The days of students lugging textbooks to and from school and from class to class are numbered. But the transition presents challenges as well as opportunities for students and their teachers.
Laptops, I-Pads, and tablets are being bought by more and more school districts and given to each student. Textbooks, lessons, assignments, and schedules are among the things that are downloaded onto each student’s device.
Missouri School Boards Association spokesman Brent Ghan says a lot of school districts are realizing these tools can be superior to, and a lot less expensive than, textbooks, which he says are costing about 75-dollars each. Plus, the devices give students greater access to learning than textbooks do.
Ghan says teachers face challenges being up to speed with the new technology. But he says they’ve been adapting for some time and younger teachers have no problems.
And homework is changing because of students’ access to information through the devices. In fact, he says, some districts are using what the call “flipped instruction,” where students use their technology to learn the information at home, then go to the classroom to do their homework. He says districts that have tried it, like it.
