Commentary On Tablets Vs. Textbooks used in school

I have written a commentary on the debate between tablets and textbooks used in schools. I just need someone to proofread to check for any errors and suggestions on grammar and word choice. Thank you in advance!

The ways of learning has changed drastically in the past ten years with the sudden boom of technology. With new technology, many people are beginning to lean towards electronics for studying; however, others tend to disagree and stick with textbooks as a traditional way of learning. People who think tablets aren’t as efficient as textbooks should know that tablets are becoming a daily necessity in modern culture; tablets can make tasks such as browsing through books or doing research much simpler.
In the past, textbooks have always been the number one go-to source for research and learning about new issues. With the rise of technology in the modern era, tablets are becoming a more popular source of learning. Because of this, there is an ongoing debate between traditional and new age learners who argue about which should be the preferred source of learning in K-12 school districts.
In recent years, large school districts in New York City and Los Angeles started to fund large projects to get schools to shift to tablets (Elliott, 2013). Some schools are making great use out of the new technology and other schools are trying to jump on the bandwagon, but don’t know how to use the new technology and end up wasting lots of money on unused tablets. Joel Klein expressed his concern with using tablets rather than textbooks for education “All too often, the technology programs I observed seemed more focused on bells and whistles, gadgets and gizmos, than on improving learning,”. On the contrast, Joel Klein says "We must use technology to empower teachers and improve the way students learn,” (The Rise Of Tablets As Textbooks, 2013). Although school district leaders and textbook/tablet companies have ultimate say on whether schools will use textbooks or not, it all comes down to the teacher to learn how to use the new technology. It’s the teacher’s job to help students learning certain subjects. "If the teacher doesn't know how to use it, obviously it's not going to make much difference,” (The Rise Of Tablets As Textbooks, 2013).
Because there is an equal amount of people on each side comparing textbooks and tablets there has been an ongoing debate in determining which one should be used in school. There are pros and cons for both sides of the argument and it all amounts to a matter of personal preference. In terms of money, textbooks are the cheaper alternative with an estimated cost of $71.55 per student with tablets versus $14.26 for a textbook (Apple iPad Textbooks Cost 5x More Than Print, 2012). Not to mention the cost of fixing a tablet that has either been broken or has been hacked. The high price of tablets also estranges poor school districts which creates a divide between schools that can afford tablets and those who cannot. With boundaries in mind, tablets may also be quite difficult for technologically troubled students.
Tablets can present many problems for the students who use them. For example, tablets provide numerous distractions for students such as games, entertainment apps, and websites accessible at anytime. In addition to distractions, students are susceptible to forgetting their tablet at home or running out of battery for their tablet while attending class. Tablets also allow students to cheat on homework by searching for answers on the internet. Textbooks also have an upper hand in learning because of the way our brain interprets digital text vs printed text.
According to research done by Jan M. Noyes and Kate J. Garland, “reading was some 20 to 30% slower (in terms of proof-reading performance) from a computer screen than from paper.” (Computer vs. Paper-Based Tasks, 2008). To go along with computer versus paper, proof-reading tasks seemed to be more accurate on paper rather than on computer. Despite that, reading comprehension varied in results, people who were presented information on video displays then on paper had a poorer understanding of the content that was presented on the computer. Conversely, people who were presented information on paper first, then on video display resulted in better understanding. With all these problems being said, there are still many benefits to having tablets in classrooms.
Tablets are becoming essential in this day and age, everywhere you go, you will see someone holding their smartphone or tablet. These devices are everywhere and they can be put to good use if they are used correctly. “A 4GB tablet filled with 3,500 e-books weighs a billionth of a billionth of a gram more than if it were empty of data - a difference that is approximately the same weight as a molecule of DNA.” (The Weight of Memory, 2011). Tablets can be very efficient for students who are required to carry many textbooks and take lengthy notes on lectures that just take up more space in their backpacks. A study was done in the Riverside school district in California by giving a percentage of students iPads to study for a standardized test with another group using textbooks. The results showed that the students who used iPads scored 20 percent higher than students who used traditional textbooks (Tablets vs Textbooks, 2014).
Tablets offer many interactive activities to promote creativity and engage that can’t be done with textbooks. Activities may vary from interactive models of molecules to searching among text and having a built-in dictionary. Having tablets in classrooms does not only benefit students, but it also greatly benefits teachers for being able to stay organized and allow teachers to customize their students learning experience. With this technology, teachers will be able to store files on “cloud” servers for their students to have access and teachers will be able to save time, money, and the environment by being able to assign homework on tablets rather than using paper.
The use of tablets in classrooms can be very beneficial, nevertheless, can potentially be the source of many problems for students. Be that as it may, it is up to teachers to determine whether their students are responsible enough to use tablets. Teachers should be able to vote on whether they want tablets or not and then request their local school district to fund for tablets. Otherwise, school district leaders should not be able to fund for tablets, unless all schools or more than 50 percent of schools have voted to have tablets in school. This fills a gap between schools wanting tablets and schools who want textbooks. The benefits of this new perspective is that it comes down to which school district is more in favor of the two options for learning. The drawbacks of this new perspective are that the few schools in each district that don’t get what they want may have an issue with having no tablets to use or having tablets to use. Tablet or no tablet, there’s nothing wrong with studying with traditional textbooks.
Nowadays tablets are becoming an essential item for everyday life, they can be very efficient for schools and providing new ways of learning but can also be the cause of many problems in the classroom. Tablets can be very distracting, but if used correctly they can benefit a student much more than a textbook. The debate will go on until technology advances and improves further than it is now. With the rise of technology, do textbooks have a chance for the future?