The Argument for Kindles in Schools
  BY Chris Dannen Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 4:33 PM


Yesterday I wrote about the Kindle's tepid reception on the 
Princeton campus,
and suggested that the device might not be ready for educational 
use.  But pilot
programs at other schools, involving both Kindles and iPhones, 
have approached
the devices from another angle: cost.
  According to MacWorld, school administrators in Oklahoma are 
excited about
saving "up to 50 percent on the cost of textbooks" by using 
electronic copies--a
savings that almost directly benefits students, whether in 
secondary school or
college.  MacWorld explains:
"...a complete set of textbooks for several courses in a single 
curriculum and a
Kindle device, sold at perhaps half its retail price, might cost 
$1,600.  That's
compared to $2,000 for the traditional textbooks alone."
  Issues abound: The Kindle's proprietary document format means 
textbooks can't be
ported easily, and its browser is inadequate for anything but 
cursory use.  And,
as the Daily Princetonian reported yesterday, its note-taking 
tools aren't
exactly stellar.  Another stumbling block: Colleges and 
universities make a
decent profit from textbook sales, and might be loath to give up 
a cash cow for
an e-book device that will likely yield a slimmer margin.
  So how does the iPhone factor in? Amazon's Kindle for iPhone 
application means
that students who already own iPhones or iPod touches can read 
their materials
without purchasing a Kindle--why they would want to read a 
semester's coursework
on a 3.5-inch screen is another question.  The textbook market in 
the U.S.  tops
$5.5 billion annually, but some forward-thinking big players are 
already going
e-book.  McGraw-Hill, for example, offers 95% of their titles 
electronically.


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