[CALIBK12] GEN: Digital Textbooks-- bring 'em on

[Doyle_Tony]

My library is a dangerous place.  Textbook avalanches are constant threat.  Every new adoption seems to have more and more ancilary materials that need to be stored (and rarely get used).  All of my book carts have welding scars on the legs where they have collapsed and been repaired by the shop teacher.  Luckily no toes have been lost to these collapses.  In a couple of weeks the annual flood of textbook returns begins and I will need to see my chiropractor every 3 or 4 days to help deal with textbook-induced back pain.

E-Textbooks? What's taking so #%^%$*& long?  Open source or proprietary, I don't care.  Even if the combined cost of a reader for every student and the content is the same as what we pay for the paper and ink versions it will be worth it in so many ways.

Here's my vision:
Follett partners with Renaissance to create an AlphaSmart-like reader (light weight, tough, adaptable, built in word processor) that integrates with a new Destiny e-text module.  Kids can log in to Destiny via a wi-fi link or USB plug and automatically download the texts they need.  Destiny manages the number of downloads to check that licensing agreements are being obeyed and, using enrollment data imported from Aeries or SASI, ensures Williams Act compliance.  Teachers can push content (supplemental readings, worksheets, quizzes) to their students' machines  When the device is turned on a splash screen reads, "This device is checked out to Joey Smith." The texts self-delete at the end of the school year.  A built in electronic lo-jack chip disables devices that have been reported stolen when they connect to the Internet.

Okay all you vendor-lurkers, get to work on that :-)

Tony

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Anthony Doyle, Teacher Librarian
Livingston High School
Livingston, CA
tdoyle at muhsd.k12.ca.us<mailto:tdoyle at muhsd.k12.ca.us>

What am I reading now? http://lhsblog.edublogs.org/whats-he-reading-now/

"When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself." (Isaac Asimov, from his autobiography I Asimov)

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