Here is a recent article in EdWeek on eTextbooks in Riverside, California K-12. One of the interesting aspects of the article is the focus on pilots and experiments, and the lessons learned. The article describes some of the challenges K-12 has in building digital course material initiatives, including: money for infrastructure to deliver digital textbooks and the tools students need to access them, political support to change polices around textbook adoption, and perceived quality differences of digital versus print as learning media. Approaches that are device agnostic are seen as critical.
On the flip side, the use of digital is believed to increase 1-on-1 learning time and student engagement. As one teacher notes: “It’s not about digitizing a textbook as it exists now,” he says, but using technology to improve the learning experience."
The article is accompanied by a good short video on e-textbooks in K-12. The embedded code was not working properly, so I have autogenerated a separate post with the video.
