The start of the 2014-2015 school year for many students has meant the purchase of access codes rather than textbooks. The math, history, and biology departments have made the switch to have the course textbook accessible from a computer.

School President Bill Taylor said that the decision is going to help students in the long run.

“Your life in jobs and just navigating the world is going to have to involve things beyond books, and you are going to find ways to manage that information,” said Taylor. “Online books is a step in that direction. Who knows what things are going to be like twenty years from now? But my guess is it’s not going to be confined between two bound covers.”

Page McMullen, upper school math teacher, said that some good things have come from the change.

“I like that students get instant feedback and immediately know if they have done it wrong or right. I like that I get to see very quickly the homework and see [that] we need to go over this [particular] problem,” she said.

Page McMullen also found some concerns about MyMathLab.

“What happens if somebody doesn’t have [wireless access] at home to the Internet, or what if we can’t access it here?” said McMullen.

The history courses, mainly for juniors and seniors, were encouraged to make the switch this year.

“I think the pros are that they’re cheaper, that you get extra resources,” said Charnes Martin, head of the history department, “ [but] I think some of the cons are going to be it’s going to take some getting used to for some kids who really still like a textbook.”

“Another pro,” said Martin, “is that a lot of colleges are using e-textbooks, so we are getting [students] ready for that collegiate experience.”

However, students are having some mixed feelings about online textbooks. Junior, Allie Harbert, found some positives and negatives to the e-texts.

“I think a pro would be it lightens your load on how much you have to take home and carry around everyday,” said Harbert, “but a con would be what if your power goes out or computer crashes? You don’t have anything else to resort too.”

Taylor has tried to keep minds open to the change.

“What we’re trying to do is to help students out, so you’re not lugging 50/60 pounds around in your backpack. You have resources available to you anywhere. I think that [it] is going to be an adjustment. It is just going to take a bit of time.”