According to a document released by The New Democratic Leadership Council – a Washington think tank formed in 1985 – every one of America’s 56 million K-12 schoolchildren should be issued with an electronic book reader of some description. In a paper entitled “A Kindle In Every Backpack”, authored by Thomas Z Freedman, it is suggested that this would reduce costs and allow for texts which are constantly updated.
Government spending on traditional printed textbooks currently runs at $109 per student. According to Mr. Freedman’s report the up front costs for the provision of electronic readers would be around $200 currently, reducimg to $80 per student by 2012. Who would fund this initiative is not specified in the paper – but it seems reasonable to suppose that the government would pick up the tab.
According to the paper, the benefits of the plan would include the ability to update academic textbooks quickly, the possibility to run interactive educational programs – including tests and quizzes and a reduced weight to be borne by students. Environmental aspects are not covered in the report, but there would almost certainly be a large reduction in the volume of paper used by the academic textbook publishers each year.
The Amazon Kindle reader is mentioned numerous times within the report – but the option to use other brands is also noted. One possible problem with the existing design of Kindle may be the suitability of its screen for rough handling. There is at present a class action suit raised against Amazon concerning cracking face plates and screens. This seems mostly concerned with Kindles which have had covers fitted to them and may not imply any flaw in the device itself. However, it would seem unreasonable to expect young students to show greater care when handling their Kindles than adults who have paid for the device themselves. Therefore, it might be necessary to produce a “ruggedized” version of the reader, sturdy enough for the inevitable bumps and scrapes which should be expected during the academic year.
There does seem to be an ever increasing air of inevitability concerning the move to digital textbooks. Californian governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently confirmed that California would start furnishing free electronic textbooks in August of 2009. California’s scheme makes no specific reference to the Kindle but, even so, Amazon executives must have been delighted with both the announcement and the immediate implementation of the scheme. Amazon also have partnership agreements with a number of universities and academic publishers already in place. It really is starting to look more like “when” rather than “if” electronic textbooks will become part of the mainstream.