When junior Christina Jacobs was told she was getting an online textbook for her AP United States History class, also known as APUSH, she was initially indifferent towards it. According to Jacobs, when she began using the digital format of the text, she “realized that [online note taking] was horrible” because it lowered the quality of her notes.

Jacobs, along with all other APUSH students, joined AP Euro and Advanced Algebra 2 Honors students in the district’s online textbook pilot program.

According to Kris Frandson, Associate Principal for Curriculum and Instruction, the main goal of switching to the digital textbook from the hard copy of the text was to offer a cheaper option for families.

The average digital format of these textbooks costs $27.60 compared to the $145.65 of the hard copy versions.

Jacobs is not alone in preferring a hard copy of the text to the digital version.

According to freshman Robbie Fraser, he found it “harder to find specific pages” with the online format of his algebra and trigonometry textbook than with the hard copy version, which is why he decided to purchase the printed version as well.

According to Frandson, student satisfaction with the online textbooks will be considered, along with the effects that digital book has on learning, by the district when deciding to continue the use of online textbooks.

“One of the things that we as a school are going to try to explore, with some of our lead teachers, is… how [reading digitally] impacts student comprehension and active reading,”  said Frandson. “We have a sub-committee of teachers looking into [these questions] this year, who will then expand what they learned to the rest of the faculty, because that should play into the decision of what textbook they use.”

The switch to the online textbooks has also created positive feedback from both staff and students.

“I can refer to the book in class and be confident that most students have a book to view what I am talking about,” said math teacher Steve Goodman. “Other than that, it doesn’t change the way that I teach.”

Goodman also said he likes that students can access the online text easily without having to carry around the heavy hard copy textbook.

Junior Ricky Kirkpatrick has also been enjoying some the aspects that the online textbooks has to offer.

According to Kirkpatrick, the online APUSH textbook allows students to access all of the Identification terms for each chapter, which is helpful when studying for tests.

The ultimate decision of continuing and expanding the use online textbooks for the district will be based how the digital texts affect student reading comprehension and annotating ability, not the price tag, according to Frandson.