Laptops instead of books
With book budgets going up and laptop prices coming down, it was only a matter of time until the funds get shifted. At Johnson Elementary in Dallas, Texas, that time is now.
According to an article from the Associated Press (story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&ncid=738&e=4&u=/ap/20040427/ap_on_hi_te/digital_textbooks), the school is responding to several trends. Enrollments keep climbing, and they have a constant shortage of books - it takes three months to get new books after fall student counts. One laptop can hold normal textbooks in digital form (which many publishers are making available now), as well as hundreds of other electronic texts. In addition, wireless networking makes online resources available to the students wherever they are.
The contract with IBM provides the laptops with texts already installed for $1,350. The computers have also been engineered for a more rugged environment, using a circuit that senses when the computer is falling to shut down the hard drive in midair to prevent damage to the data.