I, for one, think this is at least worth trying, if not a downright good idea.
- The kids won't have to carry around 20-30 lbs of books all day long.
- Paper textbooks will be available for those who need them.
- There will be less need to stop at a locker in between classes, so there may be less tardiness.
- Page changes on a Kindle are a bit slow, but not necessarily a deal-killer, especially since you can do a keyword search.
- The administration isn't snowing people by declaring it's a cost savings before they've tried it out.
- High school students shouldn't annotate their textbooks. It would be better if they did have that option, but for this particular group it won't be a missed function.
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Originally Posted by WillAdams
how will licensing them be handled? (and what will be the budget for replacements of broken units). What about teachers' editions of texts?
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Presumably the texts either are or will be available, or if necessary they can use paper.
They're considering offering parents an optional insurance program for damaged units.
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Originally Posted by WillAdams
Given the limits of DRM (if they don't use opensource / copy-left textbooks), a given unit will pretty much be locked to a particular grade...
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Yeah, no.
- Many of the English texts will be public domain, thus no DRM issues.
- Many textbooks need to be replaced anyway on a regular basis, particularly science books.
- Amazon has already set up some pilot programs for college use and are actively courting the education market, so I'm sure they will work something out.
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Originally Posted by WillAdams
and who pays the extra when a student needs an extra textbook 'cause they're taking an advanced level or AP class?
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The school, who would have to buy the addtional textbooks regardless of whether they are paper or ebooks.
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Originally Posted by WillAdams
How will they control web browsing during classes?
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By taking away their iPhones.
Web browsing on the Kindle 2's is very limited and slow. I'd be much more concerned with the kids texting each other on their cell phones.
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Originally Posted by WillAdams
Or students purchasing additional books from Amazon on the school's dime?
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I'm certain that will be locked down.
I don't think this is necessarily going to turn out to be the perfect option right off the bat. But in a few years, this type of situation will be perfectly normal, and a good use of ebooks.