Dive Brief:

• Amid the enthusiasm surrounding MOOCs and tablets, it's worth remembering the one learning technology that truly transformed education, write Frederick M. Hess and Bror Saxberg.
• The book was greeted with suspicion at first, but eventually won its place in education on its merits.
• The lesson? The book should be a model for thinking about digital learning: Books are hugely important in education, but there are a lot of badly written and poorly used books — it's not the medium, it's the quality and how it’s used that matters.

Dive Insight:

Hess and Saxberg's essay is a level-headed look at both detractors and supporters of the latest education technology. They wisely point out that for all the changes in education the book has wrought over the several hundred years since it was introduced, there are still flaws in how some educators use books. As with most technology, there's a learning curve.