The West Virginia Department of Education should be so smart

school goes all-in on digital textbooks

the backpacks got a whole lot lighter this year because nearly every book — from freshman biology to senior calculus — is now digital, accessible on students' laptops and tablets.

like 30 pounds ..... lost weight and a book bill that dropped from $600 to $150

all the texts the school uses are part of a digital bookshelf kept on an Internet cloud.

The science books show scientific processes in motion. The English books grade an essay and offer a student a worksheet on the proper use of commas if it's needed. Students can highlight passages or leave notes to themselves in the margins, without ruining the book for anyone else.

All the books are available to all the students, so a junior can look back at the freshman algebra book to review a concept. Students can click to find every reference to "osmosis,"

the textbooks have been updated three times this semester alone.