Weekly Opinion Editorial
DIGITAL TEXTBOOKS COULD SAVE STATE MONEY!by Steve Fair
State Representative Don Armes, (R-Faxon) is looking into using electronic devices in Oklahoma classrooms instead of standard textbooks. Armes, a former high school teacher, says it will save schools money and it is the future.
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"Our children have already taken that giant leap into technology so this would not be an adjustment for them. Now we just need to see if it’s financially feasible,” said Armes. “We have over 659,000 students in Oklahoma and if we could even save $10 per student on changing a book over to an electronic technology format, that would save over $6 million for Oklahoma schools.”
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“This study was not to force any schools into doing something they don’t want to do, but to be a catalyst tool to get people thinking about shifting from hard-back text books to some form of electronic format,” said Armes. “There has to be some cost savings involved and any money we can save for the schools is worth it.”
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Digital textbooks are quickly gaining acceptance in higher education because online texts cost students substantially less than paper textbooks. But while cheaper, most college students still prefer the text they can touch. The National Association of College Stores crunched some numbers about college students and textbooks vs. ebooks and found that seventy four (74) percent of college students still prefer using a print textbook in the classroom. They also found that fifty six (56) percent of college students had downloaded an on-line text.
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The state that has been on the cutting edge of the digital textbook drive is California. In May 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched his ‘Digital Textbook Initiative.’ With so many of his states schools struggling financially, Schwarzenegger directed his Secretary of Education to find a way to provide free digital resources to the schools.
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William Habermehl, superintendent of the 500,000- student Orange County, California schools said in an August 2009 New York Times story, “In five years, I think the majority of students will be using digital textbooks. They can be better than traditional textbooks. We’re still in a brick-and-mortar, 30-students-to 1 teacher paradigm, but we need to get out of that framework to having 200-300 kids taking courses online, at night, 24/7, whenever they want.”
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"Our children have already taken that giant leap into technology so this would not be an adjustment for them. Now we just need to see if it’s financially feasible,” said Armes. “We have over 659,000 students in Oklahoma and if we could even save $10 per student on changing a book over to an electronic technology format, that would save over $6 million for Oklahoma schools.”
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“This study was not to force any schools into doing something they don’t want to do, but to be a catalyst tool to get people thinking about shifting from hard-back text books to some form of electronic format,” said Armes. “There has to be some cost savings involved and any money we can save for the schools is worth it.”
*****
Digital textbooks are quickly gaining acceptance in higher education because online texts cost students substantially less than paper textbooks. But while cheaper, most college students still prefer the text they can touch. The National Association of College Stores crunched some numbers about college students and textbooks vs. ebooks and found that seventy four (74) percent of college students still prefer using a print textbook in the classroom. They also found that fifty six (56) percent of college students had downloaded an on-line text.
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The state that has been on the cutting edge of the digital textbook drive is California. In May 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched his ‘Digital Textbook Initiative.’ With so many of his states schools struggling financially, Schwarzenegger directed his Secretary of Education to find a way to provide free digital resources to the schools.
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William Habermehl, superintendent of the 500,000- student Orange County, California schools said in an August 2009 New York Times story, “In five years, I think the majority of students will be using digital textbooks. They can be better than traditional textbooks. We’re still in a brick-and-mortar, 30-students-to 1 teacher paradigm, but we need to get out of that framework to having 200-300 kids taking courses online, at night, 24/7, whenever they want.”
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Habermehl went on to say, “I don’t believe that charters and vouchers are the threat to schools in Orange County. What is a threat is the digital world- that someone’s going to put together brilliant $200 courses in French or a geometry class taught by the best teachers in the world.”
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In Fairfax, Virginia, they are trying on-line textbooks for a year to see how they will work out. The schools system has the initial cost of providing an electronic reader like an I-pad, Nook or Kindle for the students, but they save money long term because the on-line versions of the textbooks are 25% of the cost of conventional texts and are easily updated.
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Crescent, Oklahoma is a small town of about 1,200 in Logan County. According to Steve Shiever, superintendent at Crescent High School, all the students in grades six through 12 have gone completely online with no paper textbooks. Instead, students use laptops with downloaded material. The teachers post all curriculum, lessons and worksheets online for students to access, and pupils then submit their finished work online. Everything is on a secured server that is password protected and the parents have 24/7 access to their child’s grades and attendance records.
In Fairfax, Virginia, they are trying on-line textbooks for a year to see how they will work out. The schools system has the initial cost of providing an electronic reader like an I-pad, Nook or Kindle for the students, but they save money long term because the on-line versions of the textbooks are 25% of the cost of conventional texts and are easily updated.
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Crescent, Oklahoma is a small town of about 1,200 in Logan County. According to Steve Shiever, superintendent at Crescent High School, all the students in grades six through 12 have gone completely online with no paper textbooks. Instead, students use laptops with downloaded material. The teachers post all curriculum, lessons and worksheets online for students to access, and pupils then submit their finished work online. Everything is on a secured server that is password protected and the parents have 24/7 access to their child’s grades and attendance records.
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The Crescent Superintendent said the students were given the laptops at no cost to them but are required to pay a $70 a year insurance fee.“This teaches them a lesson of ownership. If it was completely free, they probably would be more likely to not take care of it,” said Shiever. “Out of my annual school budget, currently only 3.1 percent goes to technology, which includes our technology director’s salary. That’s very little.”
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The real challenge will not be getting the students to accept on-line texts. It will be teachers and administrators who want to cling to their hard copy textbook- the fear of change. But as Churchill said, “there is nothing wrong with change if it is in the right direction.”
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Armes is barking up the right tree. Textbooks are expensive for state school districts and require updates about every three years. School districts could save millions over the long haul by embracing the concept. And for the liberals, it would save a lot of trees.
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The real challenge will not be getting the students to accept on-line texts. It will be teachers and administrators who want to cling to their hard copy textbook- the fear of change. But as Churchill said, “there is nothing wrong with change if it is in the right direction.”
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Armes is barking up the right tree. Textbooks are expensive for state school districts and require updates about every three years. School districts could save millions over the long haul by embracing the concept. And for the liberals, it would save a lot of trees.
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