Florida Plans Digital Texts for All by 2015
Farewell, bulky backpacks–at least in Florida. State education officials recently rolled out a five-year proposal that calls for all students in K-12 to use only “electronic materials” delivered by Kindles, iPads and other similar technology by 2015, the St. Petersburg Times reports.
“This project reinvents the way students learn and will revolutionize instruction in Florida,” says the plan presented to the state Board of Education Tuesday, Feb. 15 Both Senate and House education committees held hearings on the subject two days later. “Digital is here. We can choose to ignore it, or we can choose to embrace it,” said David Simmons, chairman of the Senate Pre-K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee. He predicted legislation would be filed after another round of committee meetings.
Many states, including Florida, are experimenting with schools going partially digital. Clearwater High School went a step further this fall, handing out Kindles to all students to use instead of textbooks. But in the proposal, all Florida districts would begin phasing in digital-only content, first for high school students and then for all others in reading, math, science, history and language arts.
Read the Feb. 17. St. Petersburg Times report.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
