I love eBooks. I love reading physical books too as there is muscle memory that feels comforting and familiar. When reading for pleasure, I will often choose a physical book for this reason. BUT there are many reasons I will opt for an eBook instead. When traveling, it is much easier to bring my device loaded with eBooks than shoulder the weight of many books in my bag for example. When engaged in reading for learning, eBooks are best. For any class I take, I will always purchase the eBook version of required texts if they are available. Being able to highlight and annotate what I'm reading and then having the app automatically gather these notes in one place to review is a life saver. I can quickly find the passage I need when writing or look up word meanings or even directly search the internet to further my learning of a new idea. An added benefit is that all of my books are in the cloud so I can use any device to find them, read them, and reference them. I can quickly find a book I read 2 years ago to use again in a new context. The ability to make connections when reading to learn on an eBook is amazing.
My other experience with eBooks is purchasing and managing them in my school library. I have a few kindles that students can check out and download eBooks of their choice. I purchase a membership to Overdrive Vermont Schools Shared collection so that my students have access to eBooks and audiobooks even when not at school. I've worked with the special educator to get eBooks on to student devices. All of the students who have taken advantage of these eBooks have enjoyed them. These are students of a wide range of ability. I believe that they help everyone, not just those on IEPs.
I've known about whispersync through Amazon for a while but I've never used it myself. (Mainly because I borrow most my books from the library!) I really enjoyed using it for Todd Rose's book. I love listening to audiobooks and regularly do so while commuting or doing unfun tasks such as cleaning the house. I enjoyed listening while reading the text just as an experience that I know some of my students experience. At first I had a hard time doing that because the narration was slower than I can read, but then I changed the speed of the narration and it made it much more pleasant. Kinda like reading with a friend. I can see how both the combined reading & narration would be helpful for students. I imagine some students would need to play with the speed like I did, either slowing it down or speeding it up based on their preference and need. The other really nice part about whispersync is that the narration is a real person. The computer voice over accessibility just sounds horrible most of the time. It doesn't make for a pleasurable reading experience. One thing I definitely want to do is make reading pleasurable, not a chore, job, punishment, etc. Even if a student is reading below grade level, doesn't mean that they can't learn to enjoy reading.
One thing that I wish was a little bit different of a design on the Kindle app was an easier toggle between audiobook and eBook. Seems to me that it should only be one click rather than 2 or 3. Also I have an old iPad with the Kindle app and it didn't support whispersync due to the age of the device. Not a problem, since I just used my phone, but something to be aware of when managing devices for students, to ensure that they are up to date and compatible.
I have eBooks available for my students and staff. I would love to do more with them. I think a challenge for using eBooks (and I could be wrong) is that there is a little bit of a notion that kids need to learn how to read themselves, that giving them these tools hinders them from learning the skills themselves. I would love to learn from another school librarian how they got their classroom teachers to support the use of eBooks in the classroom.
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