Blog Post #14

Teacher Knows if You’ve Done the E-Reading

In this article the pros and cons of CourseSmart are evaluated. CourseSmart is a digital textbook program that allows teachers to see who reads the book and who does not. They can also see if they highlight and take notes. This trial has been going on at Texas A&M and is being used in Mr. Guardia's classes. Mr. Guardia noticed that one of his students had good test grades but failed to open his textbook. This allows teachers to help students or the whole class if they are falling behind. However, there are a few problems that are being sorted out. One issue is that students are leaving their textbooks open and doing other things. With the rising tests score and low engagement Mr. Guardia is concerned with the quality of the textbooks and his class being to easy.

As a teacher

As a teacher I believe this is beneficial for me so I can monitor their progress and help students who are struggling. I can see a few potential problems with this program. One issue that could easily be solved is students leaving their books open and began a different task. I plan on issuing a quiz directly from the book.

As a student

As a student, I don't see how this is beneficial. Students learn and study in many different ways. Also some students just don't have the time to read an entire chapter that is 60 pages long. I think that true learning comes from participating in the classroom and not in a book.

If I were to talk to Mr. Guardia I would ask him:

1) Does this benefit you more in the way you cover subjects in your class or the students?

2)How much does this book cost?

3) College students are told to be responsible for our own work and since we pay all of this money to go to school why is it important to you to see students open their books?

I would ask the students in this article:

1)What do you think of this program?

2) Do you feel this program helps you?

If I were to write a comment it would be that I don't really like the thought of teachers looking to see if the students are reading the book. College students pay the money to learn. It is their responsibility if they do the work or not.