I chose to read the Technologies to Watch chapter of the Horizon Report. It gave a brief description of several forms of technology, how they are currently being utilized, and what the future holds for them. The two most interesting points brought up are the ways that electronic books will be able to reduce costs while reducing the campuses carbon footprint and the potential for lowering the cost of education, both through electronic books and open content. Electronic books allow the cost of production to be greatly decreased and input materials almost eliminated, however it has yet to be told if major textbook producers will allow this transition to occur. Textbook manufacturers have a lot to lose, as soon as their books are in the digital format they are easily duplicated creating the same issue the record industry now faces. The textbook industry has a prime corner on its market and its hard to see them willingly given any of that market control up.
Open content is really amazing; it goes against every capitalistic structure our society has created. Here you have some of the world’s finest Universities sharing course content online for free. Yale hosts videotaped lectures on its website with free access for anyone with an Internet connection. This eliminates the cost of education especially for those only looking to casually take courses or learn material for their own benefit. However, Yale knows that no matter how much you know you can’t do anything in our country unless you have a degree that says you know the material. This fact alone undermines the value of open content but it is still extremely useful and beneficial to society as a whole.
All of these technologies allow us to have more information at our fingertips than ever before, but we must be sure to allow ourselves to actually learn material before moving on to the next thing, something I find myself struggling with constantly. Too often we welcome this inundation of media without considering the consequences of being continuously surrounded by information.
Using electronic textbooks for college would be a great way to cut costs and help to save the environment, at least a little. Hopefully the companies that produce textbooks will jump on board. I think that eventually , when the demand is there, they will have to. I used to be completely against electronic readers because I liked the old fashioned book. The technology has improved a great deal and I find myself using my daughter;s more and more. She reads so much more since she received one for an x-mas present.
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