Link Round Up!

Hi, all!

I thought as a final post I could include some annotated links for those who would like to learn more about Nicholas Carr and his book, as well as research and articles on eTexts and eBooks. Check 'em out and feel free to comment on what you find or share your own links!

On Nicholas Carr's The Shallows:
Nicholas Carr's Website Read a summary and reviews of The Shallows, and then check out a blog and other books by the author.

NPR Book Review This review includes a link to Carr's original article that inspired him to expand his research into a full-fledged book, as well as a detailed summary and excerpt from the book.

NY Times Book Review Another review, this one with more thorough analysis and critique of Carr's ideas.

Video: Presentation via 2015 Ideacity Conference A 20-minute TEDtalk-style presentation by the author.

Video: Bookstore Discussion with Q&A A longer, 50-minute bookstore discussion with the author about the ideas and research behind the book, plus a great Q&A session at the end. Definitely worth a watch if you have the time!

On eBooks and eTexts:

Traditional Textbooks vs. eTextbooks: Pros and Cons  a straightforward breakdown of pros and cons from the collegiate perspective (via College Readiness LOOC).

eBooks and Reading Comprehension A 2014 study from West Chester University examines the connection between eBooks and reading comprehension (via USA Today). 

Current Advantages and Disadvantages of Using eTextbooks in Texas Higher Education  A scholarly article. From the abstract, "This study investigates the emergence of E-textbooks in higher education and looks at current advantages and disadvantages of E-textbooks." 

eBooks as Textbooks in the Classroom  Another scholarly article. From the abstract, this "paper provides some insight on what an e-Books is, and its advantages, limitations, strategies and framework of using it as a text book in classrooms." Click on the .pdf link at the top of the webpage to read the full article.

Top 10 Reasons Teachers are Using eBooks  A breakdown of the benefits of eBooks in the classroom, plus links to a variety of resources and eBook subscription services. (via Britannica Online).

Why eBooks are Bad for You A critical evaluation from an economical and ethical perspective - a good read for high school students (via PCWorld).

Resources:

RAZ-Kids An eBook subscription service that includes leveled readings, comprehension assessments (eQuizzes), and data collection tools for teachers to track individual and whole-class progress.

Tumblebooks Another eBook subscription service whose eBooks enhance student engagement through animations and read-aloud text. I could see this being a fantastic resource for beginning readers and students with disabilities.

Best 9 Free Websites that Offer eBooks  A straightforward collection of free eBook resources!

Teacher Created eBooks  This link actually directs to the "Help" section of their website, which contains a wealth of information on eBooks, what they are, and the features that eBooks can offer students and teachers. 

eTexts and eBooks in the Classroom

Many textbook publishing companies (like Pearson, for example) still publish and sell many paper textbooks to schools. To “get with the times,” however, many publishing companies also offer online versions which include not only the original text in .pdf and eReader formats, but dozens of online activities that support the information included in those texts. These companies sell copyrighted licenses to school that allow both student and teacher access.

In my neck of the woods, language teaching, Vista Higher Learning is the big player in online texts and resources. Their “supersites” allow students to complete online assignments curated and customized by the teacher, which then report back data on how students are doing, how much time they’re spending within each module, etc.

While these new online features are great a marked improvement from traditional paper textbooks, there are some major issues with content. The issue of textbook use in schools today really don’t seem to be about eText vs. paper, but rather: Should we be using textbooks at all?

Pearson is under quite a lot of scrutiny over the content and effectiveness of their texts, as well as their mini-monopoly on everything from textbooks to testing. The problems with bias and inaccuracies within textbooks is well documented, and can have lasting effects on students of color and minorities. Textbook learning is not seen as best practice anymore, particularly in the study of second language acquisition.

In response, many school districts and teachers are stepping away from textbooks entirely in favor of alternative online resources (TED talks, articles, archives, databases, etc.). In Loudoun County, many subject areas - mine included - are no longer renewing their textbook contracts and are halting future textbook adoptions.

