As I was reading chapter 5 in the text, within the first few pages I was interested to see the section titled “e-Books and e-Readers”. While I was not aware (before reading) of the exact numbers related to the decline in student reading, I already knew for certain that more and more students are losing interest in reading as a hobby. As the years pass, tons of new technology is being produced while schools are still expecting students to find joy in reading. My question is: why would you want to continue reading books when you have all this technology around you that is way more stimulating than words on a page? While e-Readers and e-Books incorporate technology with reading and may help to inspire some students to read, I feel like it’s not enough and it’s never going to be enough. There is always going to be something related to technology that is more interesting than reading; and this applies to a majority of students. I know, from personal experience, that someone who already does not enjoy reading is not going to find much difference in reading books as opposed to reading on a screen.
Further into the chapter, I was extremely excited to read about the article titled “Scoop.it! Digital Magazines for Teachers and Students”. This was simply because I thought it was an amazing tool that can be used in many different ways in my teaching career personally. I plan on teaching elementary school, preferably anywhere from third to fifth grade, and I feel that at these ages my students will be interested to see information that is valuable to them put into a newspaper form. Children learn by seeing what their elders do and while you may not always think so, most children look up to their elders. When a student sees an adult reading a newspaper, it makes them interested to be to the age where they can do things such as this that would make them feel more important and adult-like if you will. I think using the Scoop.it! Magazine creater would be an amazing tool to help students feel superior and important while also providing them the information they need at an easy access for teachers.
I also found the section of chapter 5 titled “Evaluating Online Information” helpful not only while I was researching for this weeks assignment, but in general. So many students are given very basic guidelines when it comes to researching information and are not given enough help that they need to find reliable information. While researching information students need to know what is credible and not, as well as where to find this credible information and what not to look for.
Sources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
As a reader (both analog and digital), I was especially drawn to your reflection about the e-readers vs. the traditional print books. I wonder if or how it would make any difference for your personal experience if the electronic book also included video or interactive material? I look at the availability of media that is not always considered when creating reading materials and wonder if we could capitalize on that to 'hook' the reader?! In fact, I miss seeing some visual elements (image, video, hyperlinks, embedded web 2.0 tools) to enhance this post and make it more interesting/interactive! ;)
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