Debate #7 - Textbooks vs Tablets In Schools and Colleges

Rajni Jain · 2014-08-06T02:30:12+00:00

There were time when students used to study with text-books, used to take notes on a piece of paper and used to mug up every thing. Now over a period of time, it has changed drastically and tablets / smart devices have taken the place for the text books. The number of books has converted in a small palm device. However our capacity of learning and remembering everything has gone tremendously down as everything is so easily available. However do you think that this change is for good? Do you believe that tablets can replace textbooks in school / colleges?

Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

I firmly support the idea of Textbooks over any other form of electronic devices.
Tablets, laptops, ipads, etc. can not replace textbooks.

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Rajni Jain

@rajni-E46Rlm • Aug 6, 2014

Can or Can't ?

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Manish Goyal

@manish-r2Hoep • Aug 6, 2014

Textbooks have an edge over Tablets as they have many benefits, you don't need to turn them on and wait in case you want to look for something urgently also tablets incurs extra cost such as internet

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

There are a lot of arguements in favour of textbooks:
1. They help improve grasping power.
2. Someone has rightly said, you remeber what you write as compared to what to read and as compared to what to hear. When we read something in a textbook, we can underline it, highlight it, and that makes it easy for future reference.
3. Text books are time saving.
4. They are cheap compared to electronic devices (even if you buy 10 books, they would be cheaper than a tablet)
5. They are easy to handle and have less maintenance cost.
6. When you give your old books to a junior, they take it for the small hints/notes we have written with the text in the book. That helps them know what is important and what can be ignored. Tablets won't satisfy this purpose.
7. Tablets will take a lot of time to fix if they break (This means a kid who doesn't want to study can break it on purpose 😛)
8. Tablets can cause eyestrain, headache, etc.
9. Who will think of the additional WiFi cost?
10. More chances that the student will not be able to study because of electricity fluctuations, etc

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

To start my topic,
I firmly support the use of tablets though many of us go and strongly voice their support for text books because of its Raw feeling and better experience but we should accept the fact that we must adapt ourselves to changing generation which helps us in minimizing usage of paper for printing which automatically avoids trees falling for paper.
It gives me freedom to download my favorite book at instant( No.more shipping of books).
I can avoid the fear of books labled as " out of stock" .
Carry a lot of books in single tablet so that students burden can be minimized- no.more weight lifting to schools.
I can read wherever i want especially when travelling (increased convenience for eyes.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Consider a kid who comes from a financially weak background. How will he even afford a tablet? This might make him feel unwanted.
Many people have a habit of donating old books so that other people can use them. Do you even think anyone would give away his tablet? Would you?

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Dhananjay Harkare

@dhananjay-0OEUGZ • Aug 6, 2014

One can't deny the use of gadgets for educational purposes today, but according to me these gadgets can't replace textbooks in schools/colleges. If for the sake of discussion we consider that tablets are allowed in schools/colleges, will it not always be a question for teacher whether students are making use of these gadgets for genuine(educational purpose) reason or not. Practically it is not possible to keep a check on this.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
To start my topic,
I firmly support the use of tablets though many of us go and strongly voice their support for text books because of its Raw feeling and better experience but we should accept the fact that we must adapt ourselves to changing generation which helps us in minimizing usage of paper for printing which automatically avoids trees falling for paper.
It gives me freedom to download my favorite book at instant( No.more shipping of books).
I can avoid the fear of books labled as " out of stock" .
Carry a lot of books in single tablet so that students burden can be minimized- no.more weight lifting to schools.
I can read wherever i want especially when travelling (increased convenience for eyes.

We here are discussing about tablets and textbooks for school children, and not for us 😀
And the curriculam for school children is defined at the beginning of the session. This means that they will not require to download books, or "Ship" books 😀

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
There are a lot of arguements in favour of textbooks:
1. They help improve grasping power.
2. Someone has rightly said, you remeber what you write as compared to what to read and as compared to what to hear. When we read something in a textbook, we can underline it, highlight it, and that makes it easy for future reference.
3. Text books are time saving.
4. They are cheap compared to electronic devices (even if you buy 10 books, they would be cheaper than a tablet)
5. They are easy to handle and have less maintenance cost.
6. When you give your old books to a junior, they take it for the small hints/notes we have written with the text in the book. That helps them know what is important and what can be ignored. Tablets won't satisfy this purpose.
7. Tablets will take a lot of time to fix if they break (This means a kid who doesn't want to study can break it on purpose 😛)
8. Tablets can cause eyestrain, headache, etc.
9. Who will think of the additional WiFi cost?
10. More chances that the student will not be able to study because of electricity fluctuations, etc

Some corrections!!!

who say we can't highlight when we use tab to read. Adobe or any other readers gives us the facility to highlight whatever we want.

Even blind people can use the tablets built Adobes feature where the software reads full texts .

No one is going to study a full stretch of 4 or more hours especially students .So there is a ample chance to charge in mean time.

How text books aeeen time saving? ( consider this: If a kid want to find a specific topic, he cannot search it easily in books but its vice versa in Tabs where he can search it instantly .

