E-readers in High Schools

New School Supplies? wired.com

We all remember carrying around our big heavy text books in high school. You were pretty sure you were never going to need them but there was always the fear of being the one kid who was not prepared. Well, as always, things are changing in the scholastic world.

With the invention of e-readers students have now started to bring them to class. with this comes a debate: should they be banned like cell phones or should they be welcomed as a new form of textbook? In an article by Jared McKinney, in a high school journalism site, he debates the pros and cons of having e-readers in the classroom.

 McKinney talk about how e-readers have many features that are beneficial to the classroom. such as: students are able to look up words they do not know right on the device itself, students can also take notes in the book itself and know where to find the needed information. If students read before class they can bookmark areas that they wish to discuss with their teachers.

Along with this of course are the cons to e-readers. Students may get distracted by all of the features that are not school related. Being able to go on the internet, watch movies, play games, and download apps cause a lot of children to not pay attention to the class. These are the things that worry teachers and parents about bringing this new technology into the school.

Which is Better? worldclassnews.wordpress.com

Another article by Kirk Cheyfitz, CEO and Chief Editorial Officer of the Huffington Post, shows studies done on bringing e-readers into schools. The study was created by Michael Milone and funded by Renaissance Learning. Milone had children read actually print books and then read e-reader books. They were then tested on their knowledge of the books they read. Results showed that knowledge retained was almost the same from both types of books.

Since it has been shown that both print and digital books help us to retain about the same amount of information we must look at other questions that may come up. E-readers are economical because they save trees  from being cut down and turned into books, but there are also the problems of e-waste when the device breaks or becomes obsolete. These devices are also much lighter than text books and can save children from back problems in the future.

All of these question, and more, must come into account when deciding whether it is good or bad to allow these devices into schools. There are many positive and negative affects of e-readers and we must decide what the right course of action is. But many believe the change is inevitable. 

This video shows what an actual teacher thinks. From youtube.

E-Readers to the Rescue

Barnes & Noble Store ecolibris.com

I have always loved to read, ever since I was a little kid I never go anywhere without a book. Other kids in school would always joke and call me a book worm or be amazed that I actually liked to read! I think it is part of the younger generation's culture to not like reading. We see it as homework, or something that adults make us do instead of letting us play.

This way of thinking has ultimately hurt the book industry. Children no longer view reading as fun or enjoyable, so their parents do not buy as many books. With this trend many small independent bookstores have closed or gone out of business. But one giant still remains in the book world: Barnes & Noble. 

Barnes & Noble grew so much it put many other bookstores out of business, but now with the invention of Amazon, Barnes & Noble has a new enemy. According to an article from the New York Times Amazon has taken a lot of business from traditional bookstores and moved consumers online. And with all of the new consumers on their website Amazon created the first Kindle in 2007, taking even more business from Barnes & Noble.

Amazon Logo and Kindle topnews.net.nz

Barnes & Noble had to find a way to keep up with Amazon. In 2009 the first NOOK was produced. Now that Barnes & Noble had a way to compete with Amazon they went full force into the digital age. It was stated that by the end of 2011 the NOOK had about 27% of the e-book industry. This may not seem like a lot compared to Amazon's 60% but it is a big step in the right direction for Barnes & Noble.

Because B & N is the last major bookstore company in the United States it is very important for it to stay open. Without B & N the publishers and everyone else involved in the industry would soon go out of business as well. The industry is in a very delicate spot right now and as long as B & N can keep up with Amazon on the E-reader level they can continue to remain a competitor.

Even with this new digital age ahead of them B & N CEO, William J. Lynch Jr, says that they will not get rid of their traditional stores and will continue to encourage readers to buy traditional books. All in all as the consumers we must decide what we want the future to be. Do we want a world with no traditional books and only E-readers? Or do we want a world where we can go to a bookstore and share that experience with future generations? I prefer the second and i hope others do to! 

This youtube video shows news coverage of the Barnes & Noble company.