By Christy Alyea

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Advantages of e-textbooks

There are many positive viewpoints on incorporating e-textbooks into children’s education. Maynard and Cheyne (2005) have suggested that electronic forms of learning provide greater and faster access to educational information. An e-textbook has the ability to accommodate larger amounts of content than a print textbook. With the simple touch of a button, children can access seemingly endless information on numerous topics. This instant access is believed to promote more effective learning skills in children (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005).

Improved functionality is another asset of the electronic textbook, particularly for older children and teens. Much like their print equivalents, “e-textbooks allow students to underline important sentences, write notes and look up unfamiliar words” (Cox and Ormes, 2001). Built-in dictionaries and thesauri are one of the added features of many electronic textbooks. Children can change font sizes according to their preferences, watch video clips and interact with many other dynamic media that the e-textbook offers (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005). It seems that the interactive benefits of the electronic book help to promote its positive image among many supporters of this new technology.

Portability is a definite advantage of the e-textbook as well. Since most e-textbooks are often small and lightweight, they reduce the number of printed materials that children must carry to and from school and between classes (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005). This can prevent back strain in many children and is definitely a benefit for disabled children. The portability of the e-textbook also means that it is space-saving, which is particularly helpful in classrooms and school libraries (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005). Children’s desks are less cluttered with various print materials and shelving space within classrooms and libraries increases as a result of the e-textbook’s size and ability to hold a variety of print texts in one. The electronic textbook therefore, seems to provide a great number of advantages, particularly in schools and for young and older children alike.

Disadvantages of e-textbooks

Although the electronic textbook does provide many assets for children, there are clear disadvantages of using them in schools as well. Cost is at the forefront of issues that plague the use of e-textbooks for children. Many are quite expensive to purchase, being priced at the same level or often higher than the printed versions. (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005). However, many sources suggest that costs are beginning to reduce (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005) and that, in the long run, it will be more cost effective to provide children with curriculum materials in e-book form, rather than purchasing printed textbooks (Christie, 1998).

Another drawback with using e-textbooks is the notion that children are reading from a screen, rather than a page. This leads to concerns about eyestrain and the quality of reading skills that are produced from using this format. As some experts have argued, reading off of a screen “may lead children to read more slowly or opt to print the document and view it in printed form” (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005). Printing of course, costs money and undermines the purpose of the electronic textbook in the first place. Although there have been some efforts made to improve screen quality, there are still concerns that computer screens have a negative effect on children’s eyesight (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005).

Although the functionality of the e-textbook is an advantage in many cases, it can also lead to problems within many homes and classrooms. The main issue to consider involves accessing the total features of the e-book. This is a particular concern with electronic textbooks that are delivered via the Internet or CD-ROM, to be viewed on a personal computer. With all of the multimedia features that most e-textbooks provide, it is sometimes imperative to have a state-of-the-art computing system with maximum memory space and specialized features (Maynard and Cheyne, 2005). Many schools and parents cannot afford such systems and therefore may not be able to run all or some features of the software. As well, it can be difficult and costly to keep computers within schools up-to-date, which can also inhibit the ideal usage of e-textbooks within the classroom. It seems, then, that e-textbooks do possess several shortcomings that need to be considered.