Lets keep myth aside and discuss facts!

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

But States like Tamil Nadu , we have all text books in pdf from 1s t to 12th and they can be downloaded.I know it can be a single state but we can adapt to many!

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

If you are talking about the "weight lifting" aspect of text books, then there are other solutions to it.
Let me explain:
School timings generaaly are from 8am to 2pm with 45 mnutes lunch break, 20 minute prayer break, 45 minutes games period and another 45 minutes for art and craft or music etc.

Now this means there are maximum of 6 study periods in a day. Since we are talking about school children, they have a combines book for Science (i.e. not split in Physics, Biology and Chemistry) till 8th Standard atleast. Then there is one book each for MAth, English and Hindi. There are 3 books for History, Civics and Geography.

What can we done:
The time table should be made in such a way that the student is not required to carry multiple books of the same subject. To be specific, there could be class of all subjects of science on the same day. Also, reference books should not be allowed on the day when the teachers know that NCERT books will be used. This will automatically reduce the burden 😀

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Abhijeet Chaturvedi

@abhijeet-chaturvedi-6ROJga • Aug 6, 2014

Well Said!!

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Satya Swaroop Dash

@satya-swaroop-YDeBJM • Aug 6, 2014

I second #-Link-Snipped-# â€˜s argument. Tablets can never replace textbooks in real life.

Hereâ€™s how: Tablets are incredibly expensive to own as compared to textbooks. This means that except for the proverbial first world nations rest of the world cannot use them.

We have textbooks now for every grade students, they provide one dimensional knowledge and unless we provide some extra experience (audio and video aids) in books for tablets it is meaningless to just actual books into e-books. Adding extra content will take time and not to mention in a country like India at least any change textbooks will be costly and very time consuming as it will get stuck in years of red tape.

Like she said students have a habit of marking in books, this is helpful for quick recalling of subjects and in tablets it is possible but quite cumbersome.

Tablets are very unreliable, even the best tablets fail sometimes and do not even get me started on battery life. The best Android tabs cannot last a full school day and if tablets are made compulsory we will find students rushing for power ports at the end of every period.

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Manish Goyal

@manish-r2Hoep • Aug 6, 2014

#-Link-Snipped-# considering case of exams, can we prepare for exams by studying through tablet?

Say we are preparing for Maths Exam where you have to practice Questions then you really think a mix of text copy and tablet will make sense?

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
Some corrections!!!

who say we can't highlight when we use tab to read. Adobe or any other readers gives us the facility to highlight whatever we want.

Even blind people can use the tablets built Adobes feature where the software reads full texts .

No one is going to study a full stretch of 4 or more hours especially students .So there is a ample chance to charge in mean time.

How text books aeeen time saving? ( consider this: If a kid want to find a specific topic, he cannot search it easily in books but its vice versa in Tabs where he can search it instantly .

Lets keep myth aside and discuss facts!

1. (a)
How long does it take to highlight in a tablet? - 30 seconds? or more!
Then there are corrections i.e. more words tend to get selected or less - for someone who is not used to tablets.
(b)
How long does it take to highlight in a textbook - 5 seconds? or less!
It is not just about the facilities, but also about the speed.

2. Correct - no one will study for more than 4 hours at a stretch. And a tablet can be charged after that. Correct again.
What idf therein no power/electricity after that time?
What if a student has an exam on the next day? And the goverment decided on load shedding?
This generally happens in Summers in India - Exam time that is!

3. Coming to the time saving part:
I agree that it easier to find text in a tablet "CTR+F". But a student who knows his lessons will know where the text is in the book also.
Also,
FYI: There is something called as Index in textbooks 😀

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Satya Swaroop Dash

@satya-swaroop-YDeBJM • Aug 6, 2014

The era of tablets in India in the education sector was kick-started by the then education minister Kapil Sibal’s pet project, the Aakash tablet. The tablet was more of a government/party promotion strategy rather than a education revolution. They started the project forgetting that they had created a system without structure and it was destined to fail. Even in countries like US tablets are used as an accessory and not the staple. This is the future of tablets, they cannot replace books but certainly add value to them .

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
If you are talking about the "weight lifting" aspect of text books, then there are other solutions to it.
Let me explain:
School timings generaaly are from 8am to 2pm with 45 mnutes lunch break, 20 minute prayer break, 45 minutes games period and another 45 minutes for art and craft or music etc.

Now this means there are maximum of 6 study periods in a day. Since we are talking about school children, they have a combines book for Science (i.e. not split in Physics, Biology and Chemistry) till 8th Standard atleast. Then there is one book each for MAth, English and Hindi. There are 3 books for History, Civics and Geography.

What can we done:
The time table should be made in such a way that the student is not required to carry multiple books of the same subject. To be specific, there could be class of all subjects of science on the same day. Also, reference books should not be allowed on the day when the teachers know that NCERT books will be used. This will automatically reduce the burden 😀

Its seems like a good idea but what many had experienced that each subject would have a book+Note for each subject so it automatically increases weight.
No teacher loves students who use a single notebook for all subjecsts or even two subjects in one note!
correct me if i am wrong 😀

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
But States like Tamil Nadu , we have all text books in pdf from 1s t to 12th and they can be downloaded.I know it can be a single state but we can adapt to many!

