The Governor of California, as mentioned in an earlier post, thinks that the wave of the future for education is digital textbooks. Maybe, he has a point. Maybe, he hasn’t thought it all the way through yet. I don’t know what the Governors of other states are thinking in regards to this issue, but it is far from simple. I haven’t heard much lately about the issue, as California is on the verge of running out of money to pay its bills and perhaps that is a more pressing issue, although you certainly couldn’t tell by what the legislators in Sacramento are doing. I’m curious as to how the digital textbook thing will work. What will the publishers do? The California Governor actually said “free” in reference to digital textbooks, but somehow I think that word isn’t in the everyday lexicon of the textbook publishing industry. I suspect that whether it’s in print or delivered electronically, they will want to be paid. Now, the printing industry just may take a bit of hit on it though, as it may mean they’re not going to be printing hard copies of the texts, or at least not as many.  I’m also interested in how the educational community, already hanging on by a mere financial thread, will be able to provide this digital experience to all of the students in the system. Marina Leight, at Converge Magazine, has mentioned it as well. It’s a complex issue, as all things governmental and educational tend to be. I’ll be doing some research on the issue for future posts, but in the meantime, if you have any ideas, please do let me know what they are.