7.1: Digital Textbooks
Speed the movement from paper to digital textbooks in order to increase efficiency and keep teaching materials up-to-date. Other Information:
One issue facing contemporary schools is that they are labor intensive operations. For most elementary and secondary school
districts, as well as institutions of higher education, employee salaries and benefits comprise more than half of the annual
school budget. Some districts report that salaries and benefits total more than 70 percent of their overall budgets. High
personnel costs limit technology innovation because the current business model of school systems makes it difficult to find
funds to support digital initiatives. With a large proportion of school budgets going to personnel, there are few funds to
support digital learning resources, digital textbooks, distance education, personalized learning, social media applications,
mobile learning, or real-time assessment of students or teachers. One of the most pressing priorities is for school districts
to speed the movement from paper to digital textbooks in order to increase efficiency and keep teaching materials up-to-date.
The United States currently spends $7 billion a year on paper-based textbooks. These books are obsolete by the time they are
published and lack interactive electronic and multi-media links that allow students to search for additional information.
Yet, only five percent of American school textbooks today are digital. This reduces the benefits of the technology revolution
in the education area.
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