I have to admit I have not been the ebook’s biggest fan. I’m not against them, I’ve just found that I prefer paper books. I like to see my books around the house as memories of the stories they hold. I like that I can physically lend them to a friend (it’s like introducing two good friends to each other!). I like that I can remember where on the page and in a book something happened which is a common experience (Jabr, 2013). I love the smell and feel and look of them. I love how my kids will stop in their tracks when walking past a stack of new books and intrinsically sort through them and sit and read.

I wonder, however, if I had grown up playing with interactive books if I would feel differently towards them. Perhaps I would think fondly of the play in the ebook instead of my experience of acting out the book with my friends or toys? Perhaps that digital play would have inspired a new form of creativity in me?

And ebooks have their advantages! I can access all of them on the phone in my pocket (which I have appreciated in many appointment waiting rooms). I can enlarge the font. I can put my headphones on and have it read to me. I can look up words I’m not sure about, highlight passages I want to remember and a host of other things. These can translate to real positives in the classroom as well. I do like the idea that book apps and ebooks can be interactive and students can be drawn in an engaged in a different way then a book alone might offer.

I’m a little too old to be considered a digital native but I’m still young enough to be very comfortable in using technology. Perhaps young people today are even more comfortable and think of it as the natural thing to do. My kids will certainly sit there with headphones on, listening to music while scrolling through sites with multiple tabs open. They are comfortable with this, but perhaps because they don’t know anything different. I actually think they are far less efficient than they would be if they were not on computers. All those tabs, the messages coming in, the temptation to be distracted is too much even for me! How long will a student stay on an ebook before clicking away?

The school I work at has not fully embraced digital learning. eBooks have not ‘taken off’ (yet?). This is in part from studies that are showing that reading from a screen is not as beneficial as reading from paper (Jeon, 2012 and Mangen at el, 2013). It is also to give students a break from the nearly constant screen time they engage in outside of school and shows them another way to learn. It has been surprising to see so many families that are thankful for the school’s stance on this. It will be interesting to see if research results change in the future as technology evolves and as the digital natives become parents themselves raising the next generation of ‘eBabies.’ I am keen to look into this further when I fully transition into the role of Teacher Librarian.

References:

Jabr, F. (2013, April 11). The reading brain in the digital age: The science of paper versus screens. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

Jeon, H. (2012). A comparison of the influence of electronic books and paper books on reading comprehension, eye fatigue, and perception. The Electronic Library, 30(3), 390-408. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471211241663

Mangen, A., Walgermo, B. R. & Bronnick, K.A. (2013). Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. International Journal of Educational Research, 58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.002