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There's an interesting article in today's Los Angles Times about two bills in the California legislature that could, if passed, make it easier for school districts to use e-textbooks. While the article doesn't mention Kindle specifically (but does mention Apple by name), there are some interesting points raised that could impact Amazon's ability to move beyond the college textbook market.
Currently, school districts in California are required to use state funding to purchase enough DTB textbooks for each student first and, only after that, can they purchase electronic versions. With the ongoiing crisis in state funding in our state, I think this provisioin pretty much eliminates the potential for a big take-off here for e-textbooks. A small pilot project, with heavy subsidy from in-state computer companies, isn't a replicatable model. Opening this up as an option for school districts makes a lot of sense - not only from the physical/ convenience perspective (lugging a bag of textbooks around), but also from the economic perspective - if a companion bill in the Assembly passes (requiring publishers to provide an electronic version at less cost than the print version). And, as Kindle users all know, there is no need to throw out an e-textbook, so converting to any electronic format has its environmental benefits too.
This must be scaring the beejeebers out of the textbook publishing industry - the changeover could come a whole lot faster than they, or Amazon or anyone else, might have envisioned.
It's going to be interesting to see how Kindle DX competes at this. Apparently Amazon has signed up the publishers of 60% of college textbooks already for the DX launch - but I don't know the details of the deals and whether or not the publishers will also produce their texts in other e-book formats.
I was all set to order a Kindle DX when I learned that you can't annotate, highlight or search text in the new Ks PDF documents - something that seems like a clear "must have" feature for textbooks and business users (not to mention the absolute need for folders for all Kindles). If Adobe produces a companion product for the DX, making those features available (and assuming they don't charge hundreds of dollars for it), it would help.
I'm not so sure that Whipspernet is a big deal for the textbook market, since school districts would probably control their students' textbook downloads, but it would give students who don't have access to a computer the opportunity to download free e-books, etc..
I would have jumped at the opportunity to have a DX, lack of critical features and all, if I were still a student. My left shoulder still remembers the aching from carrying all those books around for years and years. I might have become an avid reader long before I did, if I'd been able to download a book in the blink of an eye. It's going to be an interesting time seeing how entreprenuers, educators and legislators tackle this opportunity. But, don't count on California getting it right first
Glynnis
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-school-books12-2009may12,0,3863262.story?track=rss
Senate approves software as an alternative to textbooks
L.A. Unified supports the bill, which moves to the Assembly.
By Patrick McGreevy
May 12, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- California teenagers may be spared having to lug back-breaking loads of textbooks to school under a proposal that would make it easier for campuses to use electronic instructional material.
Allowing high schools greater freedom to spend state money on software to put textbooks on laptops and other electronic devices was backed by the Los Angeles Unified School District and approved Monday by the state Senate.
The Assembly will consider the proposal, drafted by state Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara). "Today's K-12 students represent the first generation to have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cameras, cellphones and all the other gadgets of the digital age," Alquist said after the 36-0 Senate vote.
"Today's students are no longer the students of blackboards and chalk."
California law limits how school districts can use state funds for instructional materials, requiring them to purchase enough textbooks for all students before spending money on electronic material.
As a result, some districts have purchased materials in both book form and software or have refrained from buying software, Alquist said.
SB 247 would allow districts to satisfy textbook requirements if they can provide each student with hardware and software that meet the same accessibility requirements that printed textbooks offer.
L.A. Unified has conducted a pilot program, as have schools in Lemon Grove and Fullerton, working with tech companies, including Apple, to provide students in select classrooms with laptops, which they can take home.
However, fewer than 1,000 students in L.A. Unified have been able to participate so far, officials said.
"This is really the wave of the future," said Virginia Strom-Martin, a lobbyist for L.A. Unified.
A separate measure in the state Assembly would require publishers to furnish instructional materials in an electronic format at less cost than the print version. That measure is AB 314 by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica).
Currently, school districts in California are required to use state funding to purchase enough DTB textbooks for each student first and, only after that, can they purchase electronic versions. With the ongoiing crisis in state funding in our state, I think this provisioin pretty much eliminates the potential for a big take-off here for e-textbooks. A small pilot project, with heavy subsidy from in-state computer companies, isn't a replicatable model. Opening this up as an option for school districts makes a lot of sense - not only from the physical/ convenience perspective (lugging a bag of textbooks around), but also from the economic perspective - if a companion bill in the Assembly passes (requiring publishers to provide an electronic version at less cost than the print version). And, as Kindle users all know, there is no need to throw out an e-textbook, so converting to any electronic format has its environmental benefits too.
This must be scaring the beejeebers out of the textbook publishing industry - the changeover could come a whole lot faster than they, or Amazon or anyone else, might have envisioned.
It's going to be interesting to see how Kindle DX competes at this. Apparently Amazon has signed up the publishers of 60% of college textbooks already for the DX launch - but I don't know the details of the deals and whether or not the publishers will also produce their texts in other e-book formats.
I was all set to order a Kindle DX when I learned that you can't annotate, highlight or search text in the new Ks PDF documents - something that seems like a clear "must have" feature for textbooks and business users (not to mention the absolute need for folders for all Kindles). If Adobe produces a companion product for the DX, making those features available (and assuming they don't charge hundreds of dollars for it), it would help.
I'm not so sure that Whipspernet is a big deal for the textbook market, since school districts would probably control their students' textbook downloads, but it would give students who don't have access to a computer the opportunity to download free e-books, etc..
I would have jumped at the opportunity to have a DX, lack of critical features and all, if I were still a student. My left shoulder still remembers the aching from carrying all those books around for years and years. I might have become an avid reader long before I did, if I'd been able to download a book in the blink of an eye. It's going to be an interesting time seeing how entreprenuers, educators and legislators tackle this opportunity. But, don't count on California getting it right first
Glynnis
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-school-books12-2009may12,0,3863262.story?track=rss
Senate approves software as an alternative to textbooks
L.A. Unified supports the bill, which moves to the Assembly.
By Patrick McGreevy
May 12, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- California teenagers may be spared having to lug back-breaking loads of textbooks to school under a proposal that would make it easier for campuses to use electronic instructional material.
Allowing high schools greater freedom to spend state money on software to put textbooks on laptops and other electronic devices was backed by the Los Angeles Unified School District and approved Monday by the state Senate.
The Assembly will consider the proposal, drafted by state Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara). "Today's K-12 students represent the first generation to have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cameras, cellphones and all the other gadgets of the digital age," Alquist said after the 36-0 Senate vote.
"Today's students are no longer the students of blackboards and chalk."
California law limits how school districts can use state funds for instructional materials, requiring them to purchase enough textbooks for all students before spending money on electronic material.
As a result, some districts have purchased materials in both book form and software or have refrained from buying software, Alquist said.
SB 247 would allow districts to satisfy textbook requirements if they can provide each student with hardware and software that meet the same accessibility requirements that printed textbooks offer.
L.A. Unified has conducted a pilot program, as have schools in Lemon Grove and Fullerton, working with tech companies, including Apple, to provide students in select classrooms with laptops, which they can take home.
However, fewer than 1,000 students in L.A. Unified have been able to participate so far, officials said.
"This is really the wave of the future," said Virginia Strom-Martin, a lobbyist for L.A. Unified.
A separate measure in the state Assembly would require publishers to furnish instructional materials in an electronic format at less cost than the print version. That measure is AB 314 by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica).
