Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Akila Nallabelli
Mrs. Scott
March 10th, 2015
II.
Distractions
A.
Entertainment Applications
1. Games
2. Emails
3. Videos
B.
Attention Spans
1. Student and Teacher Connection
2. Focus Shifted
III.
IV.
Health Risks
A. Disorders
B. Body Strains
1. Shoulder
2. Eyes
3. Head
V.
Overall Costs
A. Theft
B. Breakage
C. Implementation
VI.
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
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
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
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.
Bibliography