"When the factors of needing to buy textbooks, not having money, seeing the push and benefit of online instructional tools, and risk-taking, creative teachers all combine, anything is possible, including bidding adieu to textbooks," write five faculty members from Byron High School, a 2011 Intel Schools of Distinction finalist. In a recent article in the Minnesota School Boards Association Journal the math teachers describe their move away from print textbooks to digital content.

Using the open-source Moodle learning management tool, open content resources, and video recording tools, teachers created video lessons, solution manuals, lesson notes, homework, and additional support materials for students to access day and night. Results so far have been very encouraging and include:

* 95% of students reporting that they find the site helpful. They regularly access the site for everything from makeup work to preteaching and reteaching.

* An unanticipated shift to reverse classroom strategies (sometimes called the "flipped classroom" in which students watch the video lessons as homework and then utilize class time, with teacher and peer support, for homework.

* A "domino effect" in which teachers of additional subject areas and grade levels are beginning to experiment with similar approaches.

* An increased awareness of personal learning devices (cell phones, ipods, laptops, etc), as valuable educational tools; as a result, school leaders are reconsidering policies related to their use during the school day.

Source: A Perfect Mathematical Storm: Changing the Face of Education, The Minnesota School Boards Association Journal