mum Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I am thinking about getting texts in ebook format but would like to hear some of the good and bad that others have found. It would be for subjects like Physics and Algebra II. I'm happy to hear both sides, so don't hold back! I know some of it is personal preference. What have your students found when looking back in the book to find a piece of info. they have previously seen? Is there any way of searching that is not going back page by page? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 One of the local school districts gave the middle school students iPads with e-textbooks loaded on them. The books weren't designed so the students could open directly to the page the teacher wanted them to look at. They had to flip page by page. I heard one of the kids at church talking about this, complaining about how much time it wasted. Maybe there are e-textbooks that are more efficient to search or to open to a specific page. Or maybe they would work differently on a PC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Yes a lot of it is personal preference. E-books don't seem to work very well for learners in our family, myself included. I like my Kindle but can't stand to use it for any nonfiction that I'm really interested in the footnotes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Most recently all of my college courses have used ebooks. I personally despise them and find them impossible to quickly flip through to find certain points. If for a high schooler, it would be a good introduction to what college is like. More and more classes are going towards ebooks, online quizzes, etc. Naturally, there are pros to not having a book to lug around, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilanao Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Some of them are set up by chapter or page search. It just depends on the publisher. Holt Spanish Expresate can be accessed by chapter or by page number. Cengage Earth and Its Peoples can be accessed one chapter at a time, by subheadings within the chapter, or by page thumbnails. You can also search by word or phrase. In order to know the format, you would have to ask the publisher or try to see a sample chapter. Many college texts allow you to see view a sample chapter. In my experience, the college texts will usually be like the Cengage example. The middle/high school books are usually just text that you can read online with some interactive links and online additions like quizzes. Some of the positives are that ebooks can zoom in, which makes it easier to read the font and makes the pictures look great if you have a nice monitor. They can sometimes allow highlighting, notes and bookmarks to be made. Some have extras like interactive maps, quizzes, and questions. The negatives are that you can't flip through it quickly, you are stuck looking at a screen all day, and it's not portable if you have a desktop. I am using a combination of the two. I have the world history and world literature ebooks because of my teacher access, but I bought hard copies because there is so much reading (both books over 1,000 pages) and I didn't want him staring at the computer all day. However, we are using the ebook for Spanish because it allows him to click on things and hear them pronounced and allows exercises to be done online and instantly graded. We are also using Teaching Textbooks on the computer for the instant grading. I don't think I would switch to all ebooks, but I think they can be used with a "best of both worlds" approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BibleBeltCatholicMom Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We tried a couple last year and couldn't stand them. In my daughter's case, she likes reading novels on the nook or computer, et c but even she hated having her text books on there. She couldn't easily flip back and forth b/t pages and just over all, she didn't at all like it. In my case, it's not at all suprising that I didn't like the etexts b/c I do NOT like reading books online, Nook, downloads, et c. An etext was more of same to me. Both etexts cost us but less than the physical text. We ended up paying for the etexts and the physical texts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We don't have experience with textbooks per se but although I enjoy reading novels on my Kindle, I can't stand to read a "how-to" book on it. I did it once and I've regretted it. I would guess that textbooks could be similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyomarie Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Question: Have any of you tried to use text-to-speech to read any of your e-textbooks? If so, what app are you using and how does it work? I think one of the textbooks my son will be using in his CC courses this semester is in digital format. I want him to have his math book in digital format as well, but I want to know if the standard digital e-text supports text-to-speech. Comment: I, too, dislike not being able to flip back & forth between sections and the fact that it takes forever to find a specific spot I want to refer back to when I am reading a non-fiction book. However, the ease of "carrying around" several reference works wherever I want to use them helps to offset the negative. Some of them are set up by chapter or page search. It just depends on the publisher. Holt Spanish Expresate can be accessed by chapter or by page number. Cengage Earth and Its Peoples can be accessed one chapter at a time, by subheadings within the chapter, or by page thumbnails. You can also search by word or phrase. In order to know the format, you would have to ask the publisher or try to see a sample chapter. Many college texts allow you to see view a sample chapter. In my experience, the college texts will usually be like the Cengage example. The middle/high school books are usually just text that you can read online with some interactive links and online additions like quizzes. Some of the positives are that ebooks can zoom in, which makes it easier to read the font and makes the pictures look great if you have a nice monitor. They can sometimes allow highlighting, notes and bookmarks to be made. Some have extras like interactive maps, quizzes, and questions. The negatives are that you can't flip through it quickly, you are stuck looking at a screen all day, and it's not portable if you have a desktop. I am using a combination of the two. I have the world history and world literature ebooks because of my teacher access, but I bought hard copies because there is so much reading (both books over 1,000 pages) and I didn't want him staring at the computer all day. However, we are using the ebook for Spanish because it allows him to click on things and hear them pronounced and allows exercises to be done online and instantly graded. We are also using Teaching Textbooks on the computer for the instant grading. I don't think I would switch to all ebooks, but I think they can be used with a "best of both worlds" approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Ds loves using etextbooks. He uses them on his laptop or on the ipad. He finds it easy to navigate and really likes to read with all the lights off in his room, zeroing in his focus. Ebooks of all kinds are a perfect fit. I find the etextbooks a little frustrating for flipping to try to find something. Otherwise I really like them. My old eyes appreciate being able to zoom as desired. We don't have any desktop computers anymore and our laptops and iPad are always more convenient and lighter too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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