South Korea to Replace School Textbooks with Tablets By 2015

[txlibdem]

South Korea Looks to Replace School Textbooks with Tablets By 2015

Tiffany Kaiser - July 4, 2011 12:12 PM

In addition, South Korea will create a cloud-based server system for its schools that allows students to download textbooks on their tablets

Mobile devices have become a crucial part of everyday life for many people. More recently, tablets have gained popularity as new models, such as Apple's iPad 2 and Samsung's Galaxy Tab, have upped the mobile experience.

Furthermore, tablets are not only being used for entertainment purposes. More and more businesses and schools are replacing textbooks and print manuals with tablets. For instance, Alaska Airlines replaced its flight manuals with iPads, and American Airlines is looking to adopt the tablet as well.

Now, South Korea wants to replace textbooks in its schools with tablets as a way of jumping into the digital age. Last week, South Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced that the government will invest over $2 billion USD in the tablet idea by 2015.

... http://www.dailytech.com/South+Korea+Looks+to+Replace+School+Textbooks+with+Tablets+By+2015/article22067.htm


I, for one, welcome our new Tablet overlords.

[FreakinDJ]

1. is retention the same with computer text

maybe a sign of my age but i prefer Paper Text over Screen Text for learning

[txlibdem]

5. I, too, like to be able to see two pages at a time, mine is due to disability

There are so many things you can do with a book that you cannot do with an iPad but on the flip side, when you hold a book in your hand you cannot search for every occurrence of a word or phrase.

I'm a visual learner and up until about 10 years ago if I read something slow enough I could recall the page like a quasi-photographic memory. My high school English teacher used to hate me for correcting her tests and lectures too frequently. One day she thought she would shut me up so she brought out her dictionary and looked up the definition of a word that she marked the entire class wrong on... only to find that the one I told her was the better definition was the #1 listed and hers was the #3 listed definition. About 2/3rds into the school year she announced to the class that she was retiring from teaching. I hope she was only kidding about that because she was a good teacher overall, just had zero patients with students and didn't handle fast vs average vs slow learners very equitably.

But to my point, my daughter's school backpack must have weighed 50 pounds due to all of the books she had to carry. I can't believe that kids have to carry that much weight on their growing backs (and spines).

[ashling]

2. Texas considers tablet for schools ... but which one?

It would be a conundrum, but since that word is too long to fit on any of these selections, it has been stricken from

Webster's New Texas Dictionary

[txlibdem]

3. I wasn't born in Texas, I came here for a job so I find great humor in your post

And a certain amount of truth...
:fistbump:

[ashling]

9. I teach at a community college here

And am familiar with the results of their old school attitude :grr:

[txlibdem]

11. Don't get me wrong, Texas has free college for all citizens, unless "tricky Ricky" has F'd it up too

When last I heard, our property taxes and lotto (stupid tax) goes to fund school and college for Texas' youth so I'm not bashing the entire system.

I just think that technology is moving forward but America seems to be stuck in an 1850-style education system.

[ashling]

13. Texas used to have some college grant

money for college students, but that has dried up. Texas has open admission for high school graduates at some universities,but not free college ed. I remember when I was in high school that we had very low in state tuition (like $4 an hour or something)j but that had started up some time ago.

[txlibdem]

16. My mistake

But, the open admission is a good idea. Some students don't mature until after high school, or may have learning disorders that make competitive college admissions a roadblock for them.

[ashling]

17. Universities are seperated into tiers

Texans who graduated in the top 10% can, I think, get automatic admission to top tier schools. Community colleges have open admission. Unfortunately, that means we get some who are not really prepared ... don't get me wrong, we get some excellent students too, and a lot of "non-traditional students" who are going back to school. I am especially impressed by those who are going through fire fighter training or fire fighters who are going back to get classes. They are generally very focused and disciplined.

[txlibdem]

18. Firefighters: The best of the best

Their training program is so difficult, I think only a small percentage can actually hack it. Hats off to them!

[femmocrat]

4. That would be a gigantic headache for US teachers.

I just don't think our students are that responsible. (Veteran teacher here!)

[txlibdem]

6. How much do all the current text books cost? The students are responsible with those

But you make a good point that students need to be told in no uncertain terms that their parents will be held responsible for cost of the tablet.

It does make for a lighter backpack, however, as I stated in a post above. My daughter had to lug a 50 pound backpack around all day.

[femmocrat]

7. That's true!

I see little kids lugging huge back packs. That cannot be good for their young spines. However, many or most teachers give time in class to complete homework and students don't always take advantage of it. Middle and high school students have homeroom, activity periods, and study halls in which to complete homework.

I'm all for parents being responsible for lost or damaged tablets, but there are parents who cannot afford it.

Our district just spent over $100,000 for a new reading series for elementary. Not sure what that breaks down per book.
At the end of the year, students who lose their books have to pay for lost textbooks, pro-rated, based on the age of the book. Not much of a problem in elementary, but middle school kids seem to be more irresponsible.

I could see dealing with lost, stolen, or water-damaged tablets becoming a huge time-waster. And the students would need to receive technology training on their applications, as well.

