Textbooks to go digital: will this concept work?

This is not a new technology and has been in existant since a long time. 

The idea needs proliferation on a larger scale. It is quite possible and handy to carry thousands on book in a single e-book reader, rather carrying piles of processed pulp.

This idea can more be studied with E-Ink technology developed by Electronic Ink Ltd. They say that they have possibly made a gadget with wireless connectivity to the internet using WI-FI where yout choice of books can be downloaded instantly.

In the transition of IPv4 to IPv6 internet mobility has gained momentum and there will be entirely a new spectrum for development and usage of the Internet.

Yes, too few books and hopefuly the printis are in pdf type so lesser radiation.

Already many colleges today are concentrating more on setting up DIGITAL LIBRARIES instead of normal ones...... In India itself teaching through power point presentation PPT is adopted by majority of professors in reputed institues nowadays.

This concept will definetely work for the upcoming generation and also makes much simpler , easier and faster for any student to access the knowledge upto date.

i think ebook has been read by student in urban and i have friends who prefer ebooks much easier than other sources, as it is new to indian scenario it will take time but it is popular among business sudent who pursue higher studies as people are going tech so i think this will work in indian urban market(metros)

e-Education and e-Learning have great potential in not only the developed but also in the developing countries. 

Cheap laptop computers can replace the text books. Networked with Wireless connectivity,  students can login and interact with School's domain Server, down load the study materials, learn and submit papers for evaluation and get graded. Parents also can access the System to check their ward's progress.

e-Library can provide additonal academic and knowledge materials. Learners can access other educational system Servers through the School's domain Server.

Students can can learn attending class rooms, from home or anywhere, over internet.

This way the whole teaching and learning process could be done transparently with  "VIRTUAL SCHOOLS".  

Not sure about e-Learning.. it could take time in India.. But trust me if this happens, it would be a lose to India, how? because children will suffer from sight problems., etc.. which in-turn is a threat to our tedious education..!

eBooks however is a wonderful idea, and you can check google like links to surf eBooks of your choice, refer one, put into your personal life, teach and present further and can go thru the context without actually buying any from the store..!

So overall: eTextbooks could be a great idea for eReferencing, but not eLearning!

This idea is definitely going to work. Now a days also schools like DPS, Ryan etc. are using 'Smart Boards' to teach their students.

As you know 'Smart Board' is the delivery mechanism of daily class rooms lessons through projectors. Here the entire syllabus is available with the teacher in the digital form. She can schedule the class accordingly.

Revolution is in the process. We will see e-textbooks concept in India also very soon...for sure!!!

this is very useful for future generation

Good debate Sudeep!!

I think Santosh and Hitesh have already done the nedful... cannot add more at all.. Thanks for the referral!

yes this will work well   for this fast generation .. and for upcoming student. And they can carry anywhere and read it whenever they requires .. this will help every body  in this world.. to gain knowledge well.

It is a great idea. Now, there will be no burden of school bags, no searching of different books in markets. Everything is one small computer book. Moreover, the child need not run here and there for notes but he can get information on whatever he wants instantly. There will be no problem in carrying them also and no loss of data even after 10 years. This is one of the best inventions.

yes i do agree with u  Mr.sudeep

.. this is also going to be one of the advancement as we are already with so many e.. program's

when we are moving towards e-learning den y not e- books, its good idea

I have seen some good points bring up on YES as well as NO side.  I still feel need to go with YES for following reasons.

1. Change is constant - applicable to all things around us and same is the case rather needed in Education. I am person of change for good and accept it in it's totatality.

2. Debate point of e-book as viable solution to go Green... e-education.. needs to be looked from viable points of view. Just refer back to era of DOT COM where pepole were arguing about network, e-process Brick mortar v/s click .... we have online banking... mobile banking... Indian Railway offering Tickets as well as Season pass for Mumbai passengers on Internet.... all made possible.

e-book can play the same role as Internet makes for typical commercial or retail end user but surely can never replace for studuents basic learning effort using Reading, Writing, cognetive thinking - it's just faciliatator.

