While computers are expensive and constantly being upgraded, a part of me thinks that purchasing computers for student use in a public school would actually save money in the long run. Could technology like Diigo lead to the elimination of textbooks? If teachers and students can access and read information online, as well as write comments and highlight, is print really needed? If text was strictly on the computer, teachers wouldn’t have to worry about textbooks being stolen or destroyed, they wouldn’t need to worry about buying new books every few years, and they also would be able to incorporate technology into the classroom, which may be encouraging and enticing to students.
Of course, there are the problems of how students would do their homework. If questions are taken from readings and students can’t take those readings home to refer to, how can they answer them? How can students review information if it’s online and they don’t have a computer? Is it possible that maybe teachers could print off this information for students who don’t have internet access or computers at home? Would this cause some students to be outcast because they may not have the economic, social, or geographical ability to access the internet or own a computer?
You bring up some interesting points, but I have to say that I sure hope we are not about to see the death of textbooks. I find reading large amounts of text from a computer screen very exhausting. Additionally, there is something about writing notes rather than typing them that seems more conducive to recall of the material. No matter how prevalent computers become, nor how efficient their mark-up capabilities are, people are still tactile creatures, and the pen may yet still be a might object.
Nevertheless, I agree, Diigo is a wonderful innovation, and I am all for its integration in the arsenal of information management tools.
Your question about what happens to students who for whatever reason do not have access to the Internet or a computer at home is one we must not forget to consider. In our delight in new digital toys, it can be easy to forget that access is by no means universal. How responsible are schools for leveling a playing field that society creates? Stuart Selber asks whether educators should be seeing society as a function of education or education as a function of society. There is a world of difference there, and your point about students becoming marginalized by their lack of computer access or literacy is right in the middle of the discussion. I don’t think schools can give everybody what society does not, but educators can help those they teach to develop their potential despite social limitations,
I think that the death of textbooks as we know them is looming very close. California is already getting on the band wagon for this endeavor. Have you heard of the “Kindle” and its applications towards education? The Kindle is a hand held device that books of all kinds can be downloaded to mainly from Amazon.com. So, while student’s won’t be able to “physically” flip through a book, they will still have access to textbooks, only in a different form. I don’t know everything about the Kindle, but from what I’ve heard it’s very similar to diigo as far as what a user can do with marking, annotating and organizing information. Governor Schwarzenegger has even begun trying to implement this device in several schools in California for free.
Check this out:
http://www.ezinearticles.com/?California-Plan-to-Supply-Free-Electronic-Textbooks-May-Benefit-Amazon-Kindle-DX&id=2578343