Heavy backpacks are old school.
The new way is e-books that students access online, and Southfield High is at the forefront of the change to online textbooks, according to George Chapp, Director of Secondary Education.
E-books can be read on a computer or handheld electronic device, such as an iPad or cell phone.
Instead of giving each student a book to use, as in past years, teachers this year have class sets of textbooks for students to use during class time. But at home, students use their electronic books.
The e-books offer several benefit, according to Chapp:
* Students no longer have to lug around multiple books during or after school
* Students no longer have to pay fines for lost books
* E-books save the district money in book replacements and rebindings
* E-books have video clips and sound bites that could not appear in printed books
* Some e-books read out loud to the students (like books on tape)
* E-books can be updated with the click of a mouse, whereas printed books have to be reprinted to be updated.
Senior Isaiah Johnson says electronic books are “good for saving money but in a sense are useless because some students don’t have any access to Internet at home.”
Students without Internet access are encouraged to download a copy of their textbook to a flash drive or a computer.
Junior Teka Richardson says “ Most students would have to travel to the library in order to get access to a Internet connection just to do their homework, but for people with Internet access, it’s a great idea.”
Senior Clifton Padgett says he’s one of the students without Internet: “I don’t have Internet access at home, and I’m sure some other people do not have Internet access.”
Senior Deonte Gray says, “ I feel comfortable with the school moving to e-books because I no longer have to pay for book fines and people don’t have to miss out on their finals for unpaid book fines.”
Junior Ramoni Overton says, “ I feel e-books are more convenient because we don’t have to carry our books anymore. It’s really good because we don’t have to pay book fines for tearing up books that were already given to us in poor condition.”
Southfield Public Schools spent more than $3 million on new textbooks for the 2014-2015 school year. Most but not all high school courses received new books, Chapp said. Some courses already use relatively new texts, Chapp said.