Tablets vs. Textbooks
Tablets vs. Textbooks Our technology is without doubt advancing at an exponential rate, but how best to use it is still being discerned. Since early Egypt to our modern day society books have been the most prevalent form of education; but now we are transitioning into a world that revolves around efficiency and effectiveness. Although we still use textbooks in our school, many schools are beginning to switch to electronic tablets for their economic and educational value over textbooks. Technology is undeniably becoming more popular in schools and is facilitating students in their pursuit to learn in many ways. Primarily tablets are more efficient, reducing the time needed to reach the material and thereby allowing the students to gather and learn information at a faster pace. Tablets can also store large amounts of information, including quizzes, tests, textbooks and other files thus removing the need for physical storage of these materials. This conserves money while preserving the environment; and according to “nomoreschoolbooks.webs.com”, “over six million trees a year are cut down for school paper” costing “thirty to fifty thousand dollars a year per school” as stated in “www.edutopia.org”. Initially the print textbook may seem to be the more cost-effective choice as the average tablet costs around three hundred and eighty six dollars according to “www.tomshardware.com”. But because electronic textbooks cost fifty to sixty percent less than print textbooks, as the students add more documents and data onto their tablet they will actually be saving money. Support for tablets is increasing, particularly in high levels of government including the secretary of education, Arne Duncan and the federal communications chair, Julius Genachowski who are arguing that school publishers should “switch to digital textbooks within five years to foster interactive education, save money on books and ensure classrooms in the U.S. up-to-date content”. Students
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