Before he became a celebrated inventor and surgeon, Dr. Gary Michelson put himself through medical school by working odd jobs — he drove cabs, washed cars and cleaned animal cages at laboratories. So he knew how hard it can be to get through college, and when he learned some kids who couldn’t afford textbooks were dropping out, he devoted himself to doing something about it.
Through his Los Angeles-based organization 20 Million Minds, Michelson is working to make education more accessible. “When I entered this, I thought I had a problem,” he told The Huffington Post. “And what I realized is, I had one leg of an elephant, and it really wouldn’t matter where you grabbed on, the thing is enormous.” Michelson invented a digital textbook system that would reduce students’ $700-on-average textbook costs to a one-time $60 waterproof reader. He also partnered with Dean Florez, the majority leader of the California State Senate, to create the California Open Source Digital Library. The library holds open source textbooks for the most popular college courses, and, combined with Michelson’s digital reader, could save college students $1,600 a year.
The idea, for Forez, is for students and teachers to cater instruction to their needs without excessive costs. “The premise of all our textbooks is that they are open,” Fores told The Huffington Post. “And open meaning from our perspective that, a faculty member or student could repurpose the information, they could reuse it, they could redirect it, and more importantly they can make it their own.”
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Tag: digital textbooks
These Middle School Students Are Losing All Their Textbooks. Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing
Wake County’s 35,000 middle school students are getting a fancy upgrade to their learning material. Instead of using their decade-old science textbooks, these North Carolina school children will be using Discovery Education’s science “techbooks,” the Cary News reports.
While they can be an excellent source for learning, paper textbooks are heavy and expensive. Wake County middleschoolers who grew up with the web are likely to embrace a new way to learn and discover. The nifty techbooks can translate material into English, Spanish or French, and read aloud. There are also options for video lessons and interactive projects and tests. Plus, the techbook transition is saving the county money. Wake County reportedly has a $875,384 techbook contract with Discovery until June 2017, which is an incredible discount from the $2 million the county would’ve paid for paper books.
And let’s just say it—traditional textbooks can be boring. As Wake County school board vice chairman Tom Benton said, “As a former teacher, I’m excited about this way you can get students engaged instead of having them just read a textbook.” Saving money, keeping kids interested and encouraging a new generation of learning? Sounds like a worthy investment to us.
MORE: This School Cut Textbook Costs from $600 to $150 With One Innovation
This School Cut Textbook Costs from $600 to $150 With One Innovation
At Archbishop Stepinac High School in upstate New York, almost every textbook is now digital and accessible from students’ laptops and tablets. The cost of books has dropped from $600 to $150, and all of the digital textbooks are kept in cloud storage. And more than just migrating traditional content onto a screen, the digital textbooks offer a much richer learning experience. The material is supplemented with videos, assessments, virtual labs and blogging capability. Students can also highlight passages or write notes in the margins without damaging a book for other students. Teachers say that student learning has improved, and homework with the digital texts is more productive, so they can engage students in more discussion and analysis in class. As tablets and computers become less expensive and more online lessons and books become available, either through publishers or through platforms that teachers find or create themselves, more students will benefit from digital textbooks and materials. “It’s all great,” said one Stepinac junior. “As long as the Wi-Fi doesn’t go down.”