Ariz. school trades books for laptops

VAIL, Ariz. – Students at Empire High School started class this year with no textbooks – but it wasn’t because of a funding crisis.

Instead, the school issued iBooks – Apple Computer Inc. laptops – to each of its 340 students, becoming one of the first U.S. public schools to shun printed textbooks.

School officials believe the electronic materials will get students more engaged in learning. Empire High, in its inaugural year, was designed specifically to have a textbook-free environment.

“We’ve always been pretty aggressive in use of technology and we have a history of taking risks,” said Calvin Baker, superintendent of the Vail Unified School District near Tucson.

Many publishers of traditional textbooks are offering digital formats and that provided some of the material for Empire High’s curriculum. Teachers also used subscription services and free Web resources.

Students get the materials over the school’s wireless Internet network. The school has a central filtering system that limits what can be downloaded on campus and controls chat room visits and instant messaging.

Students can turn in homework online. A Web program checks against Internet sources for plagiarized material and against the work of other students, Baker said. “If you copy from your buddy, it’s going to get caught,” he said.