California’s Governor is leading the way in the digital textbook evolution. Whether you’re in college and have to purchase your textbooks, or you’re in middle and high school and the state pays for them – textbooks aren’t cheap. According to the California Governor’s website, “The average textbook costs about $75 to $100 per student.  For a school district with about 10,000 high school students, the use of free digital textbooks in just science and math classes could save up to $2 million dollars.”

While the switch from paper to digital is a money saver – what gets me excited is the ability to keep students current in a world that changes minute to minute.  Providing students digital information allows them to have the most current information in science, math, history, and the arts.  Typically textbooks are purchased and expected to last six years. That might have been acceptable in the 50’s when the internet didn’t exist, and what happened 5000 miles away really didn’t affect your life.  But in today’s world, the speed of change is faster than a thought.   Imagine learning from a science or math book that is six years old?  Really, it’s unthinkable.  I applaud Schwarzenegger’s initiative.  At last, a state that is providing the tools that will help create tomorrow’s leaders