California Digital Textbook Initiative

As our society becomes increasingly more digital teaching and learning paradigms must be reevaluated and adapted to serve the changing needs of learners. Young people born in the 1980’s and 1990’s are the high school and college students of today. They are growing up in a world where electronic media touches almost every aspect of their lives.

While I believe that here is still room for traditional hard copy textbooks, it is my humble opinion that the California Digital Textbook Initiative is a step in the right direction despite criticism. The governor has approved 10 books so far that meet California’s educational standards for high school textbooks. “If the clamor for digital music and online social networking sites is any indication, young people are the earliest adopters of new technology, and cutting-edge product options are cropping up as quickly as the latest Facebook fads. However, there are those who ardently defend the status quo, claiming our vision of providing learning materials to students for free would risk a high-quality education.” (from the Governor’s blog entry 7/7/09)

Free books. Though these books are promised to be free for students, schools districts will probably pay some kind of membership feed to have them available on their campuses. Currently there are companies that offer e-book subscriptions to libraries. These subscriptions require a membership fee usually $1,000 to $2,000 per year. Though it sounds like a lot of money, it is much less than what hardcopy textbooks would cost. According to California’s Secretary of Education Glen Thomas in an interview for NPR nothing is absolutely free. A number of these textbooks are developed by foundations with an interest in open source, but also by traditional textbook publishers whose books are not for free.

Some of the features of these digital books or e-books include:
Open source,
Downloadable PDF,
Printable (lesson by lesson, chapter by chapter, or the whole book). Even if teachers need to print some of the material; it will be cheaper than buying the hard copies.

Some criticisms of e-books:
There are not enough computers,
There is a cost for training faculty and students to use them,
Deepens the digital divide

What is a text digital book?

Some free e-book sources available at the Peninsula Library System (you’ll need a library card):

Cliffs Notes
View CliffsNotes for free!* CliffsNotes cover hundreds of literary classics so students get the most from the great works with expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background.
*There is a fee for downloading and/or printing copies.


Digital Book Library
Digital books are electronic versions of print books. They include downloadable audio books for listening and eBooks for on-screen reading. Both digital audio books and eBooks can be used on a variety of devices such as PCs, laptops, and supported PDAs. You can even copy the audio books from your computer onto CD's and listen to them in your car. This site offers digital audio books in the OverDrive Media Console™ format, and eBooks in the Adobe® Reader® and Mobipocket Reader formats. (Sorry, iPod is not supported at this time.) Click here for more info

Mission e-books
The Missions of California eBook series is in our catalog. eBooks can be viewed online or downloaded with Adobe Reader.

NetLibrary
Electronic books (ebooks) are available at your convenience - anytime, anywhere. And you don't have to worry about returning them. Topics include business management, careers, the Internet, computer science and personal law, plus the complete netLibrary collection of CliffsNotes. Click on this link for netLibrary frequently asked questions.

Safari Tech Books
The best IT books from the best authors and publishers in an online, searchable database. Good for IT professionals or programmers as a means of addressing their never-ending need to quickly pinpoint reliable code examples and technical information.