District Administration - February 2011 - (Page 26)

Going out of Print water High in Florida has done? That initiative cost the district $177 per Kindle. The price of digital textbooks varies, of course. A digital literature textbook cost $59—about two-thirds what the book would have cost in print. Still, administrators see some red flags. Sharon Ewers, lead librarian for the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Unified School District, cautions that students might not be responsible enough and even lose or break e-readers. “There could also be technical problems, battery issues, hacking issues and/or vandalism,” she says. Keegan adds that parents would be “very upset” if they owed the school $150 for a lost e-reader. Clearwater handles that by letting each student insure his or her Kindle for $20. But Kelley of the Pinellas County district concedes that many students don’t buy insurance. Another financial issue is that once content is loaded onto a Kindle or Nook or iPad, it can’t be “returned” to the library, so another student can use it. Thus, much of the rationale for libraries—the costeffective sharing of books—goes up in smoke. However, this could change. “Ten years from now there may be some system that doesn’t attach digital content to a specific e-reader,” predicts Kelley. But the question remains: Are e-readers desirable pedagogically? The white paper “From Paper to Pixel: Digital Textbooks in Florida Schools,” co-authored by four Florida State University library media specialists and Nancy Everhart, president of the American Association of School Librarians, cites research on both sides of the debate. On the plus side, says the paper, e-readers prepare students for the 21stcentury world, they’re better than print for the environment, students can take notes on them, and they provide access to “a wealth of information that is readily retrievable from the Internet.” “The students are like moths to a flame when it comes to technology. Any time technology is integrated, they are more motivated,” says Keegan. “When [Clearwater] passed those Kindles out,” says Kelley, “the boys were so engaged that a bomb could have 26 February 2011 The library media center at Simsbury High School in the Simsbury (Conn.) Public Schools features two labs with 49 computers plus 28 computers for general student use. What Will Tomorrow’s School Library Look Like? ODDs Are thAt yOur District AlreADy hAs sOme Aspects OF tOmOrrOw’s school library, as today’s culture increasingly relies upon digital media. the library media center at simsbury high school in the simsbury (conn.) public schools, designed by rolf erikson, lead author of the book Designing a School Library Media Center for the Future, features two labs with 49 computers for classes plus 28 computers for general student use—a sign of the growing movement toward one-to-one computing in schools. winona high school’s library in the winona Area (minn.) public school District evokes Barnes & Noble’s relaxing cafe in its layout, and future school libraries might try permitting snacks, as does the cybercafe at cushing Academy and the cougar cafe, a coffee shop in the library at centennial high school in the williamson county (tenn.) schools. David loertscher, library 2.0 advocate and author of The New Learning Commons, predicts that between the migration of reference works (and, in time, maybe other books) from print to digital media and the need to make room for collaborative groups and computers, there will be fewer bookshelves. loertscher also recommends that learning spaces be flexible and offer different configurations for groups of students. he advocates tables on wheels—“space that adapts to learners, not vice versa.” Above all, loertscher predicts that the virtual (online) learning commons, which puts no space or time restrictions on students’ ability to get and to generate information, will become increasingly important. gone off and they wouldn’t have budged.” It’s especially impressive, notes Keegan, who quotes the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) report on how boys drop off as readers around grade 4. Disadvantages of Digital Still, if “the love of reading is essential to lifelong learning,” as Ewers and other li- brarians say it is, will students acquire that passion via electronic devices? For early childhood books, with their colorful illustrations, print is far better than Kindles or Nooks. (The inability of today’s e-readers to handle graphics also limits their use for subjects like science and economics.) Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, and E Ink, the provider of e-paper display technology District Administration http://www.Amazon.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - February 2011

District Administration - February 2011
Contents
Going Out of Print
From the Editor
News Update
Technology Update
Safety & Security
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Successful Strategies for English Language Learners
Mobile Goes Mainstream
Virtually Possible
Problem/Solution
New Products
Product Focus
Superintendent’s Insights
Crisis Response
Student Counsel

District Administration - February 2011