RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, textbook shortages continue to be an issue for many Hawaii schools; and

WHEREAS, the average weight of a backpack in middle school can be as much as twenty pounds, and that some doctors recommend that individuals never carry more than ten percent of their body weight to avoid injury; and

WHEREAS, some schools do not have enough textbooks to allow students to bring them home to study; and

WHEREAS, textbooks typically cost between $60 and $90 each, and even when there are enough books for each student in a class, they can sometimes be too valuable to be allowed to leave the classroom; and

WHEREAS, an insufficient number of textbooks in a classroom can cripple the teacher's ability to teach and the student's ability to learn; and

WHEREAS, maintaining updated textbooks for every public school student in the State would cost tens of millions of dollars; and

WHEREAS, even when textbooks are relatively current, they cannot provide a complete curriculum, and teachers must supplement their lesson plans with handouts on the latest research; and

WHEREAS, the academic landscape has expanded to include a range of resources that were technologically impossible a few years ago, and the traditional textbook may no longer be considered as central to a curriculum as it once was; and

WHEREAS, eBooks are text documents that have been converted and "published" in a digital format that display on specialized reading devices or computers; and

WHEREAS, eBooks can be stored and read on laptops, pocket computers, and eBook reading devices for access at any time, and a gigabyte of computer chip storage space can contain 200 illustrated reference books, 350 legal volumes, or about 2,500 600-page novels; and

WHEREAS, eBooks can present text in a more user-friendly style than traditional books, and can allow users to adjust text size, bookmark a page, take notes within a book, highlight portions of the text, add drawings, look up definitions, search within the text, copy and paste selected text to other programs, and can be electronically read aloud; and

WHEREAS, eBooks can be considered stronger, dynamic, interactive versions of traditional textbooks that use computer programs that can respond in real time to a student's work with personalized feedback, thereby tailoring and improving the learning experience to meet the individual needs of the student; and

WHEREAS, these online textbooks can provide on-demand suggestions, guided solutions, quizzes, and multiple problem examples and explanations; and

WHEREAS, eBooks allow students to learn at their own pace, without the time pressure or fear of answering incorrectly in front of their peers, which can be present in a group learning situation; and

WHEREAS, eBooks permit teachers to work more effectively with a range of students, allowing faster learners to forge ahead while giving other students more time to grasp certain concepts; and

WHEREAS, eBook software could be updated more often and at lower cost to schools over time; and

WHEREAS, there are many online libraries and organizations that make available a large number of eBooks for little or no cost; and

WHEREAS, there are many practical advantages of eBook technology in a mobile society from which our students could benefit; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to conduct an investigation into the feasibility of eBook implementation in the public school system; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to report its findings to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Superintendent of Education and the Chair of the Board of Education.

Report Title:

Department of Education; eBook Implementation