Comments on: Minister rejects pilot e-book project for schools out-of-hand

By: val butterly

val butterly — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:36:10 +0000

Hi Deirdre,

i am on the parents assoc. of my local secondary school, two of my children are current pupils. I am bringing the matter of e-books to our AGM tomorrow evening for discussion – for all the reasons you’ve stated on your web page. I’ve no idea of the cost implications, or any other issues with regard to e-books, but I certainly feel its the way forward and having spent over 600Euros on books for my two children in secondary school this year, I feel this money could have been put to better use.

If you have any information I could bring to the meeting tomorrow evening I would be very grateful.

Thanks,

Val Butterly

By: Claire

Claire — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:46:41 +0000

I have put some research into this as a secondary school student and I think it is thoroughly dissappointing that these are not in use. I spend an hour a day walking to and from school, and I honestly think this year will be the death of me. An ebook reader seems to be, in my opinion, the solution to all our problems. It is light enough to carry without noticing the weight, and 289 euro is less than what my books in first year cost, and every year from then on it has been approximately 100 euro. As well as solving cost and weight issues, I would find it much more suitable for schools as lockers would not be needed, there would be no time wasted in rushing to collect your books, you’d simply press a few buttons and you can have any subject you want. I think this simply makes sense, and it is an awful waste not to use them.

By: Deirdre Clune

Deirdre Clune — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:32:10 +0000

The Government’s unwillingness to even consider the impact the introduction of ebooks would have on the weight of school bags, the cost of school books and the benefit of using technology is disappointing but not surprising. The Minister for Education seems happy to pass up on the opportunity to push Ireland to the forefront of the use of technology in schools. How can we talk of being a smart economy or a knowledge economy with an attitude like this?

By: Nia

Nia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:15:42 +0000

This is my first time visiting this site and, being a secondary school student, I of course clicked on Education to see what is going on. I was going to base a project on the need for ebooks in schools. Now I can see that I should have done that! This is apalling! On an average day my schoolbag is literally a stone weight (I’ve measured!) and sometimes it feels even heavier. Everyone complains about the weight of bags, even my dad who deals with heavy material every day. I feel that students would be more interested in using ebooks as technology is more inviting to them. Ebooks have been a success in many areas, I read of how they increased academic interest in a school in New Jersey. Why does Fianna Fáil continue to deny school chilren these wonderful opportunities?! They should have been gotten rid of last year! Absolutely ridiculous, as if I didn’t dislike the current government enough as it is!