Digital Textbooks: They're Coming, But Will They Be Better?

By Gilbert T. Sewall

With the much-anticipated arrival of the Apple iPad this month, we are one step closer to the classroom use of portable electronic readers that wirelessly download digital textbooks.

No one knows exactly how long, or even what form, digital learning will take. Fifteen years ago, some educators were convinced that all textbooks would one day be on floppy disks. Yet do students today even know what a floppy disk is? Though K-12 digital textbooks won’t be here soon, unlike in the case of colleges and universities. The ease and popularity of reading on screen is to be seen everywhere, on the bus and in the bedroom. So classroom lessons on “e-readers,” “tablets,” or “smartphones” are sure to join books in schools’ not-too-distant future.

What the shift to electronic readers and e-texts portends needs close inspection, with an eye to the impact on teaching and learning, not...