[txlibdem]

8. Actually the textbooks can be accessed at any computer or tablet of any kind

I focused on the tablet aspect because it's the "in" thing now. The electronic textbooks can be downloaded onto any computer, anywhere.

[exboyfil]

10. My daughters are diligent students and they always

have homework to do at home. I handle it by buying some of their textbooks so they have a copy at home. Usually I can get their textbook for $10 to $20 with a little shopping around. I have gotten their math books for 7th grade math, Pre Algebra, Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Algebra/Trig, Physical Science, Biology, and Chemistry so far. Since we have had some reuse of textbooks between my two daughters, some of them have been used two times. I have also gotten teacher editions of Geography and Economics since I am homeschooling my younger daughter in part.

You can very easily get into having five textbooks to bring home. My older daughter will have six classes with textbooks next year so I can see her bringing these books home. At least she will have the Math and Science textbooks already at home.

I am dubious about computer based textbooks. For example my younger daughter has both a textbook for correspondence Biology as well as a PDF of the textbook. She much prefers to use the textbook as do I. The PDF is useful for doing word searches though when checking homework. Until 8 1/2" x 11" tablets become affordable, I am going to stick with real textbooks. The small Kindle and Nooks are ok for reading a fiction book, but they do not cut it for studying a Science or Math textbook or anything with equations and figures.

[txlibdem]

12. Maybe something like the Microsoft Table Computer, which is a good sized touch screen in table form

It's called Microsoft Surface and is a huge breakthrough in how to interface with a computer in a more natural way.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx

There are also some hacks to the Microsoft Xbox Kinect done by MIT that imitate the Minority Report hand gesture controls.

Here's a video that shows the hand gestures on the bottom half and how the computer responds on the top half.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/09/kinect-finally-fulfills-its-minority-report-destiny-video/

That was in December of 2010 and they may have refined it some more since then but I definitely see some potential there.

[RamboLiberal]

14. Interactive is where digital textbooks are headed

Textbooks are also falling behind when it comes to technology, as any interactive content has to be provided via separate media. Thus, it was exciting to see the implementation of what's being claimed as the “first interactive textbook” called Principles of Biology. Introductory biology courses in the California State University (CSU) system will use Principles of Biology as the primary text for the 2011/2012 academic year. We got in touch with Vikram Savkar, senior vice president and publishing director at Nature Publishing Group (NPG), to get the details on how students can benefit from interactive, digital textbooks.

We didn’t just write a traditional textbook, scan it in, and put PDFs online. This was built from the beginning to be a true digital book. The interactivities are mixed in to help students understand the material. We have videos and we show diagrams as they are being drawn to students. There are tests at the end of every module, so a student can be tested on the material and receive recommendations on where to go next. We also have traditional material. There’s plenty of text; there are plenty of still images.

No, these textbooks are not free, but they are affordable. We think it’ll be possible to be affordable. The price will be around $49 per student, and it’s a lifetime access. A person will always have access to the book. Our editorial team will also keep the textbook current. Twenty years from now, you can still read it and get updated on the world of biology. It’s a living edition, not something stagnant.

Many of the interactive features will be available offline (for example, several of the Flash pieces). Some features, however, require a live connection to work properly, and won't be part of the offline version. For example, in some places we expose students to quite rich data sets and allow them to perform analyses . . . these data sets are only available online, so the feature as a whole will not be included in the offline version. Overall, the offline version is not a complete replica of the online experience, but it's a very useful complement to it.

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/06/textbooks-of-the-future-will-be-born-digital-and-accessible.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

[exboyfil]

15. Thanks for the information

This approach reminds me of "The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer", and I suspect that the youth will adapt readily to it. For $49 I think I will buy this textbook when it becomes available. Both my daughters will be doing AP Biology after High School Chemistry, and it looks like a useful resource for preparation for that test.

[RamboLiberal]

19. Samsung Rises as South Korean Students Hit the E-Books

According to Forbes, “The digital textbooks will contain the contents of ordinary textbooks and various reference resources such as multimedia and FAQs to help students understand the materials better. The government also wants to build a cloud computing system in all schools, so that users can access a database of all digital textbooks and choose what they want from their tablet PCs,” according to a South Korean education spokesperson.

The ministry of education will give free tablet PCs to students from low-income families. “It will be up to schools to decide which digital textbooks to choose for students in what year in what subject. We don’t expect the shift to digital textbooks to be difficult as students today are very accustomed to the digital environment,” continues the Forbes blog.

According to eSchoolNews.com, South Korea will begin increasing online classes via broadband and IPTV in 2013. The plan is to help homeschooled students stay ‘up to speed,’ as well as encouraging students to take the “University-Level Program,” comprised of college-level courses, and after-school programs on foreign languages, multiculturalism, and other subjects.

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Technology Review's blogger comments about the nation's new push, “What a student needs… is something that faithfully reproduces a full-size textbook, without compromise. In contrast, the attempt to cram a textbook onto a smaller screen is a primary reason that previous trials with replacing textbooks with e-readers such as the Kindle DX were abject failures.”

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2011/07/20/South-Korea-E-Books.aspx

No wonder they are kicking U.S. butt!