An article from the Torch 2012 by Zackary Corbett.
Soon, students will no longer experience the fleeting triumph of hipping to the right textbook page on the first try; instead, they will be typing the page number into their computers or e-readers. New legislation mandates that all textbooks in Florida public schools be available in an electronic form by the 2014-2015 school year.
Following a state initiative, the Sarasota County School Board plans to switch to. e-books, which will eventually cost the state less money, eliminate the need for students to carry unwieldy textbooks, and allow publishers to update information more frequently.
The legislation recommends that individual districts “determine types of reading devices for digital content” that are accessible to all students. Joe Binswanger, School Support Services Manager for Sarasota County, said, “The School District will ensure that students have the tools and resources they need to be successful in their courses.”
According to Sue Meckler, Media and Instructional Materials Supervisor, the current plan is to have an application that would work even without an Internet connec-tion. She said that not all publishers support this plan, but if they do not get on board, their products will be left off the list of state-approved materials.
Meckler said that the transition will be based on the adoption cycles. “New textbooks are adopted every five years, so it’s going to be a gradual move,” she said. Students who have a device such as an iPad or an Android tablet would bring it to school, and the county would provide one to students who do not own one.
The transition is scheduled to be complete by the 2014-2015 school year. However, there are doubts as to whether it will be possible to have a complete replacement of textbooks by the legislated deadline.
Binswanger said, ‘In the next 12 months, there is supposed to be more direction from the state.” He explained that the legislation deadline and mandates for the transition may change.
Funding for the transition remains to be discussed. “There is no [funding] earmarked … as of yet, but there is supposed to be a special legislative session later this year,” Binswanger said.
Students had mixed reactions to the plan. “I like to have it [a physical textbook] in front of me because there’s always glitches with technol-ogy,” ninth-grader Nicole Miskovic said.
On the other hand, twelfth-grader Jake Smola said, “I feel most e-books are much easier to carry, stow and navigate. You can fit hundreds of textbooks into just a slim frame and get to the page you seek quickly.” He, like many others, uses his iPad to access textbooks at school.
This year, the county ran a pilot program in which it provided digital math and science textbooks to students in grades six through eight. Because Pine View uses different textbooks and publishers than other Sarasota County schools, it was excluded from the county pilot program. Pine View will, however, participate in the digital transition mandated by the state.
Pine View has been undergoing a digital transition of its own for the past four years, according to school technology specialist Dr.
Lyna Jimenez-Ruiz. This transition provided all of the academic departments with digital textbooks for some of their classes.