Digital Textbooks

Recently I blogged on the topic of the 'digital divide' and one of its ancillary topics digital textbooks.   Musing a bit more on the topic got me to thinking about the specifics of digital textbooks: Was it more hype than substance?  Is it a long and difficult task to start?  How much investment of time and effort (its more than just scanning the pages of the current textbook)?

It's Happening Big Time!

Here are a couple of recent news articles I pulled from a casual search on the Google News feed ('digital textbook').  They're about local school districts in Rock Hill, SC and Wake County, NC.  There were literally 100's of articles from all over the US about school districts, counties, cities going digital for the next round of textbook buys.  And not just the US, here's an interesting article from Malaysia.  Yeah, there are some articles bemoaning expenses, and there is some anxiety, but my casual observation is it is happening all over - rural, urban, southern, eastern, affluent, cash-strapped.  Motivations vary, depending on which role you play.  School boards and politicians are looking to save money; parents are looking for their kids to be prepared for the world they'll enter; teachers want the flexibility and adaptability that digital textbooks afford.

I thought it was interesting that when I researched a specific news source, articles dating back 3 or 4 years spoke of this coming, and inescapable, trend.  Are Textbooks History in a Digital Era?  It may taken a bit of time to build momentum, but the big 'game changer' was the iPad - and by extension tablets (including e-readers like Kindle and Nook).  You no longer need a PC or laptop and you're no longer tethered to a desk - with WiFi and few hundred dollars for a tablet you're good to go.  As if to put an exclamation point on it, recent investments of $300, $500, $800 million by Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe, News Corp and other "heavy hitters" says a lot about the momentum.

It's a whole new ballgame, or is it?

Further searches about who is offering them as a service (such as Discovery Education), what the traditional textbook companies (such as Cengage and Pearson) are doing, revealed that a lot of school systems are creating their own.  What is even more interesting is that the process for creating your own digital textbook is a lot like what teachers have been doing for years - gathering relevant, useful source materials from wherever they find it, reproducing it, and sharing it with their students.  Build Your Own Digital Textbooks.

What is new is the process of curating and compiling, the accessible media and diversity of platforms.  But, as they say, "There's an App for that".  Dozens of robust, free, web-based apps are there or emerging that will make it straightforward for any enterprising teacher of department to create their own flexible, adaptable, customized curriculum resource.  Useful guides are popping up all over.  Aggregate, Curate and Create Your Own Textbook.