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PC Mag reports that over 1.5 million are in use in educational institutions (bet it’s a lot more than that).  Boston’s NPR station reports that over 600 districts have ditched textbooks and purchased iPads for all students.

The student-centered classroom harnesses the flexibility of new media to provide a diverse range of students with multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement. The student-centered classroom harnesses the flexibility of new media for the teacher, providing a rich set of tools and resources to elevate and differentiate teaching. In that rich environment, the teacher can be both a content provider and the classroom’s most experienced and savvy teacher/learner, a model of the kind of expert learner students can emulate.

"It wasn't the music business that was dying," he said. "It was the CD business." Similarly, the textbook isn't necessarily going away, said Bridges, but the form is definitely changing.

"We are already producing online materials that school districts can't even use fully because of the challenges they have [with professional development and infrastructure,]" said McFall. But while schools may not quite be ready to make the transition to fully digital content, the revenue from digital resources grows each year, and currently makes up more than a third of Pearson's sales, said McFall.

1. It has been predicted that 44 percent of college textbooks will be digital by 2017. 2. Florida is making K-12 textbooks completely digital by 2015. 3. Even the federal government is taking a strong stance — it released the “Digital Textbook Playbook” to show districts why and how they should make the move toward e-textbooks. 4. The transition to digital content is undeniably taking place in classrooms and on campuses, and will only accelerate in coming years.

2012 Q2 Special Report: The Textbook Reformation & Digital Content

Converge 2012 Q2 Special Report Supplement: Funding and Professional Development

Plan for the shift to personal digital learning in phases over the next three years. You need six, coordinated plans considering content and instruction, assessment and data, devices and broadband, staffing and professional development, fiscal impact, and communications.