- Contrary to some parents' concerns, listening to books encourages reading. This expands on reading out loud to kids, which studies show boosts literacy (Belinda Jacks, Grand Prairie, TX).
- VangoNotes have been developed through a partnership between Audible, Inc. and Pearson Publishing. These are textbook chapter summaries and reviews in MP3 form.
- A Playaway is a audio player, consisting of a two-ounce flashplayer, pre-loaded with an audio book (made by Follett Corp. and Findaway World).
- Cost comparisons: "A new paperback copy of Charlotte's Web costs $8 on Amazon, whereas the Playaway version costs $30, and an iTunes download of it costs $17 (many other iTunes book downloads cost more--for example, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice costs $26, and the more recent Harry Potter books cost $50)" (see URL below, retrieved March 8, 2008, 11:10 AM).
- The audiobook industry is one of the fastest-growing parts of publishing.
- Harrison Group conducted a study on teen technology trends, and when considering the new technologies that will merge phones and Internet browsers with MP3 players, Jim Taylor, the company's Vice Chairman states, "It's interestingly changing the way in which people are educated. You just need to ask intelligent questions, and you can get answers anytime, anywhere, in real time. Education becomes no longer a fact-based learning process, it's search-based, cognitive. It's kind of like what happened to math skills with the calculator" (see URL below, Retrieved March 8, 2008, 11:10 AM)
- Even with these technological changes, more people are buying books than ever before.
Brooke
4 comments:
Thanks for creating that compilation of information. It was interesting.
I didn't realize that there was such a big price difference in audio book formats. Then again, I'm not in my on media center...yet. Therefore I guess I wasn't so tuned into prices.
With regards to the comment by Jim Taylor, "It's interestingly changing the way in which people are educated. ...Education becomes no longer a fact-based learning process; it's search-based, cognitive." I wish he were 100% right. It seems that technology in education is only starting to be incorporated into education, and starting to impact it influencing student based learning. Right now, (it's my opinion) there is still a great lack of appreciation across the board, and many students are still being preached facts and asked to regurgitate answers. I know this for a fact, as my own child is still a victim of this educational mind set.
Yes, I see that, too. Technology seems to be used so little! Now that we are learning about all these cool and amazing things, it is so evident. I think that a lot of school personnel are not aware of a lot of the possibilities. It takes continuing education to be exposed to these things, which many teschers do not get enough of. I think it will be up to us, as people directly out of school, to bring this information to schools. I can see the possibility of our knowledge needing to be shared with the entire county in the form of workshops through the local Educational Service District(BOCES)or as a lecturer traveling to all the school districts. Of course we would have to use (practice with) this technology quite a bit first.
My child is currently in 6th grade. I will have to become active in figuring out how some of this technology can be incorportated into her school, and work on making it happen.
Brooke
I was shocked by the price differences with iTunes and Playaway downloads. I know that audiobooks can cost quite a bit more (I used to grumble at the amount I had to budget for them and the few number of titles that I could buy) but I had assumed that iTunes would be more reasonable.
That's what I get for assuming things I guess.
I think that listening to books can definitely encourage reading and I am a big proponent of reading out loud to kids however I know that from my own listening I can completely zone out when it comes to audiobooks and miss what has been read. Everybody learns and listens differently.
Jennifer
That was interesting information. I love to listen to audiobooks when I drive somewhere, but the prices are ridiculous! I guess it's because when I buy stuff on iTunes, it's usually individual songs for .99, but shelling out $15, $20, $30 dollars for some trashy fiction book is just incredible. I wouldn't pay that much for the movie!:) I think that price is a big obstacle to audiobooks, especially in a school library where the needs of many different types of students must be accounted for in the budget. That to me is sad, because audiobooks and playaways and so on can be really helpful to students.
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