Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Do we really need textbooks?
It is the time of year that many districts are looking to replace or update textbooks. Many districts feel the need to continue to purchase textbooks, but I think we have reached the point in education where we should start to question the automatic renewal of textbooks. With the increasing use of the Internet, many textbooks are merely being used as a reference.
Here are a few questions to consider before expending money on textbooks:
Is it a wise use of educational funding to have a collection of textbooks on a shelf when they are rarely used?
Could that money have a greater impact if it were used to purchase or renew educational technology equipment?
Is there a sufficient supply of trade books in the school/classroom for students to develop the skills needed to use books as a resource?
Does the Internet provide appropriate resources for a particular content area or can resources for that content area only be found in a book?
Would the funds have a greater impact if targeted for professional development to meet the needs of teachers who have not yet had benefit of learning to teach with the Internet?
Here are some articles providing insight into this topic:
http://www.electronic-school.com/199906/0699f1.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/04/21/77637_HNgatesseestablets_1.html?HANDHELDS
If the decision is still to purchase textbooks, take a close look at the online support materials that the textbook company provides. Are they quality resources or merely paper-pencil type activities that have been published online? I ran across this resource that organizes and links many online textbook related resources to help you with the process of evaluation:
http://www.aolatschool.com/students/textbooks
Happy teaching and learning!
:-Diana
Here are a few questions to consider before expending money on textbooks:
Is it a wise use of educational funding to have a collection of textbooks on a shelf when they are rarely used?
Could that money have a greater impact if it were used to purchase or renew educational technology equipment?
Is there a sufficient supply of trade books in the school/classroom for students to develop the skills needed to use books as a resource?
Does the Internet provide appropriate resources for a particular content area or can resources for that content area only be found in a book?
Would the funds have a greater impact if targeted for professional development to meet the needs of teachers who have not yet had benefit of learning to teach with the Internet?
Here are some articles providing insight into this topic:
http://www.electronic-school.com/199906/0699f1.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/04/21/77637_HNgatesseestablets_1.html?HANDHELDS
If the decision is still to purchase textbooks, take a close look at the online support materials that the textbook company provides. Are they quality resources or merely paper-pencil type activities that have been published online? I ran across this resource that organizes and links many online textbook related resources to help you with the process of evaluation:
http://www.aolatschool.com/students/textbooks
Happy teaching and learning!
:-Diana
Labels: Internet resources, textbooks