As a language teacher, I find myself searching for YouTube videos to use as listening comprehension activities rather than the scripted audio recordings provided by our textbook. Our 7th grade history department has gone completely paperless, providing primary and secondary resources directly to students via Google Classroom. These educational cloud services are a great alternative to textbook teaching, as they help keep students organized and on track while providing a central location for finding resources, submitting work, and collaborating with others. Teachers have more control over the content, and can provide multiple perspectives on a singular issue. The downside is that without massive teacher-to-teacher collaboration and district support, creating these assignments and curating resources is an arduous and sometimes impossible task.

While there is much debate and controversy over eTexts, eBooks are in a slightly better position. An eBook is exactly that: a book that is in an electronic or digital format. These books can be children’s books, novels, plays, fiction or nonfiction. The differences between eBooks and eTexts are the same as with their traditional paper counterparts. Many classrooms are using eBook technology such at Tumblebook and RAZ-Kids. The use of eBooks in schools has skyrocketed, and the increase in their popularity has been seen as (mostly) positive.

There are always naysayers to new technology (Nicholas Carr, I’m looking at you), but most of the studies that show a decrease in comprehension aren’t conclusive (they are usually very small studies), and all of those  studies show an increase in student engagement when given a digital text over paper.

As it turns out, many issues teachers have with eBooks - and most new technologies for that matter - is not so much a problem with the technology itself but how it is used. Just like any technology we bring into our classrooms, we need to analyze what the technology actually does, and how our students can use it to best meet our learning objectives and their specific needs. I’ve pulled two quotes that I think sum it up best:

Tablets and mobile devices should never completely replace the human interaction between teacher and student. These devices should instead be seen as facilitators of enriched learning experiences, bringing stories to life and testing the reactions, knowledge and concentration of users. from "The Growth and Effectiveness of Interactive Ebooks for Learning” via Digital Book World

Heather Kirkorian, who helps run a cognitive development lab at the University of Wisconsin, said she has had similar experiences, but has seen positive results with ebooks. They just have to be used correctly. "We do find toddlers learn more from the screen when they’re interacting in a very specific way, not just any way,” Kirkorian said. “Really focusing on the device and what the device can afford is not as productive of a conversation as ‘How can we use this tool?’ This tool is in our lives, in kids’ hands, how can we use that tool and create media content that’s actually beneficial" from “Are Ebooks Good Or Bad For Learning?” via The Huffington Post

So what do you think? What is your school’s stance on textbooks? Do you and/or your students have access to both paper and digital texts? Or are you moving away from textbooks entirely? If so, what are you replacing them with? What role do eBooks play in your classroom? Leave a comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts!

My Turn

I’ll be honest, I really hate the Kindle. I cannot read anything online. Every article I was assigned to read in college (and in this grad program) I printed out on paper so that I could highlight and annotate. I developed a deep relationship with paper books as a child. I am one of those people who flip through books, too. I’ll pick up a novel, read the first half, then read the last chapter to see how it ends, then flip back to the middle and read it in order.

My mother read Little Women to me when I was 7 (we all were crying on the couch over Beth), and Great Expectations when I was 9. On family road trips to Canada every summer - 10 hours in the car - we listed to Tolkien and Swiss Family Robinson on tape. We were all about reading in my house.

On the flip side, my husband would never identify himself as “a reader.”  He really struggled in school with reading, mostly because his “reader voice” (the voice in your head that you hear when you read stuff) was not very strong. Because of his ADD, his reader voice is stilted, and puts pauses in the wrong places and emphasis on the wrong words. But he is one of the best auditory processors I’ve ever met. You tell him something once and he’s got it down. When he went to college to get his associate's degree, he would record his professors rather than take notes. I bought him an oral dictation software for his computer so he could “talk” his papers rather than write them. He knows the words to every song on the radio. Like, every song. He hasn’t read Shakespeare, but when he watches the plays he laughs at all the right parts and seriously can’t understand why Hamlet doesn’t just kill his stupid uncle and move on with his life.