3. I have observed that mostly entherpurners making good head way like financial technologies MCEDEX, Reliance's CDMA and Fiber Network, ITC's E-choupal so on so forth made drastic change in way society, goverment, consumer, marketplace respond to it.

4. I will give relevant example to education where in 1994..1999 pre Y2K getting PC was challenge in school and college. I have seen education institutes getting sponsorship but in 2005 onwards my own college had better computer Lab then professional training center.

Further, I would like to give example of KINDLE from AMEZON making head way in e-book reading so days of e-book reading is not far in terms of matured and economically viable product.

I feel it is just matter of making it user friendly, viable and sustaining way to make the school childeren loosen up their HEAVY school bags :-)

I think this is a great idea. It really help to the cause of green world.

Certianly it will reduce burden on student by providing less load on their back however I am not very sure about less expenditure because now everthing is very cheap or free online but once it is fully degitalised I don't think it will be as cheap as of today.

Apart from this  presently big portion of people in India buy pirted books which is almost 30-35% of original cost of the book so this way In India we are going pay some extra for digitalisation of books. I am not sure what happens in Australia.

Of course, the concept will work on the part of reducing school bag weight. In my opinion, the concept of school book carrying is itself faulty. If you provide full infrastructure then why we could not impose the responsibility of taking care of every work being executed by the student chronologically in the institution itself. It should be assigned as public documents and anybody will have liberty to observe the same on cost basis as per schedule.

Always remember, the e-books or other e-learning aids are appropriate only for learning process... it can never be replaced by practice of writing, reading, thinking etc. in order to make perfection in its kind.

Continuous involvement with e-books and e-learning process in front of monitors or LCD screen may cause virus affect in the minds of our children hence it is advisable for Higher Secondary and upper classes only....  

darshil india has changed a lot even rural india has changed a lot ,this is a workable idea may be it would take a decade to reach 100 percent level.

look at it from a long term point of view if you expect a project this size and put the number of years as 10 to 15 i think it is possible.

at stock exchanges it took some time for the change to be accepted and people to get used to digital economy we have a turnover of over a 100000 crore every day at stock exchanges entirely on digital platform.

seeing the scope of digital text book system may be private organisations would start digital classes and those who want to take private exams could take private exams.we have a system of appearing in exams of board in private.that means you need not take schooling but can take exams.

nse and bse have certification exams which are approved by them on the net.

many private organisation who want to access people for there organisations depend on net  based exams and approval ratings.

almost all banks have got networked and the number of people working in this banks are huge.

today the size of budgets of state governments and central government are huge and if some thinking is done on this it is possible in india.we have huge resources,we have changed.we have people buying almost 7 lakh vehichle per month.huge telephonic connections are taking place every day.

we have telvision connections.in every nook and corner,agricultural eductation programmes are taking place on telivision.some time back doordarshan would have schools on telivision.

it is unorganised as on date ,if a organised effort is taken we have direct to home,iptv,telivision to help in this.may be government or some private organisations with huge resources can take this up.in a government private cooperation.government of ap has done a contract with NIIT .

it is possible and only needs some thinking and change of mind from organisation and government.

making text book digital is not a difficult job.even providing training on digital platform and making students appear private exams is not a huge job.only someorganisation need to focus on this niche area.

Agree with you Sudeep. green technology and elearning is the way forward. However, this concept may not work in India. The much-hyped Rs 500 'Sakshat' laptop turned out to be a damp squib. India still has a long way to go in the field of elearning.

I was not very sure if the topic is about Australia, India or Overall.

As it is a known fact that Australia is a bit advanced than India economically, so it is quite likely that this concept will be a hit in recent years( In Australia).

While in the case of India it might take a lot of time and by then hopefully any of us will be alive to see the day (Considering the fact that implementation of any new project takes years in India to even start and average life span is 72 years).

Overall this concept is good as it will reduce the size of school bags (My shoulders till now ache when I think of my school days :(  )