The beginning anecdote in our reading from Kajder this week, tells of a boy named Leo who becomes excited to share with his English teacher a newspaper article delivering statistics that reveal that more people are reading fiction works. Kajder goes to explain though, that these statistics are a little bit misleading as not a lot of students are able to read at a proficient level, but that doesn't mean that they aren't reading or aren't developing important skills in the types of reading they engage in.
Truthfully, I have always been a skeptic of how technology benefits students. Being in this class has opened me up a little more to the digital world, but I still find myself asking a lot of questions and realizing a lot of things. Kajder's opening anecdote revealed to me something to think about: people are simply just losing interest in the book and prefer reading on a more brief and digital level. I'm not saying that this kind of reading is void of benefit, there can be some, but I also feel that students should not lose sight of the benefits that deep-reading from a traditional print based medium can deliver. It is more about integration, not replacement, and I feel that teachers recognize this but students do not- especially the younger ones.
This chapter also caused me to raise a lot of questions I feel worth looking into such as: What are the benefit of audio books? I could think of a couple reasons off the top of my head that they would be inferior to the actual print, but I would still be interested in learning how students learn from them and to what degree. I feel like that would be a research project worth experimentation and looking into.
I agree with your opinion on people losing interest in the book. Nowadays, unfortunately, digital media is the easiest and most convenient way to find information or learn about the most recent happenings in the world. However, I feel like something is lost in the translation from print to media. My girlfriend loves reading books on her kindle, but I will always feel more at home with a physical book and the ability to turn pages.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sad that people are losing interest in the common book because I am one of those nerds who still loves holding a book in my hand. I completely argee with you that we cannot just jump into technology 100%, we have to integrate. We need a little bit of everything in the classroom and that means that we cannot get rid of the book. Students may not see the value of the book anymore with so many gadgets screaming for their attention but that is another thing they can learn. Books are just as important, if not more than sometimes, as the technology that the students want to see in the class.
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