California Project To Introduce Digital Textbooks May Benefit Kindle June 20, 2009
Posted by janey in : success books , trackbackAmazon marketing executives must have been over the moon upon hearing Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement of his state’s first-in-the nation initiative to replace traditional paper textbooks with free online digital textbooks. This is not some vision of the future, the scheme is set to commence in August of 2009. Science and Math textbooks will be replaced in the first stage with other subjects to follow.
An initial list of standards aligned digital textbooks covering subjects such as geometry, trigonometry, calculus, physics, algebra, chemistry, biology and earth science course will be launched in August. A number of electronic books have already been submitted and are going through the review process. Academic publishers and content providers have been asked to submit further materials for consideration by the California Learning Resources Network. The final date for submission is June 15 to allow for review in time for the upcoming academic year.
The second phase of the initiative, presently in development, will make the new digital textbooks available to all grades. Interactive content will be included and a state wide web site highlighting books available will be the long term goal.
The program could potentially save Californian schools millions of dollars. It’s estimated that a school district with around 10,000 high school students could recoup $2 million dollars by using free downloadable textbooks in just science and math classes. In 2008, the State of California spent $350 million on textbooks and other printed learning material. Upon the adoption of digital textbooks a good portion of this money will become available for use in other areas.
Another advantage envisaged is that, because digital textbooks are more easily updated, it will be easier for students to learn about technical advances and current discoveries as they happen. Conventional paper textbooks tend to be updated, on average, every 6 years – which could mean that, at the back end of the cycle, students could be missing six years of information.
It also seems probable that alternative, interactive learning methods could be introduced once the project is up and running.
Now, it’s probably worth noting that at no point in his announcement did Governor Schwarzenegger make any mention of Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader – or any of its competitors for that matter. In fact he said that it would be possible for schools to benefit even without computers or laptops as teachers could print out the material and that would still work out considerably cheaper than a traditional text book. So why is the internet buzzing about this “wonderful news” for Amazon?
Well, the latest addition to the Amazon Kindle ebook reader family, the Kindle DX, launched on June 10 – just5 days after Governor Schwarzenegger’s announcement. It is a ideal for reading newspapers, magazines and – wait for it – academic textbooks.
Amazon have already established agreements with at least three academic publishers and some higher education establishments have publicly announced that they make the Kindle available to their students. All things considered, Amazon are currently better placed to take advantage of a sudden introduction of new digital technology in the academic world than most of their competitors.
That’s not to say that they will have it all their own way of course. Sony have teamed up with Google to make Google’s vast collection of public domain ebooks available to owners of their PRS ebook reader, a clear indication that neither Google or Sony are willing to yield the potentially huge and highly profitable ebook market to Amazon without a fight. Other competitors also exist and it will be interesting to see how they respond to developments in the market in general and the academic sector in particular.
Meanwhile, it does seem as if Governor Schwarzenegger’s innovative plan for California’s educational future is likely to help sales of Amazon’s reader, Kindle accessories and books from Amazon’s Kindle store. It seems likely that other states will consider similar schemes and the academic sector of the book market could hot up very rapidly indeed. Of course, the academic textbook sector is just one market segment – but it does seem to be leading the way. It also offers Amazon and its competition an ideal opportunity to “get ‘em while they’re young” and foster brand recognition and loyalty which could influence buying choices in later life.
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry