Earlier this year 2nd Green Revolution ran an article about a Florida school district that gave up physical textbooks for Amazon Kindles. This school year brings news of some 600 school districts that have moved to the iPad to replace capital and resource intensive textbooks. Inquisitr.com reports that Apple announced 600 school districts have opted for their tablet for the upcoming school year. According to the article, the iPads not only “end up costing less than a years supply of hardcover and paperback textbooks, a return on investment continues to pass on savings over the life of the device.” The interactivity of the iPad offers a greater range of possibilities than textbooks when the apps are included in the equation. Many of the interactive apps are geared specifically toward education.
Despite the energy needed to run an iPad, and the materials required to build the device, it seems like a financially and environmentally sound decision. The costs for textbooks and amount of paper needed to print them is astonishing. Publishers will still make money through licensing textbooks to schools. Having worked at a school that was moving to electronic versions of texts, there was a huge savings to be had by switching from a paper-based book to the paperless version.
There are numerous accounts of schools and libraries making the switch to e-readers. One media specialist in Canton, GA started small with five Kindles. A few traditional New England prep schools have gone as far as removing the books from the library altogether in order to make way for interactive learning centers. On Ning, the social network site where people can create groups, there is a section for educators using ebooks.
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