Saving money as a method of change

I don't usually feel that savings should be the end all reason for changing how a school runs, but I do understand the pressure. I'm sure that we have all experienced situations where, at some point in our lives, we had to cut back on expenses to be successful (read not-fail). I'm sure that everyone has also had experience with the spend money to save money aspect also, such as when you buy a more efficient air conditioner or water heater that ends up saving enough to pay for itself after a few years. For many though, textbooks are sacrosanct elements of schools, after all textbooks in their current form have existed for centuries, and moving to a new format is a major paradigm shift for many. But, this shift seems to be a must change, as the world moves deeper into the information age, then to should the experiences be more authentic to the way that people will access information (beyond just school). Think about your own behaviors recently, when you needed to look something up, did you go to a library, find an encyclopedia or dictionary and look that thing up (and if you did was it current)? When you needed instruction on how to do something, did you buy a book or did you start with a search? So if for your own lifelong learning you look things up and read or watch online for answers, shouldn't we also be doing (modeling) that in the classroom. The nice thing to me is that the process of using updatable textbooks in a digital format with students, won't cost more to save in the long run, but can save right now. One device, multiple textbooks, current textbooks, after all who wants a science textbook that talks about Pluto as a planet, that human DNA will one day be mapped, or any number of other science aspects that have changed in just the last decade? So let's do get new book, books that are adaptable and interactive, and adapt teaching styles and strategies to take better advantage of this savings.

Ohio district saves $800,000 with move to e-textbooks
An Ohio school district plans to introduce electronic textbooks for sixth through 12th grades, replacing traditional textbooks and saving the district $800,000. The expansion, which follows a pilot program, will provide e-textbooks for subjects including math, language arts and foreign languages. Dayton Daily News (Ohio) (8/6)

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Auto Summarization

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