I know that Apple products are cool. I get it. I just don't know why schools will jump on a 500 dollar product before they would try a 150 dollar product. It seems to me, one of the cheaper "steps" into technology, and the most logical for that matter, would be to first get the textbook companies to start publishing and licensing textbooks for eReaders. My plan would work something like this:
A fictional school has 75 kids in 8th grade. Each student is given or purchases an eReader. The school buys a license for for 75 copies of Glencoe's 8th grade science textbooks. These digital copies have DRM of some sort and this DRM keeps the digital textbooks valid for 5 years (5 years keep the textbook companies in business--many times schools may only buy new text books when the old one's are too worn to reissue.) The school is able to issue these digital copies to students on whichever eReader hops on board and would have the ability to limit the digital textbook to a reasonable time-frame on the eReader (such as 1 year--allowing the same student to keep the same eReader from year to year if desired). The students are then allowed to take their eReaders wherever they wish.
This would require more flexiblity with eReaders. eReaders, such as the Kindle or the Nook, currently have very restrictive DRM and this sort of pricing structure seems to be unheard of.
The implications and applications, though, are wonderful. What if a student could quote, high-lite, and save text from a textbook on their personal amazon.com account where they could comment and share ideas and thoughts about texts? This technology is more than just moving text from a hardcopy to a digital one. It will allow collaboration and discussion much easier--not to mention create a searchable and archived library of information for each student. (and we won't even go deep into the fact that textbooks are getting bigger and bigger and students are staying the same size)
I realize the iPad has a much greater feature set and is capable of so much more than just reading. But that, as an educator, is one of the draws of the eReader. First, it limits the in class distraction of using the device as something other than a textbook and second, the eReader is a device with a single purpose--to facilitate reading and reading is a skill that will not go away, no matter how great technology may become.
Thoughts?
