Attachment
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Shmoop, a provider of fun, plain-spoken digital textbooks and teaching resources, now has 269 titles freely available for use its website at www.shmoop.com. Shmoop offers digital textbooks in the topics of literature, poetry, and US history and plans to cover additional subjects.
Earlier this month, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose state is facing a $24 billion budget gap, announced his state’s digital textbook initiative.
“It's nonsensical - and expensive - to look to traditional hard-bound books when information today is so readily available in electronic form,” said Gov. Schwarzenegger. “Especially now, when our school districts are strapped for cash and our state budget deficit is forcing further cuts to classrooms, we must do everything we can to untie educators' hands and free up dollars so that schools can do more with fewer resources.”
According to the BBC, “last year California spent $350 million on textbooks and can no longer afford it.”
Teachers and students can access Shmoop’s library of online textbooks free of charge. Shmoop textbooks are written by master teachers and academics from top U.S. universities, including Stanford University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
“Textbooks are expensive technology that are insufficient for how today’s students experience the world,” said Shmoop CEO Ellen Siminoff. “We applaud Gov. Schwarzenegger’
Shmoop offers digital textbooks and teaching resources for literature, US history, and poetry. In addition to providing deep, accessible analysis and summaries, Shmoop makes topics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and the Civil War more engaging and relevant to students by including multimedia, links to carefully screened online resources, trivia, and references to current events and pop culture.
