Textbooks being replaced by digital

The New York Times reports that traditional textbooks are on the way out in some schools, replaced by much less expensive digital forms that are likely much more current as well.

Textbooks have not gone the way of the scroll yet, but many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced by digital versions — or supplanted altogether by lessons assembled from the wealth of free courseware, educational games, videos and projects on the Web.

“Kids are wired differently these days,” said Sheryl R. Abshire, chief technology officer for the Calcasieu Parish school system in Lake Charles, La. “They’re digitally nimble. They multitask, transpose and extrapolate. And they think of knowledge as infinite.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/education/09textbook.html