ABEL
An Angel In Devil's Shoes
i guess i have kind of mixed emotions about this. i can understand the benefits of having a laptop, but getting rid of books completely?
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1732638&nav=0Ra7Lk8k
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1732638&nav=0Ra7Lk8k
School Tosses Textbooks for Laptops
By Steve Bray
Sci-Tech Reporter
Textbooks handed down each year is the way schools have worked in the past. In the future, it will be a laptop passed down.
It?s not just high-tech for the sake of it. Laptops will replace an armload of textbooks, making students? loads lighter. News 8 found out about a school down in Texas that is trying to make the switch from heavy to high tech.
At Johnson Elementary School in Forney, just outside of Dallas, Texas, students have been reading ?The Emperor?s New Clothes.? They're trading in their hard covers for hard drives.
Administrators at the school feel they're ahead of a wave that was sure to come.
?It wasn't a matter of if we were going to get electronic textbooks. It was a question of when we were going to get electronic textbooks,? said Mike Smith, Forney superintendent.
While kids at Forney are now testing laptops, next fall each fifth and sixth grader will be issued a PC. Their IBM Thinkpads are pre-loaded with Vital Source Technologies software that contains more than 2,000 books.
Folks at Vital Source say they can outfit each student with a laptop for under $1,000. The same textbooks would cost 13-hundred each. The real savings comes each following year.. When the only cost is a c-d-rom to upgrade the electronic text books...and the computer gets reused.
The attraction for teachers and parents is apparent. ?The thing I like is that the kids can take notes while we're working with a piece of text,? said Amber Belobraydic, teacher. ?Computers are here. I think it's an exciting opportunity for my children. They'll grow up using them,? said Christine Corley, parent.
Kids see the advantage, too. ?Once we get the laptops it will be easier and lighter,? said Heather Liles, a student.
With recent concerns about the weight that our kids are carrying home from school each day, the contrast between the electronic textbooks and their more sizable predecessors is obvious.
?I'm really excited, because now, like when we go from class to class we won't have books falling all over the floor. We'll just have one thing to carry,? said Hailey Hicks, student.
Of course, ?the dog ate my homework? excuse may become a thing of the past. ?Usually I lose all my homework. I won't forget it now. If I do, I'm in trouble,? said Zach Ghormley.
Some school districts around central Indiana are already using laptops in the classroom. This example from Texas is the first to toss the textbooks completely.