Joe's Non-Netbook

“Give Me Liberty” was the title of Joe’s textbook. The textbook, ironically, was giving Joe little of the academic liberty that he was accustomed to when using his netbook. This smartly-done, witty YouTube presentation provided me with a new perspective of how beneficial online texts are and how foreign textbooks are becoming in the eyes of students.


Joe was at a loss when he wanted to gather more information on Frederick Douglass. He tried double-clicking on the image expecting to get more information, but, obviously, nothing showed. This highlighted how confining textbooks are to academic curiosity. “The only information is in the textbook. There is nothing else to learn about Frederick Douglass except for what’s in the three-sentence caption.” This is what textbooks seem to tell students. Online texts, however, are much more liberating in that students have access to literally a world of added info.

For some students with poor eyesight, the tiny text in books makes it hard for them to read, and thus, they never develop their reading skills. Netbooks give them the power to control how they view the text. Now they can actually read text by adjusting it. They can improve in reading, and, more importantly, they have ownership of their knowledge.

In the clip, Laurie pointed out that the book didn’t have links to other related information. Thus, deeper knowledge is not made and the ability to make comparisons is eliminated when simply using textbooks. Netbooks allow for accessing links to deepen knowledge quickly. Further, Laurie pointed out that definitions of difficult words are not provided in the textbook. This point impacted me greatly. Students often, when encountering just one difficult word, will stop reading. They give up. In my classroom, challenging readings often come with more than just one difficult word. If they give up, they are at a huge loss. The definition tool provided by online texts is a major benefit for students and teachers alike.

Without a doubt, the high schoolers responsible for the thought-provoking YouTube clip “Joe’s Non-Netbook” gave me a different perspective on how much online texts can do while also revealing how alien “regular” books seem to many kids nowadays. Netbooks are a powerful, liberating tool for students and can improve their understanding and reading, as long as they stay on the topic and don’t wonder off by cyberdreaming, the 21st Century’s version of what was called daydreaming just ten years ago.

The use of Netbooks in the classroom can develop reading skill and knowledge for students.