Retrieving Textbooks in the Educational Environment

Akila Nallabelli
Mrs. Scott
March 10th, 2015

Retrieving Textbooks in the Educational Environment

I.

High tech products, such as tablets, should not replace the

textbooks used in the educational environment.

II.

Distractions
A.
Entertainment Applications
1. Games
2. Emails
3. Videos
B.
Attention Spans
1. Student and Teacher Connection
2. Focus Shifted

III.

Cheating and Excuses

A. E-Texts
B. Technical Excuses
1. Battery Life Span
2. Hacked
3. Frozen
4. Wi-Fi

IV.

Health Risks
A. Disorders
B. Body Strains
1. Shoulder
2. Eyes
3. Head

V.

Overall Costs
A. Theft
B. Breakage
C. Implementation

VI.

New high tech products, such as tablets, should not replace

the textbooks used in the education systems.
Retrieving Textbooks in the Educational Environment

Search Story
Did you know over 90% of educational textbooks are still read
on paper, and only 30% of textbooks titles are available
electronically? There is a big debate on whether tablets should replace
textbooks in schools. There are many pros and cons over which
educational device is more sufficient to the schools. Many schools have
already started importing tablets into their education system. Other
schools believe that tablets cause distractions, and increase costs for
education. High tech products such as tablets should not replace the
textbooks used in the educational environment.
Tablets vs. Textbooks is a very hot topic in this generation. Many
schools started to get tablets, as I mentioned before, so I have heard
a LOT about this topic. I know many reasons why/how students get
distracted and how many problems are brought with tablets.
Even if I know all of this information, I wanted to learn more. So
I dove into the depths of this topic to find out more information, such
as what types of risks are associated with tablets, how much the
schools have to pay, how students find excuses for their homework
and many more. But to find information for my research, I would have
to follow the steps.
The first day of my inquire process, I found 10 sources. At first I
struggled to find the right sources but after searching the right

keywords, I found it easier. The biggest problem I faced that day was
that the printers werent working. The second day of my inquiry
process (six days after) we were working on our working outline. I
found most of my key information form procn.org. But, I made a BIG
mistake. I printed out all of the sources that I could find rather than
reading to make sure the source information supports my claim. Now,
I have to find more sources. The very next day, we had to do source
cards. My source cards were very easy to make. My opinion is that the
MEL sources are easier to do source cards on than the website
sources, because you have to write the whole website URL for the
website source cards. Six days later, we already started notecards of
information. Today, I was almost finished with the note cards. I only
had 9 cards left to write!!!

Interview/Poll Results
To get a public opinion on my debate, I decide to create a poll.
For my poll, I had to come up with five questions to ask. My questions
were: 1. Textbooks are the best way to ensure a better education
because they dont cause as many distractions as tablets. Agree or
Disagree? 2. Tablets provide more opportunities for students to get
away with late assignments. Agree or Disagree? 3. Tablets issue
greater distraction to students. Agree or Disagree? 4. Textbooks are

more cost friendly to the students and school. Agree or Disagree? 5.

Tablets raise the chances of breakage leading to more money spent.
Agree or Disagree?
For my poll, I had to choose whom I wanted to get responses
from. The Larson students I chose to do my poll on were Alexandra
Rostkowicz, Shivapriya Chandu and Sarah Snider. The family member I
chose were my mom, my dad and Kapil Vinjamoori (my cousin). For
the Larson Teachers, I chose Mr. Tull, Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Lining.
Lastly, I chose Keerthan Vinjamoori as my Coach.
To conduct my poll, I asked each of my people the five
questions. As they answered, I asked for why they said that and what
was their reason. But, only a couple of them answered to what their
reason was.
After conducting the poll, I calculated my results. For question
#1, 60% of the people said Agree, 10% of the people said Disagree
and 30% of the people said Neutral. For question #2, 50% of the
people responded Agree, 30% of the people responded Disagree and
20% of the people responded neutral. For question #3, 70% of the
people answered Agree, 20% of the people answered Disagree and
10%of the people answered Neutral. For question #3, my cousin
(Kapil) responded The internet is a major source of distraction to
students not only because they wont pay attention in class if they

have it handy, but if they use it at home for other purposes instead of
doing home. For question #4, 70% of the people Agreed, 20% of the
people Disagreed and 10% of the people were Neutral. For question
#4, my dad responded, On the long run, Textbooks will cost more
because they have to be replaced, whereas tablets dont. Lastly for
question #5, 60% of the people said Agree, 40% of the people said
Disagree and none of the people I polled said Neutral for this question.
For question #5 Kapil said, As the technology is getting better, tablets
will be the future of studying. So I disagree.

