Textbooks have been a staple of education for pretty much all of the 20th Century, but things appear to be changing as we progress into the 21st Century. There are more and more alternatives to the conventional hard cover printed page. Even traditional textbooks are being offered on-line either via websites or tablet apps. Educators are also creating and sharing their own curricula in the same way. This provides some very interesting alternatives to expensive text books. Some of these would appear to inspire student learning in ways that the long-established methods can not match. As I continue to explore my iPad, I am finding more and more interesting and inexpensive apps. One example is “The Civil War Today”. For $10.00 I can now trace the the progression of the civil war on a daily basis. Each day, primary source material including daily newspapers from the era provide insight as to what happened on that day. There are also actual diary entries from everyday people as well as from famous historical figures. Battle maps and photos make the conflict come alive. Check out “Our Choice” the E-book by Al Gore for $4.99.” We are not in Kansas anymore. Here are some links to some interesting alternatives to the textbook as we used to know it.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://blog.curriki.org/2010/08/31/10-sources-for-free-textbooks-online/