Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Hardbound textbooks may be going the way of slide rules and typewriters in schools.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski are challenging schools and companies to get digital textbooks in students' hands within five
years.

About $8 billion is spent annually in the U.S. on textbooks for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Digital books are viewed as a way to provide interactive learning, save money and get updated material faster to students.

But many schools lack the broadband capacity or the computers or tablets to embrace the technology.