School Trades Textbooks For Laptops

CRESCENT, Okla. - Crescent High School students will no longer carry home text books after the school made a change toward high tech classrooms.

Students carry laptops to and from home.

"It's a lot easier," Junior Madison Reed said. "It's a lot lighter and easier to manage. You don't have to worry about, ‘Oh, I forgot my book.'"

Every class is taught by a teacher, but the homework, tests, research and some lectures are conducted online.

"It gives them an opportunity that not many other students in Oklahoma get," teacher Brad Jordan said. "They have the chance to be above and beyond what other schools are doing."

The students work at their own academic pace. If they miss a class, they simply login to catch up on missed work. Teachers spend most of their time answering questions.

The transition has taken some getting used to by both teachers and students.

"I don't like doing some of the classes online," sophomore Jackson Radford said. "I don't like hunting for the answers in history or something."

The learned research skills could prove useful in their futures.

"I feel like this is the best way to teach students," Superintendent Steve Shiever said.

Shiever said he also believes bookless learning prepares students for a workforce that's heavily reliant on technology.

"I feel like that our students are going to be given the best education possible in today's society in preparation for the 21st century," Shiever said.

The district saved up more than $300,000 for four years to purchase the laptops.

The Oklahoma Education Association said it supports the transition. They believe classrooms need to be equipped with technology to help students compete in a global society.

Amy Lester, NEWS 9