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Subject: Re: Are you kidding?
Posted By: William L. Rukeyser
Date: February 16, 1999 at 13:25:37
In Response to: Re: Are you kidding? - posted by Rick Faircloth on February 11, 1999 at 23:26:09

> Hi, all.

> Concerning this quote from the preceding message:

> However, as a physical form for the presentation of man's ideas, textbooks and workbooks in the school have two overwhelming advantages over other forms of information presentation media: a) they are exceptionally portable, truly allowing information anywhere anytime, and b) they cater to the lowest common economic denominator, allowing knowledge to be distributed across the widest range of economic classes."

> It may be true that perhaps one or two textbooks or workbooks are more portable than a notebook computer or similar device, but it can't be said that books are more portable when you consider how many books and workbooks can be contained on even the smallest of today's harddrives and CD's, not to mention DVD's.

I think that the prime utility of this discussion will be a new evaluation of all educational media.

It would be a shame if expressions of skepticism for the Texas proposal were misinterpreted as simply a defence of the status quo.
I think there are tons of truly awful textbooks out there, but there are also good ones.
We should be thinking in terms of how to deliver information and structure to our students in the most useful and effective ways and not become fixated on which technology to use. There is no single answer and none of the options is magical.

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* Comments: > > Hi, all. > > Concerning this quote from the preceding message: > > However, as a physical form for the presentation of man's ideas, textbooks and workbooks in the school have two overwhelming advantages over other forms of information presentation media: a) they are exceptionally portable, truly allowing information anywhere anytime, and b) they cater to the lowest common economic denominator, allowing knowledge to be distributed across the widest range of economic classes." > > It may be true that perhaps one or two textbooks or workbooks are more portable than a notebook computer or similar device, but it can't be said that books are more portable when you consider how many books and workbooks can be contained on even the smallest of today's harddrives and CD's, not to mention DVD's. > I think that the prime utility of this discussion will be a new evaluation of all educational media. > It would be a shame if expressions of skepticism for the Texas proposal were misinterpreted as simply a defence of the status quo. > I think there are tons of truly awful textbooks out there, but there are also good ones. > We should be thinking in terms of how to deliver information and structure to our students in the most useful and effective ways and not become fixated on which technology to use. There is no single answer and none of the options is magical.