With
the evolvement of technology, the world has moved on with a fast pace.
The environment that exists in the society and institutions is digital
now rather than textual. An example of this trend has been showcased by
Archbishop Stepinac High School where the backpacks have reduced their
load to a greater extent.
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Instead of heavy textbooks, there exist only
laptops and tablets in the backpacks of students. All the subjects,
ranging from biology to calculus are taught digitally to the students.
These subjects are easily accessible on the laptops and tablets of the
students.
When a student from Archbishop
Stepinac High school was interviewed, he stated that his backpack has
become much lighter these days. It is contradicting to the weight he
used to carry before which was somewhere close to 30 pounds. Now his
backpack consists of an iPad, the lunch and a jacket. It has reduced the
burden from students a great deal and they can reach the schools
without the carry out hassles.
The all boys Roman Catholic
school of the New York City did not cite the dropping of bills or lost
of weight as the main reasons for them turning digital. There is a
strong wind of such digital trends that is flowing in New York City and
this school has just fallen for that. However, it will help the students
to deal with their textbook bills as well as the weight of those
textbooks. All the books are now available at the Internet cloud in
this school, except for the religious books, as reported by one of the
official at school.
When the vice principal of the
Archbishop Stepinac High school was confronted, he stated that the
school went digital because of a particular reason. He cited the
interest of students to learn something digitally than in textbooks. It
improves the grades of learning and this has laid the foundation of
digital learning at the school. He also added that many students today
focus totally on the online content and are very satisfied with what
they read on the internet. It is a richer source of information and
therefore the school has introduced digital learning for the students.
There are assessments that are digital, virtual labs and also the
students will be able to blog using the digital technology.
The textbooks that are based
on history also include videos to support the claims. This makes the
study even more interesting for the students of the school. Subjects
like Woodrow Wilson to Malcolm X are all covered by videos. The science
books are also embedded with motion pictures and show the processes in
motion. This leaves an everlasting impact on the students and they
remember the processes eve more than reading them in textual books. The
students can also make notes of things at the margin of the page.
Subjects like mathematics also taught to students using digital books.
The books are readily
available to all the students. Hence a junior in the school can check
out concepts of algebra from a senior class’s book. This is very much
possible and the availability to access all the books. The students who
want to review their concept of osmosis from a junior book can also get
an access digitally and get solutions to their curiosity. The technology
director of the school, who is mastermind behind this program, stated
that an update has been inflicted in the books in one semester alone. It
is actually easy to update a digital book rather than a text book.
The publisher of the Digital
library was interviewed and she expressed her views saying that
Archbishop Stepinac high school is the only institution in the country
that has made digital books available to all students and in all
categories. So the students can open any book they want from any class.
Another history teacher of the school said that the interactive content
that is available on the digital books reduces out work burden and we do
not need to discuss something in minute details when there is a video
associated with the event. Students are very much attracted to videos
and there is no substitute to digital education in the modern
environment. She adds that some improvement in the education standards
of the school has already been seen and she credits it to the digital
education.
The tuition fee at Archbishop
Stepinac High School is 9000 USD per year and students can buy their own
choice of laptop or tablet. The change from text books to digital books
has fared very well to the school and that the students are also
growing more intellectual with such a change.
A student when interviewed
stated that it is very exciting for him to read a digital book rather
than a textual book. He added that textual books can prove to be very
boring but the digital books can interact well with students and he
loves reading various subjects under a digital book. Another feature
that sets digital education apart from textual education is that it is
portable. If you are in a bus or a shaky environment, you can just plug
in your earphones and listen to the lessons. This is a revolutionary
trend that is about to sweep all the schools in the world.
There are more factors that
are contributing to the popularity of digital education at the market.
The major reason is the drop in price of tablets and laptops. Such a
drop is actually very good for the students to grab their choice at the
cheapest price and get going with their education. Some of the districts
have taken up a very evolutionary and creative approach to digital
education. The Vali district around Tucson has made “Beyond Textbooks”
concept. This concept focuses more on the insights of a teacher and what
she has developed for the students and not what the publisher wants to
say.
Going digital can prove to be
very expensive. The Archbishop high school has invested over 1 million
dollars in order to go digital. The infrastructure that includes
bandwidth cost them a fortune. The investment is the major reason why
most schools in the States are reluctant to go digital. A foundation run
by Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook has employed 9 million USD to
a NGO for the improvement of connectivity in schools.
There is an expanded bandwidth
at the Archbishop Stepinac high school. Even with such a big bandwidth,
the school had to ban social media and gaming websites. There is an
authority that monitors the use of internet in the school during day and
it makes sure no student is found downloading a video for fun.
Downloading a video can also prove to be bad for the bandwidth,
therefore it is checked in the school.
Digital education is certainly a great plan unless the Wi-Fi goes down.
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