Wormbog

One of the reasons for considering the iPad for a 1:1 program is the concept of electronic textbooks.  Watching students carry 10 pound backpacks around all day, seeing textbooks fall apart and having students forget to bring books home all make the concept of an electronic textbook very appealing.  The cost of hardbound textbooks and knowing that they will quickly be out of date can also make the purchase of textbooks a painful experience.  Another struggle with regular textbooks is trying to maintain the correct number of books vs. students.  This can be especially difficult in a block format like we run at DCHS.

Take all these issues and the concept of an electronic textbook becomes very appealing.  An etextbook solves most of these issues, except for cost, easily.  As publishers consider etextbooks for high schools I think that pricing will also be an incentive.  At this point it is not because the models are geared towards college students who only use the book for a semester.  A hardbound book may cost $150 and the ebook may only be $50/semester but for the high school who expects to get 5-6 years out of a book the ebook ends up costing more.  This, of course, allows for schools to update texts more frequently and manage course sizes without concern for the numbers of texts.  However, I don’t see that high schools who use texts for more than 3 years will see a cost savings under the current model.

While all of these things are interesting, to me the most exciting opportunity for etextbooks is the potential for the text to come to life for the student.  Having an platform like the iPad will allow textbook publishers to include at minimum hyperlinks to web content for the course.  I can see the line between online courses and the textbook blurring as publishers add video and animation to the textbook.  I am looking forward to seeing a publisher who pushes the textbook to the next level and brings the content to life for the student.

I spent some time with weekend with an etextbook from CourseSmart.  I will let you know in a later post how it went.