Whether textbook or resources from the net, the whole essence as far as student is concerned is to get relevant materials to study. However, resources from the net are readily available, cheaper, faster to access and several materials could be consulted on the same topic or subject making it richer. Also, in this present dispensation of internet enabled mobile phone, studying has been made ubiquitous. There is no need to be confined to a particular place.

Dear Jumoke, thanks for your reply.

I would like to know what has been the point of reflection in recent times, after seeing that some countries have replaced paper schoolbooks with digital ones. Has there been any enrichment from the point of view of the quality of what is proposed to the students?

Thanks

Hello Fernando - Particularly in parts of the developing world textbooks remain very important - often the main resource and sometimes seen as representing 'the curriculum'. I am not saying that this is healthy - an over-reliance upon the textbook can lead to overly didactic and transmission pedagogies, but it is a reality.

And sometimes people disagree so strongly about the content of textbooks that there can be protests, riots and even deaths.

See the paper that a Ph.D. candidate and I wrote on textbooks in Pakistan (attached).

It is worth being careful about making developed world assumptions about the availability/ease of access of the internet (and even in developed world schools well-equipped with technology and hardware, students are sometimes not well-prepared to be discriminating and critical in their analysis of the available information).

Best wishes.

     Peter

Article Beyond binary discourses? Pakistan studies textbooks and rep...

Dear Peter, thanks for your reply and for the paper. I'm sure it will be very useful for us.

I full agree with your view and your concern. The is in fact a challenging issue "to reinvent" the appropriate school for the technological world we live nowadays.

Best regards. We will stay in touch.

Fernando 

Dear Fernando,

Its a very good question indeed. Schoolbooks have the advantage of having 'limits' in terms of content and pages and... there is a business around it. 

I'm currently on a research project with 5th grades were I could observe that the classroom is not yet designed to accomodate computers usage in a regular basis, and there is the question of content and activities curation, of course. Its much easier to folow the book. There is also a no 100% warranty that the computers and the internet will be working as needed for several reasons. I remember a girl that forgot her password to access Sscratch and she started crying since she needs his father email to recover it. Of course the password should be from the teacher...maybe. Just a few practical things from someone that is not a specialist in Education.

Dear Conceição, boa tarde.

Thanks for your add.

I agree that there are a long way until we can have all the technological conditions assured in the schools to be able to full answer these issues.The case you report is very enlightening about the vast array of "little things" that we need to think about. Therefore, as i guess you agree, the question is mainly of a pedagogical nature. And in that case If we think of the kind of pedagogical work that the use of the textbook raises, then we can say that it will be very difficult the way that teachers will have to do to learn to take effective advantage of the technology.

Let's see what other colleagues say about...

Regards

Fernando

Dear Fernando, just some ideas about your question:

In Spain there many schools trying to improve the lessons by tablets, in my kids school it haven´t arrive yet. Some comments about the ones with tablets (from friends): the price of the digital books and the no digital are practically the same. You cannot use the digital ones with another son, you have to pay the lesson each year. Is difficult to control if the kids are studying or watching a movie which is no related to the lesson... and of course there are many positive things, but as always we only hear the good ones.

Dear all,

the main problem about education is not the textbook or even the tablets. it's the kind of pedagogical work you do with your students that makes the difference, and you don't need tablets or textbook to plan a good lesson. Textbooks in school came from a time were classes had a huge number of students, and it was the best way, at that time, to spread information through all the different year groups. The same to everyone. Tablets open a different way to look at textbook, more interactivly, it's true. But it can be a more powerfull resource.

The danger remains: aren't we doing the same with tablets that teachers do with textbook in the 19th century? What about blackboards and smartboards? Is the pedagogical approach different from that time? Do we really take advantage of the peagogical power that digital technology has to offer in terms of respect for each individual? Digital Technology is a great resource for teaching  but we need to be carefull, we should think first in the needs of each of our students, and then how can technology fits each individual. And that is the moment when the pedagogical power of digital technology should arise.

