Look Ma, no textbooks

Empire High School (Vail, AZ) seniors will be the first group of students to have started and completed their high school careers without the use of traditional textbooks, using personal laptops instead. When the school began its 2005 school year, students were given laptops rather than textbooks, and both students and teachers found it to be a worthwhile challenge. Melinda Jensen, a teacher at Empire High, stated that their seniors “work so comfortably in a digital environment that they don’t realize they’ve developed marketable skills.” She adds that the students have built up a resume that includes noteworthy computer skills, and the laptops have given students the most up-to-date material as well as the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge “in ways that are most relevant to them.”