I agree about hating carrying textbooks around. But now as a parent (whose career is in software development and automation) with my kids having everything digitized … I hate it. Crappy platforms. Logins not working. Having to click back and forth all over the place to go between the assignments and the source material. Kids are just learning to ctrl-f for a keyword to find the answer instead of reading the surrounding context and memorize little fragments from a study guide to scan for in multiple choice online quizzes and tests. It absolutely sucks. Go back to pencil and paper please.
As a math teacher I make booklets per unit. They’re almost entirely based on a textbook or two, but they’re all typed up by me in latex.
It works well — one small booklet to haul around at a time. There’s also room for them to write notes as well as work out practice problems. And an answer key, depending on the class.
I don’t know what the actual right answer is, but those frustrations you’re talking about are actually things that those kids are going to have to deal with moving forward into adulthood so operating in that context isn’t necessarily bad.
That doesn’t mean learning how to interface with textbooks shouldn’t also be a thing though.
Yeah, that’s the balance required. I think it’s important to learn how to operate in an analog world first and not until after appreciating how to navigate the world to use more modern techniques.
Calculators were not allowed in my math classes growing up and I think that allowed better understanding because I learned processes. I hated it and snuck my calculator at times regardless, but come test time I had to do maths by hand.
I see the same problem with control + f and now with generative AI. I fear a growing brain drain from not learning foundations properly. I believe the use of advanced tools should be earned.
That doesn’t mean learning how to interface with textbooks shouldn’t also be a thing though.
For sure they need to learn modern technology. But I don’t think they’re learning the actual source material as well this way. All of my childrens’ teachers feel the same.
I am not a kid anymore and all my books are ebooks.
I used to buy physical copies because I just love the way how they feel in my hands and the new paper smell until I ran out of space.
Reality sucks.
. This is the future. Some people hate it when I point it out but it is the truth. This is a digital age. Time moves forward with or with you. I encourage my nieces to get used to ebooks
Instead of chromebook, get a big, hig res tablet with a stylus. It is a saver!
I’m not lamenting technology being a thing. I’m lamenting how its adoption is hindering learning basic stuff like writing out all your work in pencil for math class. If everything is multiple choice quiz, they learn to work through the problem step by step or have the chance for partial credit by showing they understand the overall process even though they made a minor arithmetic mistake.
Sure, a tablet and stylus for free-hand writing can solve that. But why add that additional cost of providing that to every student in primary school instead of just using pencil and paper for it?
I agree about hating carrying textbooks around. But now as a parent (whose career is in software development and automation) with my kids having everything digitized … I hate it. Crappy platforms. Logins not working. Having to click back and forth all over the place to go between the assignments and the source material. Kids are just learning to ctrl-f for a keyword to find the answer instead of reading the surrounding context and memorize little fragments from a study guide to scan for in multiple choice online quizzes and tests. It absolutely sucks. Go back to pencil and paper please.
As a math teacher I make booklets per unit. They’re almost entirely based on a textbook or two, but they’re all typed up by me in latex.
It works well — one small booklet to haul around at a time. There’s also room for them to write notes as well as work out practice problems. And an answer key, depending on the class.
I don’t know what the actual right answer is, but those frustrations you’re talking about are actually things that those kids are going to have to deal with moving forward into adulthood so operating in that context isn’t necessarily bad.
That doesn’t mean learning how to interface with textbooks shouldn’t also be a thing though.
Yeah, that’s the balance required. I think it’s important to learn how to operate in an analog world first and not until after appreciating how to navigate the world to use more modern techniques.
Calculators were not allowed in my math classes growing up and I think that allowed better understanding because I learned processes. I hated it and snuck my calculator at times regardless, but come test time I had to do maths by hand.
I see the same problem with control + f and now with generative AI. I fear a growing brain drain from not learning foundations properly. I believe the use of advanced tools should be earned.
For sure they need to learn modern technology. But I don’t think they’re learning the actual source material as well this way. All of my childrens’ teachers feel the same.
I am not a kid anymore and all my books are ebooks.
I used to buy physical copies because I just love the way how they feel in my hands and the new paper smell until I ran out of space.
Reality sucks.
. This is the future. Some people hate it when I point it out but it is the truth. This is a digital age. Time moves forward with or with you. I encourage my nieces to get used to ebooks
Instead of chromebook, get a big, hig res tablet with a stylus. It is a saver!
I’m not lamenting technology being a thing. I’m lamenting how its adoption is hindering learning basic stuff like writing out all your work in pencil for math class. If everything is multiple choice quiz, they learn to work through the problem step by step or have the chance for partial credit by showing they understand the overall process even though they made a minor arithmetic mistake.
Sure, a tablet and stylus for free-hand writing can solve that. But why add that additional cost of providing that to every student in primary school instead of just using pencil and paper for it?
A while back some people compiled a list of good/bad textbooks at our university:
https://ubcwiki.ca/academics/textbooks#✅-course-hall-of-fame
Generally, open source ones have nicer interfaces. The proprietary ones do various things to limit access and squeeze out profit