All NCERT textbooks are available online all acorss the country. Trust me, I use them for my MBA preparation. Because i need them for just a week, or maximum of a month.
But for a student, who has to use the books for a complete academic year, tablet doesn't make sense.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
Its seems like a good idea but what many had experienced that each subject would have a book+Note for each subject so it automatically increases weight.
No teacher loves students who use a single notebook for all subjecsts or even two subjects in one note!
correct me if i am wrong 😀

Do you mean that a "Note" book is not requires in case of tablet?
Writing in hand is always more quick compared to writing or making notes on a tablet. How will a student write alpha, or beta, or gamma, on a tablet?
Or the wave equation?

Tablets can be used to read, not to write. This means that your arguement of increasing thr weight of bags because of separate notebook for each subject doesnt get solved because of tablet 😀

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

Some suggestions:
Government should implement an act where they can give tablets with preloaded books of their curriculum . If government has capacity to give away unwanted freebies to win Election why not Tabs? So you can't debate that it costs more to government .

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

I second #-Link-Snipped-#
In India, probably tablets are promoted in only one state but looking at the benefits of it, we can see a future where tablets are going to rule over the textbooks.

- In one tablet you can store almost all of your material starting 1st to your university with different author books.
- Data / PDF books can be stored on the cloud to ensure that it will be saved for ever (No fear of tearing loosing books)

What else?
Isn't these two points enough to prove that tablets are going to rule.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
Some suggestions:
Government should implement an act where they can give tablets with preloaded books of their curriculum . If government has capacity to give away unwanted freebies to win Election why not Tabs? So you can't debate that it costs more to government .

Government is not even ready to give free books, and you are talking about distributing tablets!

A few questions:
What is count of freebies given by government?
What is the count of tablets that will have to be given?

Obviously, the count of tablets is more.

What is the cost of freebies?
What is the cost of Tablets?

Obviously, the cost of tablets is more.
This means that the cost for government will become way higher.

Also,
Since you have initiated the topic of government, let us also talk about unemployment it would cost if textbooks are replaced by government?

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a.alandkar

@aalandkar-R9Nf1k • Aug 6, 2014

Sorry for being late. BUt i think one has to ugrade with the technilogy. So tablet would be a good option.

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Rajni Jain

@rajni-E46Rlm • Aug 6, 2014

Tagging currently online CEan's (I am sure you won't like to miss the prestigious debate winner title and a gift voucher)

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a.alandkar

@aalandkar-R9Nf1k • Aug 6, 2014

There are many options like if you are rading some technical stuff and you want to test the things like how it works then you can go with certain simulation softwares and check the things out. But using textbooks it sounds hectic like read the things in book and then go with desktop or laptop...

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anil Jain
I second #-Link-Snipped-#
In India, probably tablets are promoted in only one state but looking at the benefits of it, we can see a future where tablets are going to rule over the textbooks.

- In one tablet you can store almost all of your material starting 1st to your university with different author books.
- Data / PDF books can be stored on the cloud to ensure that it will be saved for ever (No fear of tearing loosing books)

What else?
Isn't these two points enough to prove that tablets are going to rule.

No, I don't think that these two points are enough 😛

Reasons:
1. You are talking about storing books on the cloud-
(a) Did you think whether a 1st Standard even knows what Cloud is? All he would think of is blue cloud.
(b) Even if you say that their parents will do it for them, only parents of the next generations would know this.
For now only 5% of the parents would know this.
(c) Can you imagine the cost of the tablet that would have a memory to store all books from Standard 1st to University? I don't think it is affordable.
(d) What if a memore crash happens? :O

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

a.alandkar
There are many options like if you are rading some technical stuff and you want to test the things like how it works then you can go with certain simulation softwares and check the things out. But using textbooks it sounds hectic like read the things in book and then go with desktop or laptop...

How did simlation software come in standard 1st to standard 10th syllabus?
I think it is not even there in standard 12th.

We are debating about textbooks vs tablets for school and college children!

Talking about college, it is easier to read in the book and the go to desktop or laptop. There are special classes for simutaion that take place in the lab itself.

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
No, I don't think that these two points are enough 😛

Reasons:
1. You are talking about storing books on the cloud-
(a) Did you think whether a 1st Standard even knows what Cloud is? All he would think of is blue cloud.
(b) Even if you say that their parents will do it for them, only parents of the next generations would know this.
For now only 5% of the parents would know this.
(c) Can you imagine the cost of the tablet that would have a memory to store all books from Standard 1st to University? I don't think it is affordable.
(d) What if a memore crash happens? :O

Oh really !
a) Who is asking a first grade student to know about cloud? Does he actually know how to read a book?
A first grade kid is like a clean slate. His parents / teacher teach him how to read book. If they can teach him how to read book, they can teach how to read tablet or store it on cloud.

b) Does this debate ever asked if tablets are going to replace textbooks tomorrow?
Your and my generation folks will start using it, and probably after couple of generation, we will see textbooks only in pictures on on history PDF's on tablets.

c) The cost is going to be under check for sure. Do you know how much Physics - HC Verma / Chemistry - RC Verma single book costs you? or a one from tata McGraw hills?
Calculate all and that will be more than the cost of tablets.

d) Buy another tablet, data is anyways on the cloud. Meanwhile shat if your text book are lost or your hand written notes are lost / torn?

