12-16-2009, 04:14 PM | #1 |
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Will the Kindle Change Education?
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12-16-2009, 04:16 PM | #2 |
Which way is up?
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THats a pretty far fetched question for something like an E-reader...
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12-16-2009, 04:18 PM | #3 |
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No. E-readers are great for novels, but rather poor for textbooks and other reference materials. PDF on a netbook or similar has a much better chance in the educational market place. My son has one of those Asus touch screen netbooks, and he uses that extensively for PDF's and it's much better than an e-reader for that.
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12-16-2009, 04:26 PM | #4 |
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I don't recall a shortage of reading material way back when I was in school. So I don't see why any e-reader would revolutionize anything. Seems like a potential convenience. But I tended to buy used books and sell them back to the campus bookstore when I was done. Unless e-textbook pricing is different than fiction e-book pricing, Kindle users are going to pay MORE than I did.
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12-16-2009, 04:32 PM | #5 | |
Which way is up?
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Quote:
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12-16-2009, 04:38 PM | #6 | |
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______ Dennis |
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12-16-2009, 04:41 PM | #7 |
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12-16-2009, 04:47 PM | #8 |
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12-16-2009, 05:16 PM | #9 | |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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Is trade-off even the right relationship? Hardly anyone is going to give up a laptop for the Kindle DX. I think marginal cost/benefit would be closer. And even there, not very many people think the DX is worth the extra cost or weight. |
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12-16-2009, 05:16 PM | #10 |
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Seems like the article is a little out of date... prices are old, no mention of the nook, Amazon pilot programs are already under way, etc.
Otherwise, I generally concur that it is unlikely that the current range of devices, and the current Kindle in particular, will drastically change the education market. However a rugged, affordable, color, large-screen eInk device with PDF support will eventually show up, and will probably be the real game-changer. So it will take awhile, though schools with better resources might be ahead of the curve. Netbooks are heavier, don't have great battery life, don't have screens as readable as eInk, and offer many more opportunities to distract students. I don't think it will be a great choice for general education in the long run. |
12-16-2009, 05:37 PM | #11 | |
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If you simply want to read information presented in a PDF and take some notes on it, and you don't need all the other things a laptop can do, you may just carry the DX and leave the laptop and it's greater weight at home. ______ Dennis |
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12-16-2009, 05:51 PM | #12 | |
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12-16-2009, 06:02 PM | #13 |
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It may change the secondary/post-secondary market (although I was less than impressed with my own Pearson Educational Media experience). But it will not change the elemntary market at all. The one thing I think an ebook can never, no matter how far the tech gies, replicate is picture books for young children. The first issue, as I have said before, is how they read with their fingers, making anything screen-based problematic (especially on touch screens, where they might advance the page accidentally when they point at the words). But there is also a core base set of reading readiness attributes that include a cognizance of pages, that they fit together to make stories, that they have writing on them etc. which rely on actually having physical pieces of paper bound together. You can't, nor would you want to, teach that with a screen.
What I think will eventually happen is we will develop a hard-drive-on-a-stick type of system where your whole OS, apps, media, books, music etc. will fit on a thumb drive and you can plug it into your desktop terminal at home or work, your cell phone, netbook, ebook reader or whatever you have and be ready to go with all your stuff. S if you have a book which needs a bigger screen or colour screen or whatever, you can plug it into one. And if you just want to read, you can plug it into something smaller and curl up on the couch. |
12-16-2009, 07:08 PM | #14 |
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I teach High School math and I can assure you the teachers are ready to give up the huge textbooks in favor of an electronic version. The problem is getting the students the devices to read the eBook. I like the plug in device option, but perhaps it will only store our eBooks that could read on multiple platforms. This way, we could fill their "stick" with the year's textbooks, but they could read them on any device they choose. Good luck getting the publishers onboard
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12-16-2009, 07:29 PM | #15 |
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Children are remarkably receptive to new technology and are very quick to pick up the nuances of usage. If they are reading something on a touch screen, the learn to follow along without actually touching the screen. We use Smartboards in the schools in our county and the kids are very adapt at using them. As an elementary educator, I can see a great many advantages to using ereading technology once it gets to the point where it is actually usable. Unfortunately, it's not there yet. Larger displays (like the DX) and color would be a necessity at the elementary level. Therefore, something along the lines of a simplified tablet netbook or something along the lines of Microsoft's Courier (if it ever actually hits the market) would work well. I wouldn't think an e-ink display would be needed because children don't tend to stay on one task long enough to have to worry about eyestrain.
When I first started teaching, it was a novelty to have one computer in the classroom. Now most classrooms have several or a complete computer lab where the kids "play" interactive learning games, research material, publish stories, etc. Computers and digital technology have definitely changed how children learn and teachers teach. Digital books will just be the next step. |
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