Tag: CourseSmart

Is An Ebook A Thing? The Digital Book World offers an article titled “Is an ebook an experience or a thing?” and the author ponders the question is an e-book a thing as a paper book is or is it an experience? Obviously e-books aren’t tangible things that you can hold in your hand the way you can paper books. And I agree that reading is an experience; and, one can argue that the words flow off the page, whether that page is made up of paper or bytes, and it is the words that paint mental pictures in your mind that are important but I still think you should be able to buy e-books just as you can buy printed books. After all the words are the same even if the format is different.

Here’s the link to the article:

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/is-an-ebook-an-experience-or-a-thing/

A&M Teachers Tracking Their Students Text E-Book Usage: The New York Times offers an interesting article on a new way teachers at Texas A&M can electronically see if their students are reading their text e-books. The teachers can track the text e-book usage of their students via a new technology known as CourseSmart which allows them to see when individual students have accessed their text e-books, what passages they’ve highlighted, what notes they’ve taken and for how long they’ve actually accessed (read) the text ebook. This technology sort of harkens back to George Orwell’s 1984 and Big Brother is watching you but it can also be seen as a useful educational tool because it will allow teachers to suggest to some students that they need to spend more time reading the text and the notes and highlights students make in their e-text books will allow teachers to see if students are getting the gist of the text or if there is some part of the text that multiple students don’t understand – and then the teachers can explain whatever it is the students aren’t understanding in the text.

Here’s the link to the Times article which is titled Teacher Knows if You’ve Done the E-Reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/technology/coursesmart-e-textbooks-track-students-progress-for-teachers.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Vudu Customer Account Information Stolen: The Walmart owned streaming video service Vudu has reported that a thief broke into their offices and stole a hard drive which contained the customer account information. In response the hacking Vudu has re-set all customer passwords. So if you have a Vudu account you may want to check you ,ay want to check your password and account status.  

Here’s a link to an Engadget article on the subject titled Vudu offices burglarized and customer info stolen:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/vudu-offices-burglarized-and-customer-info-stolen/

Have a great day and/or evening!

Linda R.

References

Bacon, Beth. (2013, April 8). Is an ebook an experience or a thing. Digital Book World Online.

Gorman, Michael. Vudu offices burglarized and customer info stolen. Engadget. Online.

Streitfeld, David. (2013, April 8). Teacher Knows if You’ve Done the E-Reading. New York Times. Online.

Walmart’s Vudu resets all customer passwords after March office break-in leads to hard drive theft. The Next Web. Online. Accessed April 9, 2013.