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a.alandkar

@aalandkar-R9Nf1k • Aug 6, 2014

i agree that there is nothing to do with the simulation s/w in schools but in 12th there are vocational subjects. And i think electronics is one of them.

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

You may like to see a #-Link-Snipped-# for the growing popularity of e-Books:

29072519395949BAB25073FE084BC17B1

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anil Jain
Oh really !
a) Who is asking a first grade student to know about cloud? Does he actually know how to read a book?
A first grade kid is like a clean slate. His parents / teacher teach him how to read book. If they can teach him how to read book, they can teach how to read tablet or store it on cloud.

b) Does this debate ever asked if tablets are going to replace textbooks tomorrow?
Your and my generation folks will start using it, and probably after couple of generating we will see textbooks only in pictures on on history PDF's on tablets.

c) The cost is going to be under check for sure. Do you know how much Physics - HC Verma / Chemistry - RC Verma single book costs you? or a one from tata McGraw hills?
Calculate all and that will be more than the cost of tablets.

d) But another tablet, data is anyways on the cloud. Meanwhile shat if your text book are lost or your hand written notes are lost / torn?

1. What if the parent of the first grade kid do not know technical stuff? Or are illeterate? What if the teachers (governtment school teachers specially) are too busy with personal stuff that they are not ready to help?

2. If it starts, it starts today. Are we actually prepared today? Prepared in terms of technology, finances, etc.

3. Yeah. I do know that cost of H C Verma and Tata Publications. Do you know that those books can be resold or bought from a second hand market? Also, these books need concentration to study, long study hours that a tablet cannot support.

4. There is something called as "Xerox", that i did in my entire college life. 😀
And what if tablet crashes?

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Sahithi Pallavi

@sahithi-oJZaYj • Aug 6, 2014

The goal of the true education is intelligence plus character. On one side, the present day unemployment, immorality, Crime rate etc in educated people shows clearly that the present day education is not doing well with its goal; while on the other side, the nation and the world is undergoing unprecedented changes in almost every sphere of human life.
Drawing attention to this, it is imperative to think of far reaching educational reforms in education sector.
A book can change the life of a man but today a textbook alone is not able to change the life of a student. There might be many reasons. We regularly hear the word - bookish knowledge - it means what we read in books may not be able to implement sometimes. Practical knowledge can only impart skills to the students which are very important to set their career. We see many students who forget their lessons once they promote to their next classes but they dont forget a movie or a video for many years. Thats the ability of the multimedia technology. Why not we show their lessons as videos through their smart devices like tablets etc?
Tele education is the recent drastic reform in the education sector. A student can listen to their teachers through their tablets. He can read his books whereever he is. Teachers can give their notes easily, teach their lessons easily. Students can grasp their leasons easily and they can remember easily. Most importantly the practical skills which are lagging these days in the students can be imparted. As they were very much connected to a network they will interact and improve their intelligence. There are many ebooks, apps which are helpful to But schools and they can get up to date information. But schools, teachers and parents should make sure that students are using it in a good way. Tablets can not impart character, social behaviour to the students.
No doubt textbooks are the foundation pillers of the knowledge. They play a very important role in education either through its information, knowledge. Students should cope up with their booka to maintain handwriting, practicing their diagrams. But textbooks alone are not able to help the children. They might be one sided, outdated etc. Children must be thought how to think but not what to think.

To reach the goal of EDUCATION ie. Intelligence plus character, INTRODUCTION of tablets and INTEGRATION of tablets in the present textbook education system will create a education ecosystem and will go a long way in changing the lifes of the students and then the nation and then the world ultimately. We should remember that in a knowledge economy the wealth of the nation will not be determined in terms of its natural resources but in terms of its social capital. A morale knowledge based education system is the bedrbedrock of an enlightened society.
Even our Indian govt has recognized the importance of this and has come up with few projects like national programme on education through information and communicatioan technology, model schools, akash tablets, free laptops, national policy on information technology etc

Textbook + Tablet = Talent -> Tomorrow.

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Satya Swaroop Dash

@satya-swaroop-YDeBJM • Aug 6, 2014

Anil Jain
You may like to see a #-Link-Snipped-# for the growing popularity of e-Books:

The data that you have suggested in your point does not give a clear picture as to the replacement of textbooks. The survey is regarding e-books across all age groups and not just for students.The graph shows owning a tablet or a e-book reader and not the data of ebooks

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Abhijeet Chaturvedi

@abhijeet-chaturvedi-6ROJga • Aug 6, 2014

Tablets are Loaded with Study Distrbing elements like Movies, Music,Videos, Games.. U Cant Rely on Tablets. Even If a guy is Completely Focused He Wld Be attractd towards d Dstrbances.. In short Tablets Can enhance The Studying Experience Bt Cant Replace It.!!