Search Findings
Students who use tablets tend to get too distracted, as opposed
to those who use tablets. Many of the entertainment applications on
iPads/tablets can completely distract students from learning. Students
pay more attention to apps, emails, games, and other websites instead
of their teacher when using an electronic device such as a tablet or
iPad. Playing games on tablets appear to have roughly the same link to
attention problems as researchers say. Teachers find many students off
track, checking their e-mail, or other social networks, and not getting
any work done when they are around tablets. Videos online are
associated with the same attention problems, just as games are. The
tablets can also affect the attention spans of students. The change

from textbooks to tablets marginalizes decades of learned wisdom in

the teaching profession in favor of an unproven technology (Tablets v.
Textbooks). Many people in the teaching profession are affected by the
technology used for education. Technology makes teaching more
burdensome and can get in the way of learning. According to
education reform Mike Schmoker, Until the core elements of literacy
and critical thinking are learned by every student, it makes little sense
to adopt or learn new programs, technology, or any other innovations
(Tablets v. Textbooks). Tablets can also shift the focus of students from
the teacher to the tablet. Studies have proven that it is more likely for
students to get distracted when they are not using technology than if
they are. 87% of K-12 teachers believe that todays digital
technologies are creating an easily distracted generation with short
attention spans (Tablets v. Textbooks). A teacher named Kristen says,
Most young students are easily distracted because of technology and
will not appreciate the price of tablets. The distractions from tablets
are why many digitally connected students tend to have shorter
attention spans.
Tablets permit more chances of cheating and excuses for
incomplete homework. Tablets enable students to cut corners, or cheat
on homework/schoolwork. Students can easily avoid reading and
analyzing text on their own, because they can quickly look up

passages in an e-textbook and search for answers on the Internet

(Tablets v. Textbooks). Textbooks, on the other hand, provide no
possible way to cheat. Many schools find that their students use online
websites, such as www.answers.yahoo.com to find answers to
homework online or online worksheets. For textbooks, the only options
are to look in the textbook, use prior knowledge, or ask a peer. When
an answer is searched up on the Internet, it is a clear sign that the
student does not have the intention to learn, but to just complete the
given homework and expect to get something out of it. On tablets,
there are multiple apps and websites that are indirectly drawn
attention to that provide students with ways to cheat. Also, e-texts
have advertisements filling the site, causing the students to easily get
distracted from what he/she was previously doing. When using an etextbook, the service has to be high. If the student has low service,
and is completely reliable on e-textbooks, then their only option is to
cheat. The e-texts are not the only things that lead to cheating and
excuses; there are also technical excuses/issues associated with
tablets. Tablets constantly need charging, increasing the electricity
demands of schools. The average battery life of a tablet is 7.26 hours
shorter than the length of a school day (Tablets v. Textbooks). Since
the battery life is shorter, it will be harder to use a tablet because; the
schools must spend more money on charges and outlets. Tablets also

can easily be hacked. A school day could easily get messed up from a
successful widespread hacking. Hacking can cause many problems in
school and may result in more stress. Unlike tablets, there is no
chance for getting malware, spyware, or having personal information
stolen from a print textbook. "Students have new available excuses,
including: 'the tablet broke/froze', 'I forgot the tablet at home so I
can't do schoolwork today', or 'I couldn't find my charger'" (Tablets v.
Textbooks). Many students may run into the problem that their tablets
froze or crashed. Unlike tablets, print textbooks cannot crash, freeze,
or get hacked in any possible way. Schools today are already
experiencing technical difficulties with computers; what would it be like
four technicians with tablets added to the list? Many schools also have
Wi-Fi issues. If the Wi-Fi where to be tapped out, what would the
schools do? Textbooks keep Wi-Fi connection from being tapped out.
"If schools don't have the proper infrastructure in place, tablet users
can risk slow or failed conductivity" (lvarez). "The New York City
public schools, for example, barred new iPads and devices from using
Wi-Fi for just the reason" (lvarez). Without proper Wi-Fi, it will be
hard to run a whole school day without connection problems.
Distractions, cheating, excuses there is still more. There are
many health risks and visual fatigue risks associated with e-textbooks.
"One tablet requires the extraction of 33lbs of minerals, 79 gallons of

