Close the books and open an iPad. It's the latest nationwide push Apple has made to accelerate its product's use in the classroom. Our Erin Vannella reports.

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ALBANY, N.Y. -- Apple executives made their pitch at the Guggenheim Museum Thursday. Late co-founder Steve Jobs had always wanted to create electronic text and curriculum material for the iPad and many schools have already begun making that vision a reality.

"When schools decide to go digital, it's much more than getting a digital book," said Classbook.com CEO Tony Pfister. "It's a mindset change."

Pfister has watched his prep school text book sales turn the digital corner. One of his clients on the Connecticut side of the Hudson ranks in the top two percent of schools nationwide for Apple use. But many more schools, including some closer to the capital, have different fiscal and faculty priorities and can't focus on technology.

"They always end up looking at their internal network, just trying to figure out if their network can actually support 300, 200 kids going online all at the same time and not crashing the servers and access points at the school," said Pfister. "That usually costs more expensive than the iPads themselves at a school."

Pfister estimates a 10 to 20 percent savings over textbooks though admits the real advantage is what the teacher can actually do. Schools that have used them, he said, haven't seen diminishing academic performance.