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anil Jain
You may like to see a #-Link-Snipped-# for the growing popularity of e-Books:

This is out of our context!

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
1. What if the parent of the first grade kid do not know technical stuff? Or are illeterate? What if the teachers (governtment school teachers specially) are too busy with personal stuff that they are not ready to help?

Really?
If the teacher doesn't have time to teach the students and are busy in personal stuff, they should be immediately fired.

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
2. If it starts, it starts today. Are we actually prepared today? Prepared in terms of technology, finances, etc.

Yes, we are preparing for today, check the stats of number of kindle, nook, e-readers, tablets on the sale across the world. I have posted a survey in above post.

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
3. Yeah. I do know that cost of H C Verma and Tata Publications. Do you know that those books can be resold or bought from a second hand market? Also, these books need concentration to study, long study hours that a tablet cannot support.

Second hand market.. is equal to piracy (we will discuss more about it sometime else). The licensing of the book says that these can not be re-sold.
Long study hours can be achieved on tablets as well. I finish entire novel on e-reader with a single sitting of 6-7 hours. 😁

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
4. There is something called as "Xerox", that i did in my entire college life. 😀 And what if tablet crashes?

Buy another tablet, data is stored on cloud mam !!

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a.alandkar

@aalandkar-R9Nf1k • Aug 6, 2014

Hey mate, there is plenty of stuff available on the internet that too for free, you can refer it. and if you are thinking of crashing of the tablet then there is a threate of getting wear and tear of books too.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

a.alandkar
Hey mate, there is plenty of stuff available on the internet that too for free, you can refer it. and if you are thinking of crashing of the tablet then there is a threate of getting wear and tear of books too.

What is the probability?

Also, crashing of tablet means data lost entirely.
Wear and tear of books means that we can put a cello tape or bind it and use again?

I think we can dry a book if it falls in water, can we dry a tablet?

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Rajni Jain

@rajni-E46Rlm • Aug 6, 2014

Official Moderation:
We all know that there are pros and cons of the tablets and text-books. However I would request you to take either of the side (NOT BOTH) 😀

Debate is moving in an interesting zone and I am sure you may not leave it till 10 PM, even after that 😁 . However, in any case, if you have to leave it, please do post your summary.

Last post of each participant before 10 PM IST, would be considered as the summary.

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Satya Swaroop Dash

@satya-swaroop-YDeBJM • Aug 6, 2014

When it comes to the topic we have to check how it fare with the people concerned with it.

Students: For students, tablets can act as an accessory to learning with their textbook.

Teachers: They will need to find newer ways of teaching students once tablets go main stream, it will take time.

Course framers: They shall have a tough time deciding on the nature of lessons being taught. They shall be in a fix getting their results passed through many levels of bureaucracy.

Parents: A tablet shall always be a burden on their long term expenses. While we are on the subject I would raise a fact to all of the people here regarding disparity. While some parents can afford an iPad Air some will have to remain contented with a Micromax one. Textbooks do not have this problem, every textbook remains the same for everyone.

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Sahithi Pallavi

@sahithi-oJZaYj • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
What is the probability?

Also, crashing of tablet means data lost entirely.
Wear and tear of books means that we can put a cello tape or bind it and use again?

I think we can dry a book if it falls in water, can we dry a tablet?

We can copy the tablet information in a pendrive no.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

And what about exam time scenario?
A student who is used to writing on tablet, "Highlighting" on tablet, will surely have less speed, bad handwriting, etc. This means that more time to check papers.
Even you you say that this is not a valid point, you cannot deny the fact that there will be less materiel for last time revision because eveytihng will be on one tab, more confusion in terms of swapping folders, etc.

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
No, I don't think that these two points are enough 😛

Reasons:
1. You are talking about storing books on the cloud-
(a) Did you think whether a 1st Standard even knows what Cloud is? All he would think of is blue cloud.
(b) Even if you say that their parents will do it for them, only parents of the next generations would know this.
For now only 5% of the parents would know this.
(c) Can you imagine the cost of the tablet that would have a memory to store all books from Standard 1st to University? I don't think it is affordable.
(d) What if a memore crash happens? :O

i bet the memory or Size of all books from 1st standard to University would be less so Don't worry about size!.
If memory crash happens , He or she can simply share it from friends using Wifi or Bluetooth or from Pc.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Satya Swaroop Dash
When it comes to the topic we have to check how it fare with the people concerned with it.

Students: For students, tablets can act as an accessory to learning with their textbook.

Teachers: They will need to find newer ways of teaching students once tablets go main stream, it will take time.

Course framers: They shall have a tough time deciding on the nature of lessons being taught. They shall be in a fix getting their results passed through many levels of bureaucracy.

Parents: A tablet shall always be a burden on their long term expenses. While we are on the subject I would raise a fact to all of the people here regarding disparity. While some parents can afford an iPad Air some will have to remain contented with a Micromax one. Textbooks do not have this problem, every textbook remains the same for everyone.