water, and 100 kilowatt hours of fossil fuels resulting in 66lbs of

Carbon Dioxide" (Tablets v. Textbooks). This is a hazard in the air that
we breathe because of all the air pollution. On the other hand "Two
gallons of water are required to form and dry sheets of paper" (Tablets
v. Textbooks). According to the New York Times, the "adverse health
impacts from making one e-reader are estimated to be 70 times
greater than those from making a single book." Not only are tablets
indirectly affecting people, but also it can create disorders in tablet
users. "People who use mobile devices more often have a higher
incidence of musculoskeletal disorders associated with repetitive strain
on muscles" (Tablets v. Textbooks). There are many other disorders
associated with tablets. "Hand held tablet contribute to Computer
Vision Syndrome, Which causes eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision,
and dry eyes, according to the American Optometric Association"
(Tablets v. Textbooks). The many problems associated with tablets are
body strains such as shoulder pain, eyestrain, and headaches. "People
who use tablets or mobile devices more frequently can get carpal
tunnel syndrome, neck pain (text neck), shoulder pain, and
fibromyalgia" (Tablets v. Textbooks). Tablets mainly affect the eyes.
Eyestrains and blurred vision can occur when using electronic devices
for long hours. It is proven that about one third of the people who use
tablets get glasses. Another big strain cause by tablets is headaches.

Headaches are the second most commonly experienced strain caused

by tablets. There are many risks associated with tablets, but with
textbooks, there are not as many.
Tablets not only have problems with students getting distracted,
cheating and excuses from students, and health risks associated with
them, but they also have a major problem with the overall costs of the
tablets. "The annual cost per student per class with tablet is $71.55
vs. $14.26 for print textbooks" (Tablets v. Textbooks). Tablets cost
much more not only because they are electronic, but also because
they are in risk of theft, breakage, and cost extra from
implementation. "Stolen and lost Internet enabled land held devices
have cost Americans over $30 billion in 2012" (Tablets v. Textbooks).
Textbooks aren't as costly and if stolen, which is very rare, it can be
replaced for less amount of money than a tablet. "In San Francisco,
New York, and Los Angeles, Robberies related to the Internet-enabled
hand-held devices (including tablets) have accounted for 50, 40, and
25 percent respectively of all robberies in 2012" (Tablets v. Textbooks).
Theft isn't the only problem, so are the risks of breakage. A broken
tablet usually requires an experienced technician to fix. Textbooks can
usually be repaired with basic supplies such as glue or tape. Many
young students have a tendency to break fragile things such as tablets
very easily by just dropping them on the floor or somehow getting it

cracked. "Developing a policy will come in handy when addressing

issues such as allowing students to take tablets home or what to do
when a student breaks and iPad or tablet" (lvarez). The breakage is a
big risk and can cost a lot of money, but so can implementation.
"Implementation costs for e-textbooks on iPads and tablets are 552%
higher than new print text books in an average high school" (Tablets v.
Textbooks). Textbooks are much cheaper than e-textbooks and cause
less problems for schools. "The cost up tablets increases for the school
because with the tablets, there is additional costs associated with
building Wi-Fi infrastructure, training teachers and administrators, and
annual publisher fees to continue using e-textbooks" (Tablets v.
Textbooks). A joint report by McKinsey and the GSMA predicts the
mobile education market could be worth $70 billion globally by 2020.
The Wi-Fi infrastructure must be improved. In order to do that,
hundreds of dollars have to be spent. If the same money were spent
on textbooks, there would be more than 25% more textbooks in the
school. Training teachers is another big thing. To train the teachers,
the schools must pay for experienced technical advisors, which will
cost extra money for the schools. Lastly, e-textbooks are not free;
they must be paid for. In order to do that, the schools have to buy
each student a book and pay monthly fees to keep it. Textbooks, in
contrast, don't have to keep up Wi-Fi infrastructure, how teachers and

advisers trained, or have annual publisher fees paid.

Tablets vs. Textbooks is a very hot topic and is still being debated
about. Since tablets cause many distractions for students, increase levels
of cheating on homework and schoolwork, cause health risks, and
increase the overall costs of education in schools, new high tech products,
such as tablets, should not replace the textbooks used in the education
systems.

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