Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | News: Education
N. Texas districts switching to paperless editions say they're easier to update, quicker to get
02:15 PM CST on Saturday, November 4, 2006
By KATHY A. GOOLSBY / The Dallas Morning News
First it was Dick and Jane readers, then typewriters, then reel-to-reel film projectors. Now another American education icon may be disappearing: the hardbound textbook. More and more school districts are replacing traditional textbooks with electronic versions, and a few have opted to eliminate textbooks altogether.
Electronic textbooks are usually accessed either through an online server or are downloaded to student laptops.
In North Texas, Plano and Irving schools are introducing e-books into a few classrooms, and Lancaster school officials also are considering them. A portion of the $215 million school bond package before Lancaster voters on Tuesday is earmarked for student laptops, the first step in the process.
"Midland is moving away from textbooks entirely and using online resources," said Anita Givens, director of instruction materials and educational technology at the Texas Education Agency. "In some classrooms, teachers give students traditional textbooks to keep at home, and they use online books or other resources at school."
But no local district appears to be going as far as Forney.
School officials there hope most students will be using only electronic textbooks within two years. The plan, already being tested in one Forney school, also depends on passage Tuesday of a school bond package that provides $11.8 million for laptops and system upgrades.
The district most likely would be the first in the state to use e-books in every classroom for grades five to 12, Ms. Givens said.
"There are some districts doing this maybe in a class or two, but not 100 percent," Ms. Givens said. "If other districts are doing it this wide scale, they're being awfully quiet about it."
Philadelphia's School of the Future, designed by Bill Gates' Microsoft crew, recently opened without textbooks – hardback or electronic – as did a new high school in Vail, near Tucson, Ariz.
Officials cite several reasons for converting to e-books. For one, they are easier to update, said Alice Owens, executive director of technology at Irving Independent School District.
"One of the issues around textbooks is once they're published, they can't be changed, and in Texas those books are on an eight- to 10-year cycle," Dr. Owens said. "We're pushing publishers to find ways to do online textbooks so they can go back and change information."
Forney officials cite one social studies book that still names the late Ann Richards as Texas' governor. School trustees there also believe using e-books will better prepare students for college and the workplace, said Roger Geiger, Forney ISD's technology director.
Rapid district growth is another reason to switch textbook format, said Jennie Moore, Forney's communications manager. Enrollment in the 6,100-student district is expected to double within five years, she said.
"We've grown so fast, we haven't been able to get the textbooks we need for all our students," Ms. Moore said.
It's difficult to gauge textbook needs in advance, she said, and some students wait months for their books. But e-books can be uploaded onto a "blank" laptop in a few hours.
No big savings yet
Cost may eventually be a deciding factor for choosing e-books, but officials said there's no significant savings yet. Districts still give the Texas Education Agency a student head count, and the state orders books from the publishers based on that number.
It's up to the district to tell the publisher in what form they want to receive the books, Ms. Givens said.
"Even if they get it electronically, we still have to pay for the book because we're buying the instructional material," she said. "That may change as more and more districts move toward e-books, but right now the process is the same."
E-books also are becoming popular among university students, said David Hakensen, a spokesman for Pearson Education, publisher of Prentice Hall textbooks. The company offers many online college textbooks, which students obtain through a subscription service.
"It's about 50 percent the cost of buying a book in hardback form," Mr. Hakensen said. "They don't have to worry about trying to sell it back, and at the end of the semester their subscription just expires."
Today's students have little trouble adjusting to laptops and e-books, said Connie Cooley, who has taught economics and psychology at the Academy of Irving ISD for five years. But she said it can intimidate teachers.
"It's harder for people who are right around my age and older," said Ms. Cooley, 36. "I'm computer-savvy, so I was ready for it, but those that aren't are a little apprehensive."
This is her first year to use an e-book, and uncertainty compelled her to order hardback versions for the students to keep at home. Next year, Ms. Cooley said she will eliminate the take-home economics textbook.
Forney's switch
Dawn Drake, a sixth-grade science teacher, came to Forney this year because she wanted to teach using e-books. She was a teacher's aide for two years before getting her teacher certification last year, but she had no experience teaching with an e-book.
The Forney ISD initiative started as a pilot program with two grades at Johnson Elementary, with fifth- and sixth-graders gradually making the switch to e-books. This year the 160 students access all their textbooks with a click of a mouse.
Teachers keep a classroom set of each of the six books, but the stacks do little more than collect dust.
"If somebody accidentally cut an electric line, we might have to use them," said Ms. Drake, 39.
The district pays $895 for each laptop, which probably will need replacing every four years. Each laptop weighs about six pounds, about the same as one sixth-grade science book.
"I thought it was really cool because we usually have to carry all these books," said Stephanie Earlywine, 11. "This is a lot lighter than the books."
Last month, Ms. Drake's students used their laptops to create PowerPoint presentations on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Their science e-book became a jumping-off point by directing them to related Web sites and interactive activities.
"It's better to have an e-book because it's easier to flip from page to page," said Hunter Blair, 11, as he worked alongside Travis Coltharp, also 11.
"The day I came home with my laptop in fifth grade, I made two PowerPoints," Travis said. "I kind of just played around with it until I figured it out."
It's that kind of experience that makes e-books so exciting, Ms. Drake said.
"I love the opportunities and the broader picture they get with e-books," she said. "The more they do here, the better they'll do when they get out of school."