Using E-Textbooks In Classrooms
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Jackie Davis is one of 44,000 teachers in California's Riverside Unified School District who volunteered to use digital texts to teach algebra as part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Free Digital Textbook Initiative launched in May 2009.
The algebra 1 app includes videos (which break down the steps), the ability to take notes and record audio notes and sample problems that provide students instant feedback. Since introducing iPads in September, he has seen far more engagement in subject matter.
Thomas Adams, in Vero Beach, FL, who is using a digital textbook to teach Comparing Governments, values this new tool over traditional material because …"as you print a textbook, it's out of date."
While the article in Education Week's "Digital Directions" cites challenges in introducing wide scale technology -- the textbook adoption cycle, getting cables to buildings, funding and local politics, the reception by students and teachers in such pilot programs nationwide is indicative that change will bear fruit.
Reported By Dr. Maricene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio
