Lesson 18

Tablets for Textbooks in School

For Philippine schools even for private ones catering to children of the well I to-do families, the so called tablet -for a learning is still futuristic. Give however, the recognize impact of technology in education, the future may not be too far away.

Today, books are still the primary medium in instruction in most schools.it is doubtful if these will totally be replace by digital technology reading tool ,but there are now perceptions that virtual literacy May very well ease out textual print literacy. Already, he disadvantages of using books for learning are being debated upon. For school-graders, the load of books and wordbooks for every subject are backbreaking due to their weight and size. In developing countries, one book for every student is still a goal, not a reality. Publishing and printing millions of books for millions of public school children are just too expensive for the public purse. The errors in public school textbooks have also been exposed, errors resulting from wrong information, technical mistakes, and editorial lapses.

Today, technology is being viewed as a savior. Given the fact that students are enamored y computer games which take much of their time at home, educators have begun to think that the computer screen can very well serve as a powerful educational medium. Already computer games have been adopted in developed countries as a learning technology along with other audio-visual aids to teaching and learning. Classroom instruction which rides the vehicle of gaming admittedly makes learning more effective and more fun. From studies, educational video gaming has been shown to inculcate competencies that relate to learning concentration, lasting memory recall and higher visual literacy.

De La Salle Experience

The future with tablets use as replacement for books is good since it has many advantages like many books can be put inside the tablet and there is faster access to information since tablets can connect to the net. Based on experience, a tablet can really be a good aid in learning. A tablet being small, can be put inside my bag and carry it anywhere, which means to say then that I can study anywhere. However, it is not as durable as a book. My tablet no longer functions, I don’t know for what reason perhaps because it fell down – books are still books even when they fall down. I didn’t use my tablet in studying, it makes my eyes teary and afterwards my head to ache. Although, less bulky, tablets can cause harm. I have heard so many stories of students being victims of snatchers. Tablets compared to books are expensive, so, for now, I still go for books. I would like to make it clear however that I am not against the tablets for textbook in schools.

Tablets for school

The two – book and tablet – have their advantages and disadvantages, however, in this present situation, since our government cannot afford to give everyone this yet (although tablets are less expensive than PCs), we have to use the books that we have (no wonder, books still remain to be the number one instructional material in the Philippines). Books are no less different than those book that has become an EBook in tablets. If one can afford to buy a tablet now, then that’s good but schools should not make it necessary to have this in school if the majority cannot afford it. The use of tablets instead of books is still a choice, not mandatory, hence a teacher can still teach using a book, and it has not yet become useless.