New School Year Marked by Rise of Digital Textbooks
September 08, 2009
When California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced plans this spring to stick open-source digital textbooks in high school math and science classes across the state, educators and administrators perked up. With public education consuming more than 40 percent of California's state budget, Schwarzenegger's digital text initiative seemed like a worthwhile long-term, cost-cutting measure.
The idea, albeit progressive, is not a new. In 2002, the California Open Source Textbook Project launched a plan to cut the state's K-12 textbook spending in half by providing a portable content database that would adapt with changing classroom technologies.
The plan for a world history textbook, created in collaboration with Wikibooks, a community of free online textbooks open to public editing, buckled under California's meticulous textbook standards.
"In theory it's a great idea," says Heather Partington, an AP English teacher at Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, Calif. "Kids are used to instant access. There's already a perception that they don't use textbooks anymore, that they Google everything."
Those who support digital textbooks hope the government will better meet its own requirements. While Partington, 30, would love to see the classrooms embrace the technology, she fears it'll be years before digital textbooks reach economically-challenged rural and urban schools.
Rather than make the leap at a time when California faces enormous budget deficits, California Teachers Association president David Sanchez suggests the state refrain from buying new texts for another two years and at that point, reexamine Schwarzenegger's proposal.
"Providing digital textbooks to students is an attractive idea, but it needs to be done in a way that is accessible to all students," says Sanchez. "In our current budget crisis, it's unlikely that schools will have the resources to download and print this material for every student."
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