators to switch to digital textbooks would include their convenience, their customization, as well as their efficiency. In terms of convenience, digital textbooks can be read from a single computer or a tablet, meaning that potentially several textbooks can all be included on one single device and never have to worry about misplacing or forgetting the materials. Their customization is also a strong selling point for instructors who would potentially learn down the road how to customize the book by editing what they deem necessary to best suit their classroom or institution’s needs. Finally in terms of efficiency, students can listen, watch, and interact in various different forms all on one single medium. No need for an attached CD or DVD to get extra materials when its all accessible in the press of one single button. These are just three that I would narrow it down to because saying too many good things can have the opposite effect on those who are not 110% willing from the get go to jump on the bandwagon.
Hi, this is my audio response about digital text books. Actually, did a response to Rodney St. Pierre's voicemail message. https://soundcloud.com/user-258115321/etec522-digital-textbook-response-opportunity-forum Briar
In one building on a multi-building campus of Georgian College, we print just over 1 million pages worth of student handouts per year on the staff photocopiers. That’s the equivalent of 120 trees per year for one building on one of seven campuses and does not include the larger print jobs that are sent to the on-campus print shop. The carbon footprint for this college in paper consumption alone is staggering. This is but one of many reasons for Georgian to consider going digital. Becoming a digital textbook college would have several beneficial implications for both the environment and for student and faculty convenience. Students would no longer need to carry heavy books as they would have all of their reading materials and multimedia learning tools on a mobile device. Teachers would no longer have to spend hours at the photocopier running off materials for their students. With their mobile device of choice, students could also carry and conveniently refer to their learning material, apps and etextbooks at any time and in any place. Students would also save money with the lower cost of etextbooks. Algonquin and Lambton Colleges in Ontario http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/learning-untethered-how-mobile-is-enhancing-how-students-learn/article27356611/ have gone digital and while the first year was an adjustment for both students and faculty, the benefits have been extraordinary, as described above. One of the fears of going digital, that students would prefer to have paper books, was addressed, in Lambton College’s case by providing each student with a tablet device with all of the etextbooks and handouts preloaded on their device. In addition, the third party Textidium (https://texidium.com/) which provided the digital material and reading platform, also enabled students to make one printed copy of their books if they wished to. While this might seem counterintuitive if the aim is to reduce the carbon footprint, most students chose not to print their materials, but with such a radical change as this, it’s nice for students to have the option if they prefer to read from paper. The cost savings in printing alone and copier machine maintenance can be in the millions of dollars for a mid size college such as Georgian.
As a mathematics teacher and entrepreneur teaching in BC, the best way to pitch a shift towards digital textbooks to administrators and school boards would be to persuade them that the school year 2016-2017 is the most appropriate year to make such a shift. In BC, a new curriculum is set to be implemented for the 2016 and 2017 school year, and a major shift in the new curriculum is the emphasis on communication, thinking, and personal/social interactions, with teachers being empowered to teach subjects based on big ideas instead of a set list of criteria as seen in the old curriculum. The digital textbook has many components that is ideal for this new change of direction. Built in social sharing allows students to reflect, and share ideas and to build discussions right from the textbook. With the new flexibility offered to teachers, the social sharing functionality in the textbook could offer teachers a place to share their teaching experiences to other teachers and to share lesson ideas and to discuss lesson successes and failures. On top of all this, In my district, my school district employs a BYOD initiative, and digital textbooks would be the perfect companion to the program and would save the district a lot of costs down the road.