And some parents, cannot afford any!

Sada
We can copy the tablet information in a pendrive no.

Pendrive? Seriously?
You want additonal cost for a pendrive also now?

What if the small pendrive is lost, or it gets stolen because you are a topper, or virus attack?

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

I am very sure of the size, and that's the reason i got this topic up!

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Satya Swaroop Dash

@satya-swaroop-YDeBJM • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
And what about exam time scenario?
A student who is used to writing on tablet, "Highlighting" on tablet, will surely have less speed, bad handwriting, etc. This means that more time to check papers.

we are concerned with textbooks and not a student's notebook. even with a tablet a student will need to have his notebook for taking notes in class, doing homework etc.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

There is always a generation gap between students and teachers. Students of the next generation would be better than handling a tablet than a teacher! And we all know about "Teacher Ego". We have all faced the consequences of it.

I know this because my 4 year old nephew is better with technology that what i was at 18 years of age! And, its not just about me.

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Satya Swaroop Dash

@satya-swaroop-YDeBJM • Aug 6, 2014

Giving in to the lighter side of the topic, tablets will give new excuses to our students. Imagine instead of saying “We had guests at home yesterday” students will say “I lost my tablet charger / my tablet crashed and I could not complete the homework”

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
And what about exam time scenario?
A student who is used to writing on tablet, "Highlighting" on tablet, will surely have less speed, bad handwriting, etc. This means that more time to check papers.
Even you you say that this is not a valid point, you cannot deny the fact that there will be less materiel for last time revision because eveytihng will be on one tab, more confusion in terms of swapping folders, etc.

Do you think Online papers would be a bad idea?
Anyways, Most of the comptitative exams are already moved to online format, who knows future will be completely online test?

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anil Jain
Do you think Online papers would be a bad idea?
Anyways, Most of the comptitative exams are already moved to online format, who knows future will be completely online test?

What about school exams?
How can you solve mathematical equations online? Whan it is a theory paper?

Competitive exams that are now online are all multiple choice questions!

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
There is always a generation gap between students and teachers. Students of the next generation would be better than handling a tablet than a teacher! And we all know about "Teacher Ego". We have all faced the consequences of it.

I know this because my 4 year old nephew is better with technology that what i was at 18 years of age! And, its not just about me.

All IIT / IIM folks are earning way more than what the professors at IIT / IIM earns.
All of my school mates are earning way ahead than school grade teachers.

From where the ego came when a teacher deal with student. Sorry not a acceptable argument when we talk about student and teacher.

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
What about school exams?
How can you solve mathematical equations online? Whan it is a theory paper?

Competitive exams that are now online are all multiple choice questions!

We need to solve sum in IIT pre.
We need to solve maths sum / logical questions in CAT, GMAT.

Around 10 years back, no one ever thought that one can give a exam online. and you never know after 20 years from today, our next generation will be using only online methods for the school examinations as well.

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

Satya Swaroop Dash
Giving in to the lighter side of the topic, tablets will give new excuses to our students. Imagine instead of saying “We had guests at home yesterday” students will say “I lost my tablet charger / my tablet crashed and I could not complete the homework”

Ha Ha Ha.. I wish we had tablets in our time. It would have been fun to made those excuses and I am sure out teachers would have found some answers to them as well.

After all teachers are teachers.

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Rajni Jain

@rajni-E46Rlm • Aug 6, 2014

#-Link-Snipped-#, #-Link-Snipped-# @[prototype] #-Link-Snipped-# sir and other online friends.

Though the competition is very fierce. You still have an hour to add your views to debate and get a chance to win !!

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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Aug 6, 2014

We are all viewing this topic from too close i.e. 2014. Now lets just for the sake of fun imagine the future: a tomorrow where our precious trees will not be cut down for feeding us knowledge.

Today we all might agree with textbooks being useful and the sweet gesture of 'handing over our textbooks to our juniors. But there will always come a time when 'time' itself will cause the wear and tear to the book. We could recycle it. True that. But the effort taken to print the book is wasted.

For tablets today, there is not much performance or battery life for the budget models and the ones with the 'pen/stylus' and battery life costs a lot.

So in present case textbooks even though might be heavier and more in number would be better for students.

In future, we can hope for paper light tablets made of flexible screens with better 'pens' to improve handwriting. Personally i vouch for those 'text-a-blets' which can be easy as a book, yet perform. Who knows, we might just learn to power our gadgets with air by then (how cool would that be)...think 20-50 years from now. Don't you think it can happen? And those 'text-a-blets' should be eco friendly and made of maximum recyclable parts as well.

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Anil Jain

@CrazyBoy • Aug 6, 2014

Anoop Mathew
In future, we can hope for paper light tablets made of flexible screens with better 'pens' to improve handwriting. Personally i vouch for thos

Can't agree more !!

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

I want add that the future technology has more to offer us and @Guneet
I am sure Speech to Text May help during theoretical online exams and as you asked about mathematical symbols , etc i agree that it May be difficult at present scenario but As #-Link-Snipped-# said , Tab + performance battery+ stylus would help in doing all acts !!

