Should Technology Replace the Textbook?
The previous section introduced the student blog as an opportunity for students to enhance intake. Taking it a step further, let us now discuss the use of technology as a new twist in the way that students get information in organized courses. Consider a course where technology serves as the input for foreign language and the delivery method for the learning structure. Generally on the first day of class students cheer because it is quite a savings financially; they don't have to spend money on a textbook. However, as the semester progresses, some students miss having an actual book because they are used to having an authoritative resource. It is not as clean and structured to have to sift through all of the input to make the connections and to understand the concepts. This next video clip provides other observations on the use of technology as a replacement for the traditional textbook.
As mentioned in the video clip, those who write textbooks have their own purposes in mind, which may or may not coincide with the objectives that we have for our students. As teachers we are always supplementing with our own materials. In this sense, technology frees us from the limitations of a textbook. But on the other hand, sometimes teachers and students find themselves a little lost without the comfort of a textbook.
Avoid Passive Teaching and Learning
Agreed, a good textbook is an extremely effective way to maximize time and resources. However, sometimes textbooks create passive learning. From the instructor's end, fewer teaching decisions have to be made because supervisors have made chosen the textbook to be used and the authors of the textbook have already created the whole structure. From the student's perspective, learning becomes passive because all the information is in the book. The evidence of passive learning is when we start hearing questions like "Do we need to know this?" or "Is this going to be on the test?" Evidence in passive teaching is when teachers start saying things like "Just read Section 3 of chapter 5 and answer questions 4, 7, and 9."
Part of the solution, especially if we accept that students need to be consciously aware of input and take an active role in noticing, is to provide them with lots of input that the students need to sift through. It is a little messier and not so cut and dried, but in the end that is what will help students most. The use of technology and multimedia have great potential in this area.