The article I chose is from The Reading Teacher, "E-Reading and Children: Is New Technology Improving Reading Skills?" The authors state that e-book spending for U.S. schools has doubled since last year. More students are reading electronic books both in and outside the classroom. The preliminary findings show that parents and educators are having a hard time investing in the expensive technology for fear of it becoming obsolete or needing too many software upgrades.
The authors cite several studies that prove e-books are beneficial for struggling readers because of the many tools and features of the e-book, such as: text-to-speech options, audible dictionaries, etc. One of the studies showed the e-books were beneficial in getting reluctant boys reading simply because they could choose their own books, and also, choose multiple books of a topic that interested them.
Finally, the article stated that while e-readers were showing significant improvements with boys and struggling readers, these electronic devices should still be monitored and parent and teachers should continue to promote reading strategies while using these e-books. It stated that sometimes the child could get distracted if there were games available on the device and that is another reason the child's progress and usage should be observed.
Article citation:
Ward, D. (2014). Is New Technology Improving Reading Skills? A Look at the Recent Research. Reading Today, 31(5), 10-11.
I can see the worry about future software upgrades and such, but I would think that would be minimal compared to buy new editions of a textbook. It seems like the content covered evolves and changes and many of the textbooks we use become obsolete because they lack the appropriate information. I like the tools you mentioned that could help those that struggles to read and allows for great differentiation.
ReplyDeleteMy article pointed out similar benefits to using e-readers in the classroom. It seems like e-readers would positively impact most students, however, I agree that we need to monitor their use. Because students are accustomed to using computers and tablets outside of school for entertainment purposes, it may take time before students become used to using them for academic purposes as well.
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