Thanks

Fernando, 

Yes! I agree with you but digital education and learning are the order of the day and paper textbooks are past heritage in most developed countries. However, in developing countries, digital learning has not been fully embraced because of literacy level on the part of the students and teachers especially in conventional institutions of learning where students are compelled to restrict their readings on a subject to particular textbooks or paper materials provided by their teachers. The pedagogy has to change first, by changing the approach to teaching. All stakeholders in education should be determined to embrace digital technology in totality for active exploitation of technology and the vast resources and knowledge it offers.

I am interested in any project relating to this topic.

Dear Marga, Ricardo and Moruf,

Thanks for your very rich and interesting adds. In fact, we can start by the issue of textbooks in the school, but the discussion easily broadens to broader themes related to the type of work that is done, i.e.. what students are called to do in the class or out of it; what teachers do to support them in learning, and so on.

Let's wait for further comments.

Best regards

Hi Fernando,

In South Africa there are schools (public and private) that are piloting the tablets route and other forms of technology platforms in the classroom.

However, the challenge is, particularly for the majority of disadvantaged students, access to information beyond the class, this is because of the huge digital divide gap that is seen in many developing countries (issues such as data costs, affordable smartphones, etc. comes to mind).

I do agree that ICT plays a huge role in improving people's lives, but the challenge is finding the correct balance between technology and the entire ecosystem to the benefits of all.

Good topic though.

Thank you, Sello.

Good to have notice of your particular context. By the way, this is a good thing that Research Gate allows, ie. having news from and about any part of the world.

It could be interesting to everybody to have more detailed information here about those pilots using tablets in the South Africa schools. Is the idea a full replacement of the handbooks?

Best regards.

fernando

Hi Fernando,

The tablets were part of a "paperless classrooms" project. The project however faced many challenges (i.e. theft of these devices, civil protests or service delivery protests targeting schools, etc.) hence my comment that the correct balance between technology and the entire ecosystem is required.

Regards,

Sello

Dear Sello, thanks.

I see... I'm currently leading a project that start to be about tablets, but the truth is that what we are doing is much more than thinking about what we can do with the technologies available today. In fact, it is the very discussion of how the school in the future will be at stake. In the smallest details....

The problem is how to document these little things that happen every day. A methodological issue, I meant.

Best regards

Fernando

Fernando, my university started issuing tablets to freshmen this year. I am interested to research this groups learning pattern, who have access to tablets and those who did not, sophomore and junior students. Any idea, please suggest, how I could go about it.

Good day, Ashar. Thanks for your message.

Well, what I can suggest is that you will resist to the temptation of some of the students having tablets and others did not. I think the most important thing is to diversify the strategies and activities that involve the use of the potential that tablets can bring to the learning process. And, of course, collect observational data to allow each of these strategies to be evaluated.

Best regards,

fernando

Dear Fernando, I embed a link to a post that appeared in one of my feeds today. Not my own thoughts, but I believe its contents should contribute to the discussion.  I am from the same context as Sello, where we have to be aware of the ecosystem when incorporating technology into our teaching.  I don't believe the country in general is on its way to the full replacement of textbooks, for instance, because of the diversity of its conditions.   

https://qz.com/1039404/end-of-textbooks/

Dear Leona, thanks for your comment. I see that is big the interest for these issues from South Africa !!!

About the post you add, I guess that we will need to have more information about the "pedagogical model" that is behind the initiative. Without this is not warned to do a serious analysis, indeed.

On the other hand, I would say that I think video has enormous potential for use in education. Allowing the "visualization" of phenomena and concepts is something very "powerful" for learning.

Let's continue this tasty conversation!

Fernando

dear Fernando,

applying information and communication technology needs a lot of human and financial resources. regarding its practicality, it is problematic in most developing countries especially in public schools. it also needs a lot of humanistic resources like ICT educated teachers and operators. idealistically, you are right but books are cheaper but some children cannot afford them let alone ICT devices. best regards