Test run: Kindle enters UW classrooms
SEATTLE -- There will be no more pencils, no more books for 40 graduate students heading back to University of Washington for fall semester.
Instead, there will be Kindle.
The students will use Amazon Kindle DX electronic readers in place of both textbooks and classroom reading materials this semester.
"The experiment is (to see) how well this works," says Ed Lazowska, chairman of UW's Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Amazon is testing its Kindle in classrooms at seven universities across the country this school year, but UW students will be some of the first to actually get their e-book readers.
Students will test-drive the Kindle in class and help Amazon answer one fundamental question: How would you have to change a device that was designed as a personal pleasure device to turn it into a learning device?
Professor Dan Grossman was asked to participate in the Kindle experiment alongside his students. So far, Grossman is split on the issue.
"We want to be able to annotate and highlight and flip back and forth and have that physical experience," he said.
But, he added, Kindle does have its benefits: "We want to be able to search and look up and have massive amounts of information on one lightweight device."
Grossman says he'll even be able to update information directly to his students' Kindles, though he's not exactly sure how he'll apply that functionality.
"Our students are going to have these devices. They are going to use them. They are going to share with us their experiences. I can assure you they will give us an honest appraisal," said Grossman.
Lazowska says whether its an Amazon device, an Apple device or another company's technology, he believes the textbook is heading the way of the blackboard.
There may be no more pencils and no more books. But as for teacher's dirty looks, even a Kindle can't promise to do away with them for good.
Instead, there will be Kindle.
The students will use Amazon Kindle DX electronic readers in place of both textbooks and classroom reading materials this semester.
"The experiment is (to see) how well this works," says Ed Lazowska, chairman of UW's Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Amazon is testing its Kindle in classrooms at seven universities across the country this school year, but UW students will be some of the first to actually get their e-book readers.
Students will test-drive the Kindle in class and help Amazon answer one fundamental question: How would you have to change a device that was designed as a personal pleasure device to turn it into a learning device?
Professor Dan Grossman was asked to participate in the Kindle experiment alongside his students. So far, Grossman is split on the issue.
"We want to be able to annotate and highlight and flip back and forth and have that physical experience," he said.
But, he added, Kindle does have its benefits: "We want to be able to search and look up and have massive amounts of information on one lightweight device."
Grossman says he'll even be able to update information directly to his students' Kindles, though he's not exactly sure how he'll apply that functionality.
"Our students are going to have these devices. They are going to use them. They are going to share with us their experiences. I can assure you they will give us an honest appraisal," said Grossman.
Lazowska says whether its an Amazon device, an Apple device or another company's technology, he believes the textbook is heading the way of the blackboard.
There may be no more pencils and no more books. But as for teacher's dirty looks, even a Kindle can't promise to do away with them for good.