When my mom bought him a Kindle for Christmas, his whole world changed. He’s read more books in the past 3 or 4 years of his life than all 32 combined. Something about the format just works for him. His vocabulary has skyrocketed (probably because he can look up words with the press of a button), and he’s really gotten into philosophy and logical argument (thank you, Ender’s Game). His “reader voice” is more fluent, and he now enjoys reading passages aloud to me that he finds poignant or funny.

So I’m not completely sold on Nicholas Carr’s idea that eReaders and the Internet are making us stupid. I agree that it has changed our brains - absolutely - but I’m not sure that deep, critical thinking is in as much danger as he believes. He laments over a “loss of elegance” and “virtuosity,” and to degrade “society’s attitude toward intellectual achievement.”

But here’s the thing: Best seller lists have always hovered around a 7th/8th grade reading level, so I’m not sure if the  “readers” he’s talking about are everyday folks or the intellectuals you find in academic circles (i.e. folks like Nicholas Carr).

With my students, I’ve found if the book is compelling, they’ll read it. I have to wrestle books away from my kids, and not just eBooks, either. They are reading constantly, but they are reading books that are more conversational and narrative than in the past. They’re reading Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, not Jane Eyre or Ulysses, but they’re 12. They are reading to escape, to transport themselves somewhere other than middle school (can you blame them??), and they are learning about themselves and the world around them in the process.

Intellectuals and avid readers of the classics like myself: we’re still gonna do our thing. We’re still going to stand around a cramped art studio drinking wine and talking Voltaire. Because we like it! But that doesn’t mean society is going down the drain because our kids don’t want to come with us. In fact, young people are having a lot of these same types of conversations, but they’re in brewpubs and coffeeshops and they’re talking about Black Lives Matter and gender equality.

Students are looking for a connection - a relationship. Ask the student in the back to read Maya Angelou’s poem “I Rise” aloud to the class and watch them all roll their eyes and shut down. Here she goes again. But let them listen to Serena Williams read it. Or Nicki Minaj. And watch the goosebumps show on their skin.

So I argue this: let our students read in peace, on their Kindles, on their phones, whatever. Let them choose what they like, and encourage them to keep reading and sharing their thoughts with others about what they’ve read. Let’s allow our students to develop a relationship with the page (or the screen, as the case may be) before we ask them to autopsy the author’s “message.”

I’ve always hated making high-schoolers analyze text for a variety of reasons, but the main one is this: reading is hard. Reading is personal. Reading is the universal “smart kid” litmus test, and it’s totally unfair (see: my brilliant husband). When I taught 9th grade English at a military boarding school, I read everything out loud to them. Everything. The Odyssey, Romeo & Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird...it was storytime with Ms. D every day. I did this because I didn’t want it to be about the reading - I wanted to spend my time talking about the books. Which characters to you like? Who is a jerk? Why do you think he’s a jerk?

If we don’t start working with our kids, we’re going to lose them. Simple as that. What do we want to foster and preserve? Deep thinking, critical thinking, analysis, problem solving, making inferences and connections, reflection, mindfulness. But do all of these things have to be learned through reading?

Challenge kids with paradoxes and philosophical quandaries. Ask a group of teenagers if a hot dog classifies as a sandwich and watch the debate ignite.

Watch a movie like Ex Machina and create a classroom definition of humanity and then challenge students to pull out literary elements like foreshadowing, suspense, identity, irony. Identify character archetypes and tropes (Chekhov’s Gun, for example). Give students multiple examples over a wide range of media (music, theater, poetry) and pull the threads together. Give students poor examples of directors or authors trying to do something profound and failing. When “identifying” literary elements, what counts? What doesn’t? Why not?

Our kids don’t have to read page after page of paper text in order to develop these skills, they just need someone to ask them the right questions.