eReaders in Class: Cut Costs While Engaging Students

Will eReaders completely replace schools’ worn paperbacks and heavy textbooks? Only time will tell. But it’s clear that devices such as the Nook and Kindle are growing in popularity—and bringing students closer to literature.

SkyView Academy (SVA), a tuition-free Pre-K to 12 charter school in Highlands Ranch, CO, handed out Nook eReaders to all high school students at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year. The devices were loaded with all the books needed for their literature classes. One of the big benefits? Many of the classics could be accessed for free—and teachers could also load course-related PDFs on the readers. “SkyView Academy recognizes the importance of leveraging technology as a teaching tool and sees the opportunities when we mergeour classical education content and the use of e-readers,” said SVA Secondary Principal Jennifer Burgess in a press release.

Clear Benefits
SkyView isn’t alone in recognizing the potential of e Readers to cut costs and better reach students.

“eReaders are the next frontier of education as the cost of textbooks continues to rise. Our classrooms are technology enhanced, and teachers can teach from a mobile phone and project on the screen. We do not have televisions in our classrooms, as we are fed through the enhanced projector. The iPads or Kindles will fit perfectly with our technology program as we have programs that are K-6 appropriate,” said Larry Davis, who is retiring this summer after 35 years in education.

Most recently, he was a Title I principal in Clay County, FL. At Davis’ school, special education students use Kindles in their classwork. And a recent $177,000 Education 2011 grant is providing the school with Wi-Fi and financing the purchase of some iPads for the 2012-13 school year. “Students are able to read many different grade-appropriate materials that are aligned with our accelerated reader program [with the iPads],” he said.

Tracey N. Roberts, principal of Pulaski Elementary School in Wilmington, DE, added that eReader devices can increase student engagement in reading. “They offer a new way of being engaged with literature. The technology could increase [students’] interest and make them more willing to read on their own,” she explained.

BYOD?
For schools that aren’t ready to (or can’t) make the financial investment in eReaders for their classrooms, there is still the opportunity of bringing them into the classroom via a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy. Much like schools have done with graphing calculators, students are tasked with supplying their own devices for participation. “We recently started allowing students to bring their own eReaders to school as a first step toward BYOD. We have had very few issues over it and hope to expand to other devices in the near future,” said Greg Taranto, Ph.D., principal of Canonsburg Middle School in PA.

“I do believe that some form of digital device will be the future in the classroom, rather than traditional textbooks.  The devices will help serve as an additional source to differentiate content using the device’s many tools such as built-in dictionary, self-reading functions, highlighting, etc.”

Article by Sarah W. Caron, EducationWorld Social Media Editor
Education World®    
Copyright © 2012 Education World