Publishers today are progressing with more resources in the digital form than the "old-fashioned" textbook. Is this good or bad? As with several things, there are pros and cons to online textbooks. Publishers and educators may argue that providing textbooks online is more economical, pictures on a page can come to life by providing students with video and narration, and student backpacks are lighter.
However, being a remedial reading teacher in the public school and a preparatory English teacher at the college level, I am not 100% sold on digital textbooks. In my teaching experience, I have found that students with reading disabilities need to hold the book and pages as they read. They also need to be able to use their active reading strategies by being able to underline, highlight, take notes and turn the pages back and forth. I know publishers and other educators will argue the fact that these tools may be embedded in the online textbook, but during my teaching I have witnessed that as soon as students are given another modality of having to navigate, while reading on the computer, it inhibits their fluency and comprehension skills.
I can see and understand the pros with online textbooks, but struggle with this concept when it comes to strengthening reading skills with lower level readers. In looking at the positive side of online textbooks, I have attached a link that describes 20 Ways to Bring Your Textbook to Life.
http://teacherrebootcamp.com/2013/12/26/20-ways-to-bring-your-textbook-to-life/
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