Mount Vernon students will have first virtual textbook

For today's student, longer school days and more class offerings can make for a heavy load of school books.  However, that load will be a little lighter next year for Mount Vernon students.
Mount Vernon has adopted the Discovery Education Science Techbook for the district starting next year. The techbook was chosen after evaluation and analysis by teachers, science specialists and administrators.
Students will still have a science book for resources, but most of the curriculum will be online and students will do more online labs and activities in class.
The techbook, designed by Discovery Education, part of the Discovery Channel company, will incorporate elements from Discovery TV in lessons, such as Mythbusters, Sid the Science Kid, and Animal Planet. The hope is that the new offerings will excite students about science.
For those without internet access at home, school officials say that they should not worry about this because students should have time and access to assignments in class, computer labs, and at the media center.
Selected content will also have printed reading material so the class will not be a completely internet-based class.
“Students without internet at home will have access to hard copy materials and other items to enable them to do the necessary assigned work,” said Mount Vernon Superintendent Tom Kopatich
The techbook, according to school officials, fits perfectly in the learning profile of today's student. Students today are fully immersed in technology and are comfortable with web-based learning. The course design also will have an effect on educators as well. Focus will shift from the teacher as a lecturer, to the student as a more active learner.
Teachers will be able to select from a wide variety of online resources to enhance the topics being studied in class. The techbook will also be updated in realtime as changes happen in science.
“We choose textbooks for each subject every six years, which is tough in science because a lot can change. With this method of text, we have the opportunity to improve the student's education,” said Kopatich.
Kopatich added that if things work well with this approach, it could open up other exciting technological advances in education in the future.