Electronic school textbook – the textbook of the future

2010-02-25

On 19 February the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science hosted the presentation of Pocketbook 901, the first electronic textbook recommended for Ukrainian schoolchildren.

The electronic textbook is a device for book reading into whose memory all school textbooks are installed. The authors of the innovation assure that in terms of contents the electronic textbook is the exact copy of the paper textbook and that its producers took into account all the sanitation standards.

For the time being, the electronic aide will make an alternative to paper textbooks, but this advanced source of knowledge is destined to become the textbook of the 21st century. At least, the book of the future will solve the problem of heavy schoolbags crammed full of textbooks – its weight is only 300 grams.

According to the Institute of Innovative Technologies and Education Maintenance of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, everything necessary for school – textbooks, dictionaries, maps and atlases, will fit into this small electronic pad. The information content of electronic textbooks will be under control: producers promise that the content of textbook’s electronic versions will be approved by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science. Every textbook will have drm-protection, which will make unauthorized copying and distribution impossible.

At present, 39 files for 7th, 8th and 9th forms have already been devised, and textbooks for other forms are coming. The creators of the novelty have even taken into consideration that some children might want to play computer games during classes, and made sure that children would be unable to download games into the electronic device.

Before electronic textbooks start to be mass distributed, they will be tested in Ukrainian schools. It is up to schoolchildren and their parents to decide whether they want to have one electronic textbook or a whole collection of schoolbooks. Modern children who prefer to communicate with computers rather than with paperbooks must like this electronic device.

Schools willing to participate in the experiment must submit applications to the Ministry of Education and Science (application conditions will soon appear on the site of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine).

Based on the materials of http://vecherniy.kharkov.ua/
Photo from the site http://www.mon.gov.ua/