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anil Jain
We need to solve sum in IIT pre.
We need to solve maths sum / logical questions in CAT, GMAT.

Around 10 years back, no one ever thought that one can give a exam online. and you never know after 20 years from today, our next generation will be using only online methods for the school examinations as well.

Solving a sum of IIT is different from that of GMAT or CAT.
And this is well known.

IIT might require integration and disintegration. But CAT requires basic math. The CAT curriculam is designed in a manner that it says math till only 10th Grade.

I exactly mean the same. That one can give MCQ paper online but not a complex math theoritical exam.

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

May be a better competitor would arise for tablet too!!!
It May solve all problems we face.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Never has it happened it with that your teacher might have told you "Dont be oversmart".
That is what I'm talking about. When a 2nd grade kid will use a tablet in a better manner as compared to the old age teacher.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
I want add that the future technology has more to offer us and @Guneet
I am sure Speech to Text May help during theoretical online exams and as you asked about mathematical symbols , etc i agree that it May be difficult at present scenario but As #-Link-Snipped-# said , Tab + performance battery+ stylus would help in doing all acts !!

There always are solutions when it comes to technology. But the questions is - are we ready for it now?
Does the technology, finance and mentality support it now?
Are we losing the basic indications?

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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Aug 6, 2014

College textbooks are now left at home as showcase decoration (no one asked me for my books). Even school texts are now 'out-dated' due to changing syllabus.

P.S.: Well, one thing's for sure. Even if we don't remember much these days, our fellow beings whom we so dearingly hate seem to learn a lot even without textbooks and tablets. Each an inch of skin is never spared. Yes, i'm talking about 'The Mosquito'

P.S.S.: Stuck at a bus station (in hopes of catching a bus) with mosquitoes as companions as the rains keep pouring on my debate!

P.S.S.S: #What.a.day!

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
May be a better competitor would arise for tablet too!!!
It May solve all problems we face.

For now - it is Tablets vs Textbooks!
Let us stay with the topic.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anoop Mathew
College textbooks are now left at home as shoepiece decoratiom. Even school texts are now 'out-dated' due to changing syllabus.

P.S.: Well, one thing's for sure. Even if we don't remember much these days, our fellow beings whom we so dearingly hate seem to learn a lot even without textbooks and tablets. Each an inch of skin is never spared. Yes, i'm talking about 'The Mosquito'

P.S.S.: Stuck at a bus station (in hopes of catching a bus) with mosquitoes as companions as the rains keep pouring on my debate!

P.S.S.S: #What.a.day!

If college books are left at home as decoration items, tablets are also used to see stuff which it is not meant for.

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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
If college books are left at home as decoration items, tablets are also used to see stuff which it is not meant for.

Forget what tablets can do. Even you can find such stuff as printed material. Think of an advanced version of amazon kindle to be a textablet. Only essential stuff to be enabled by default. Categorize it differently: taking good points of a textbook and tablet and not completely giving the power of a tablet. Kind of like a miniature newspaper.

P.S.: Maybe the next big idea can come out of such wild thoughts. So don't hesitate to add them while doing your typical old school fashioned debating (which is a good thing as well). Unleash the craziness!

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Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran

@sarathkumar-FEGRPw • Aug 6, 2014

Summary :
I am sure Tabs have higher possibility to take over text books unless a better tech gadget wins tab . We want to move on to next big thing so leave some feeling aside and grab Tablet to survive the competition and save some trees. It has pros as follows due to which i support:
1) Eco friendly
2) less weight
3) extra options to see and learn using apps ( to visualize and learn using videos )
4) Aids blind people to learn using "text to speech ".
5) to survive 😀

Sorry if i had hurt anyone with my views and take it easy!!!

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anoop Mathew
Forget what tablets can do. Even you can find such stuff as printed material. Think of an advanced version of amazon kindle to be a textablet. Only essential stuff to be enabled by default. Categorize it differently: taking good points of a textbook and tablet and not completely giving the power of a tablet. Kind of like a miniature newspaper.

P.S.: Maybe the next big idea can come out of such wild thoughts. So don't hesitate to add them while doing your typical old school fashioned debating (which is a good thing as well). Unleash the craziness!

Let us stick to the present topic as Rajni said. A lot of things can be done, but for now it is just Textbooks and Tablets (the way they are)

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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Aug 6, 2014

Guneet Kaur Khanuja
Let us stick to the present topic as Rajni said. A lot of things can be done, but for now it is just Textbooks and Tablets (the way they are)

Sure. Worth debating

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Rajni Jain

@rajni-E46Rlm • Aug 6, 2014

Official moderation:
Please stick to topic: Textbook vs Tablets

Also, keep a watch on time; Last 20 minutes, I would request everyone to use last few minutes in concluding and giving summary statement.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

Anoop Mathew
Sure. Worth debating

It is almost over now, and I did not enough points in favour of tablets 😛

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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Aug 6, 2014

End Quote: Use or don't use tablets. Don't rely too much on textbooks. Study even if you have limited time with whatever material available to you. Important thing is to learn the subject. For this textbooks today are probably better. But lets hope for a different tomorrow. A tomorrow where the goodness, ease and comfort of a textbook merges with the performing capabilities and possible eco friendliness of a tablet. Don't let the lack of a tablet or the heaviness of a textbook limit your hunt for knowledge.