If I were to play the role of the entrepreneur, I would promote the benefit and opportunity of the digital textbook for the school and district given the opportunity to provide students with up to date content that can be tailored to an individual or classroom focus and facilitates interaction between peers and a larger learning community at home and across the school and region. Multimedia, interactive and dynamic content can be modified to ensure its currency and relevance and it can be used in concert with discussion groups, problem solving activities, self reflective activities and hands-on training (to name a few learning and teaching tools). Digital textbooks will limit the need to purchase and house large expensive libraries, make resources instantly available to students and ensure that the school maintains current and relevant information and resources. This option is not without cost but it is arguably less than the purchase, storage and update of print materials and diminishes reliance on print and paper which can be argued as a more environmental strategy. On the other side of that argument, I as a school administrator would have a few concerns and questions. First off, this digital technology is not equally accessible by all and it will be important to remember that not all households or students have equal access to digital technology and online resources. It is likely that lower socio-economic groups and marginalized communities will face a growing gap and challenge in their access to and success in educational institutions that rely heavily on digital resources. A number of organizations such as First Book Canada are trying to address this need and issue with programs to provide free e-resources to lower income families but this will not be enough to ensure that all children have access to digital resources in the school or district. Internet access and capacity to support the use of technology in the home is also an issue and before adopting a digital textbook program, an assessment of the student population, their access to internet at home and their support at home for its use is also important to consider. One marginalized community is First Nations where one in four children live in poverty and less than 50% of homes have access to the internet (Chiefs Assembly on Education, 2012). The digital textbook may be here and evolved to a level where it offers great potential but the internet connections, access in all homes and economic support and programs to ensure that no child is left behind are not yet at a stage where digital resources can replace the printed textbook in schools. From an ecological standpoint, it is also true that while print and ink and storage and shipping are diminished in use, the development of equally harmful and resource heavy plastics, metals and elements needed for the production of mobile and digital devices are not without their own equally if not worse impacts....and unlike a book, they are harder to recycle, have more deleterious effects than degredation of cellulose and seem to require updates and replacement at an increasing rate. This is not to say that there are not great benefits and opportunities for the digital textbook but as educators and global citizens there are many elements to consider here that are rarely discussed or addressed. They need to be as this shift will have lasting and significant , indeed revolutionary, effects on our education systems, social systems and use and need for resources. References: Chiefs Assembly of Education. 2012. A Portrait of First Nations and Education. Palais des Congres de Gatineau. October 1-3 2012. Gatineau, Quebec. Retrieved on June 11, 2012 from http://www.afn.ca/uploads/files/events/fact_sheet-ccoe-3.pdf
I do not know that I can recommend publisher created digital textbooks to schools at this time. Despite their advantages in accessibility, cost, interactivity, etc. The central control of content by publishers fails to make use of one of the greatest affordances of this technology. I would instead recommend marketing an editable e-textbook platform. The platform, provided with starter content, would allow teachers to assemble content that is relevant to their student group and locale. Additional revenue could be generated through paid premium content such as applets and simulations. A revenue sharing model could be investigated for content producers selling their content through the platform. As 1:1 technology is necessary for this venture, a partnership should be developed with at least 1 educational device producers to provide cross marketing opportunities. This could boost sales for both companies and allow lower cost per unit for consumers through volume discounting.
Advantages: • Lower per unit cost. • Inbuilt digital features like dictionary, annotations, note taking, sharing, highlighting • Read aloud feature • Videos and high-quality graphics to aid understanding • Environment-friendly. • Easily upgradable • Friendly font and color options Concerns: • Screen time increase for children • Can be distracting as children may lose focus due to all features • Device cost has to be taken into consideration My suggestion is make digital textbooks optional in your school. Those kids who want to opt for digital textbook instead of hard copy can opt for it if they want to bring their own device, or already have a device.
I am not sure that the cost savings of e textbooks will be that great and I suspect that most savings will be passed on to shareholders of the large publishing houses and not the schools/districts. Since the interactivity and engagement have been covered by others I will focus on the following three things in my sales pitch: 1) Time savings, 2) Space savings, 3) Lower environmental impact. Currently a lot of time is spent receiving, storing, issuing, collecting/inspecting, and then re-storing physical textbooks. There would be time savings associate with digital textbooks in the receiving, storing and collecting/inspection stages. The physical footprint of book rooms could be repurposed for makerspaces or idea incubators where students could meet and discuss projects and ideas. This would be more consistent with many present-day work environments. Finally, the environmental savings of less paper, ink and energy spent on the production of physical textbooks would be a selling point to the school and by the school.
