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“A pilot program that’s looking to lower cost, and pay for conservation by using e-books downloaded on Kindles instead of traditional textbooks. Students will pay for the e-books which are about half the price of a new book.” (KTVK3)

Interest in the digital textbook arena is heating up. Amazon’s teaming up with 7 universities to try out the new Kindle DX electronic reader among college students.
 
Meanwhile, CourseSmart, an electronic-textbook subscription service, is making its 7-thousand-plus titles available through applications on iPhone and iPod Touch.

Our research shows that the media agree that digital textbook is a great innovation and gives learning mobility. But they present different perspectives on whether currently available electronic textbooks best fit students’ need. Northwest Cable News suggests e-book devices such as the Kindle DX provide accessibility.

“It’s so thin, yet it can carry so many books, like someone else in our newsroom was saying, you don’t have to log around those textbooks anymore.”

However, one group say e-books are actually inaccessible to them. KPNX 12 in Phoenix, Arizona brings the concerns of blind students at Arizona State University - one of the 7 universities involved in Amazon’s Kindle DX pilot program.

“While the DX version reads the books aloud, on screen menus have no audio function, so Shandrow couldn’t even get to page one, he would have to continue special ordering textbooks either in braille or on computer.”

NPR takes a positive look, and says electronic textbooks fit the lifestyle of current college students and evolve with their changing appetites.


“The new books are interactive - you can search, mark pages, highlight, and cut and paste passages. You can even share notes in a kind of social network with the rest of your class, or click on a video…The new generation of textbooks is trying to be in tune with the way students learn in the age of Wikipedia and YouTube.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times states that the high cost of mobile e-book devices, such as Kindle DX’s 489-dollar price tag, might become a hurdle in the digital transition, and divide students with different socio-economic backgrounds.

“There is still a large digital divide. Not every student has access to a computer, a Kindle electronic reader device or a smartphone, and few districts are wealthy enough to provide them. So digital textbooks could widen the gap between rich and poor.”

So what do you think about the idea of electronic textbooks? Do you think the current digital technology meet the needs of students?