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Guneet Khanuja

@guneet-PX8axz • Aug 6, 2014

At the end of three hours of debating, I am even more convinced about the fact that tablets can never replace textbooks.
As stated earlier, textbooks are better than tablets because:
1. textbooks are more user friendly
2. textbooks are cheap
3. textbooks can be shared
4. textbooks can be passed on
5. no problems of battery
6. more data security
7. no problems of wear and tear
8. no data crash issues
9. textbooks are safe
10. textbooks require low maintenance.

There are multiple other reasons that cannot be summarised. 😀

Thanks for the awesome debate.

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Rajni Jain

@rajni-E46Rlm • Aug 6, 2014

Official Moderation:
It's 10:00 PM, and we are concluding the debate.

We had some super awesome points from either of the side. Points added after this will not be considered for evaluation.

However keep the ball rolling and pour in your comments.

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Sahithi Pallavi

@sahithi-oJZaYj • Aug 6, 2014

Conclusion - Integration of tablets and textbooks to improve the talents of students to have a country's tomorrow is an adoptable approach.

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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Aug 6, 2014

P.S.: For the record this was the most crankiest debate day. Still haven't reached home due to Monsoon floods and its still raining. Sitting on a bus hoping to reach home by midnight!

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Rajni Jain

@rajni-E46Rlm • Aug 6, 2014

[USERGROUP=4]@Moderators[/USERGROUP] - we would love to read your view if tablets can replace text books??

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Ramani Aswath

@ramani-VR4O43 • Aug 6, 2014

This is a bit autobiographical.
We had to walk three kilometers to school between 1951 and 56. The pollution free atmosphere made this a good exercise. None of us carried more than one note book most of the times Every thing for the day went into that to be added to subject specific note books at home. This repetition itself reinforced the learning.
Teachers were more dedicated. There were no private tuition given by teachers so that there was no vested interest.
The direct interaction in the class was one of the most important learning mechanisms.

I still have and use my text books from my technical course from 1957 even though they were still in British units.

I know that internet based learning devices are useful. However, in my opinion the printed word holds its own. Trees being cut to make paper has to be seen in perspective. The amount of trivial printing ( news papers, ad material of all kinds) use for more paper and destroy vast swathes of forests than school texts.
There is no dependence on power, net connection and such with books. The effort to get info helps in consolidating what is learned.

The place for internet in education is for teaching in remote areas where schools themselves are scarce. Here is an organization (Bangalore based doing good work in Tamilnadu): <a href="https://www.evidyaloka.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">eVidyaloka</a>

However, no tablets!

I vote (maybe minority) for the printed word.

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manojkumar sripura

@manojkumar-Tqw1bG • Aug 12, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
Some suggestions:
Government should implement an act where they can give tablets with preloaded books of their curriculum . If government has capacity to give away unwanted freebies to win Election why not Tabs? So you can't debate that it costs more to government .

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manojkumar sripura

@manojkumar-Tqw1bG • Aug 12, 2014

Satya Swaroop Dash
When it comes to the topic we have to check how it fare with the people concerned with it.

Students: For students, tablets can act as an accessory to learning with their textbook.

Teachers: They will need to find newer ways of teaching students once tablets go main stream, it will take time.

Course framers: They shall have a tough time deciding on the nature of lessons being taught. They shall be in a fix getting their results passed through many levels of bureaucracy.

Parents: A tablet shall always be a burden on their long term expenses. While we are on the subject I would raise a fact to all of the people here regarding disparity. While some parents can afford an iPad Air some will have to remain contented with a Micromax one. Textbooks do not have this problem, every textbook remains the same for everyone.

ss i too agree with some may offer other not but every time only teachers are the books and some times these tablets mislead you

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Karthikeyan jaisankar

@karthikeyan-jaisankar-ePFRw7 • Aug 17, 2014

SarathKumar Chandrasekaran
To start my topic,
I firmly support the use of tablets though many of us go and strongly voice their support for text books because of its Raw feeling and better experience but we should accept the fact that we must adapt ourselves to changing generation which helps us in minimizing usage of paper for printing which automatically avoids trees falling for paper.
It gives me freedom to download my favorite book at instant( No.more shipping of books).
I can avoid the fear of books labled as " out of stock" .
Carry a lot of books in single tablet so that students burden can be minimized- no.more weight lifting to schools.
I can read wherever i want especially when travelling (increased convenience for eyes.

Every one mind set is different...Though we are destroyng trees,and other natural products for unnescessary reasons!!! using tablet for studying purpose there are some advantages and disadvantages.According to me,
1.Easily mind diverted while studying in tablet
2.you cannot study more hours though you are decreasing the brightness
3.if we need to search while reading,instantly we can search on the internet...only few reasons tablet is worth i think so 😀

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Debate #7 - Textbooks vs Tablets In Schools and Colleges

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