Using E-Readers in Education - Challenges and Opportunities

A lot of changes in the use of technology in the classroom have happened over the past few years. The prediction in the future is that our reading could be mainly digital, and e-readers are one of the emerging technologies aimed at digital reading. There is currently a huge acceptance of e-books for pleasure reading, however there is now shift to e-textbooks and their promise of notable cost savings and cutting-edge features. This paper investigates the challenges and opportunities of using e-readers in education. It explains the factors that have let to adoption of e-readers in most educational institutions. It also outlines challenges that are being faced by both the educators and students using e-readers. The challenges arise from exploration of inquiries around the effectiveness of e-reading and online learning resources. The paper also looks at the opportunities presented by the use of these technologies, concentrating on examining how these opportunities could be constructive and significant in promoting reading as well motivating constructive reading habits.