Instead, the company will be providing a computer-based teaching system it developed with Microsoft Corp. that connects teachers, students, and administrators. It’s a radical shift away from the classic textbook publishing model and represents an industry transformation, as technology supplants books.

Although they will be selling some textbooks, most of the contract is for software such as Learning Village - a customized, interactive classroom network. The switch to electronic teaching tools is driven in part by school systems that want to prepare students for a digital world, In no small measure, it is also due to the availability of federal stimulus money for such programs.

As one administrator was quoted as saying “We are now in a transformational period. Everything we have has to be two worlds: print and digital. The future of learning is going to be high-quality online material and, to a lesser extent, textbooks.’’

The digital transformation is much more than just e-book versions of textbooks. It’s companion videos, interactive games, assessment, curriculum planning tools, and on and on and on. It’s also changing the relationship between schools and publishers. It’s one thing to discard a paper text; it’s more difficult for a school district to walk away from a computer system on which teachers and students depend.