So I've always been interested in the idea of an online textbook. There are sites that offer free materials online (CK-12) and even allow you to compile different segments into a custom textbook of your own. This is especially going to be necessary since our science standards are moving to a model where our current textbooks will be useless as it will pull content from life, physical, and earth science. The only problem is accessibility for students. Yes most students have phones and computers, but the fact will always remain that there will be students who do not. We can't legally provide online textbooks if students won't all have the same amount of access. Do you use online textbooks? If so, how do you get around this issue? Our school btw, doesn't have enough money to provide Chromebooks or iPads for students to take home.
We made our own CK12 textbook (by combining sections from their "Flex Book" and editing them to our needs, and then printed copies for each student. With bulk copying (this is for every kids 6-12 in our district (7000 students), it costs us around $5.00 a student (including paying for a few teachers per grade level to "write" the textbook over 6 days). It's great because we can have access to the book online, but also a printed copy that kids can write in and we can work on skills like annotating and highlighting.
As London mentioned, printing and copying the textbook is an option. My Biology classes have used the Pearson Biology 2010 (Macaw) book which comes with an online edition, as well as lots of online resources like lesson overview and data analysis activities. It's been nice to give students the choice -- some prefer a paper textbook while others prefer the convenience of accessing the text online. This particular textbook doesn't fit your requirements, but I'm sure there are others out there that offer the same options.
We have online textbooks. I'm not crazy about them. I wouldn't use a textbook much, anyway, but I'd rather have something that can be in a kid's hand.
I create reading books online using Google presentations. Students can either access them using a piece of technology (even their parents will pull it up on their cell phones) or I can print out the presentation for the students. But I teach at a school where most kids have 2-3 pieces of technology for themselves, so I'm in a different situation. Still... it's been a great tool for me to share reading selections without having to buy a textbook.
Our textbook has an online version for student acess. Unfortunately, getting to it is a bit complicated. Students have to go to the main website, sign it, click on the correct textbook, enter a long complicated password, and then manually scroll through the textbook. I avoid using it because the process is complicated. It would be better if it was a simple pdf. However, I LOVE the idea of a custom made textbook. We have good textbooks. However, they are super big, thick, and heavy. I only use about 100 of the 400 pages. I think it would be better of I could just copy 50 two sided pieces of paper, three hole punch them, and put them in a binder for students to use. We use a binder anyways for all of their other materials, so keeping it all together would be easier for me and for them.
Our school has a 1:1 iPad program. It's much cheaper to purchase the iPads and low-cost eTextbooks than to pay for the actual textbooks, replace them over time, and pay for shipping, etc. The school received a donation from Chevron to cover the cost of iPads for students.
