As Classrooms Go Digital, Textbooks May Become History - NYTimes.com

As Classrooms Go Digital, Textbooks May Become History - NYTimes.com: "In a Digital Future, Textbooks Are History
Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

In California, high school interns try out digital 'flexbooks' created by the CK-12 Foundation.

Published: August 8, 2009

At Empire High School in Vail, Ariz., students use computers provided by the school to get their lessons, do their homework and hear podcasts of their teachers’ science lectures.
Down the road, at Cienega High School, students who own laptops can register for “digital sections” of several English, history and science classes. And throughout the district, a Beyond Textbooks initiative encourages teachers to create — and share — lessons that incorporate their own PowerPoint presentations, along with videos and research materials they find by sifting through reliable Internet sites.
Textbooks have not gone the way of the scroll yet, but many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced by digital versions — or supplanted altogether by lessons assembled from the wealth of free courseware, educational games, videos and projects on the Web."

This may be unsettling to many teachers, but we are on the verge of a major upheaval in education over the next five to ten years. I think we need to engage these changes in positive ways rather than simply fight against or deny them. I hope this blog will become a place to discuss, understand and share thoughts about these types of changes. Hit the link at the top for the full article.