Thursday - Oct 13, 2011
In August 2008, Mark Mahaney, a leading business analyst with Citigroup, stated “the Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world.” He reckoned that the Kindle — Amazon’s highly-popular e-reader — would sell roughly 380,000 units in 2008.
Fast-forward to 2011. Ever secretive of their sales numbers, Amazon is estimated to have sold between 5.4 to 8 million Kindles in 2010, with even larger numbers likely by the end of the 2011 sales year. Even if we use the more conservative number, we’re still talking about 14 times the units being sold a couple of years later. It’s difficult not to translate that to significant adoption of e-books and other digital written content, especially with EPUB-based platforms like the iPad strongly playing in the mix.
Of course, there are plenty of other signs that e-books and e-readers are becoming more popular, especially in libraries and the education sector. Let’s look at a few of those indicators.
1. Libraries: The folks at Library Journal released the results of their second annual Ebook Penetration & Use in U.S. Libraries Survey, and those results tell a story of e-books gaining ground in libraries around the country. According to their results, compared to last year there has been a 10 percent increase in the number of public libraries offering e-books, with a 184 percent increase in the average number of available e-books. Academic libraries saw small increases as well, though not as pronounced as the public realm.
Recent news stories seem to support Library Journal’s survey. Whether it’s high-profile entities like the U.S. Air Force or small local libraries like the one in Lexington, Nebraska, interest in and adoption of e-books at libraries is increasing. “We’re using mobile devices like tablets, netbooks, and smart phones more than ever,” Air Force Services Agency administrative librarian Melinda Mosley told the Air Force. “We’re interested in providing service to our customers anywhere, anytime, in addition to providing face-to-face services at our libraries.”
A similar story is told in the city of Lexington, where Kathleen Thomsen works as the director of the Lexington Public Library. “We have so many people coming in and inquiring about e-books,” she told the Lexington Clipper-Herald. “The new technology is really growing.”
Yet while interest in e-books is increasing, both Mosley and Thomsen paint a similar picture of one of the speed bumps along the way: there’s a learning curve to using e-readers and e-books. In each case the additional component of “how do I use this?” comes into play. The solution is on-site education in the form of “sandbox sessions” and “technology petting zoos,” allowing people from all walks of life to learn how to use emerging reading technologies to read the content they want.
Jim Hahn, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who performed a recent case study on technology and the library, agrees that despite the popularity of e-books and e-readers, educational and utilization-related barriers still slow the march of tech saturation in the library.
“Librarians have a sense that today’s rapidly changing technological landscape should be reflected in the services they provide,” he said in his case study. “But while enthusiasm and curiosity are in abundance in the library technical field, consensus on precisely where and how to merge library-specific expertise and emerging digital tools remains elusive.”
Continue on for three more indicators…
Wednesday - Apr 28, 2010
With the April 3 launch of Apple’s iPad, talk of e-education and digital textbooks has again been thrust into the spotlight. Education, technology, and business experts have all jumped into the fray to affirm or deny how digital tablets may or may not change the way people teach and learn.
Released today, the results of a study conducted by social learning platform Xplana offer some of the first bold predictions that digital textbooks will begin to play a major part of the market. “Over the next five years, digital textbook sales in the United States will surpass 18% of combined new textbook sales for the Higher Education and Career Education markets,” wrote Rob Reynolds, one of the study authors.
Reynolds went on to say that the increase in sales “will have a dramatic impact on the overall textbook publishing industry.” Reynolds said that reductions in new textbook printing and used textbook sales, and distinct changes in revenue models will all play an important role in how textbook manufacturers cope.
“When digital textbooks sales reach 20% of new textbook sales … publishers will have little choice but to change product, production and distribution strategies in favor of digital versus print,” he added.
Barnes and Noble, which has been selling digital textbooks for years through its stores and university book shops, says that sales have historically been slow, but increasing steadily. Jade Roth, vice president of books at Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, told CampusProgress.org, “We have sold digital textbooks since the early 2000s. But there has not been a great deal of sales.”
“[Digital sales] has been growing each term, but remains a small percentage of total sales,” added Roth.
But will textbook companies be quick to adapt as more people turn to digital textbooks? And will the existing entry-level barrier or digital reading devices make it a viable tool in K12 schools?
At least one textbook company plans to go a step further to adapt. Today McGraw-Hill made the announcement of a partnership with Intel, Inc. to launch the “LEAD21” literacy curriculum on Intel’s fourth-generation “Classmate” PC. The next generation of Classmate (shown in the video above) offers a touch screen that folds over to act like a tablet. McGraw-Hill’s LEAD21 curriculum is designed to work effectively in K12 classrooms to help students learn and work both in group and independent study.
The pairing of the two companies came about primarily due to how other tablet devices failed to catch on in classroom environments. “It’s an answer to some critics who talk about putting [content] on the Kindle or other products that aren’t purpose-built for the classroom,” said Paul Bergevin, Intel’s vice president of sales and marketing.
Monday - Apr 12, 2010
It’s easy to see how Internet-ready computers in schools can supplement research projects and process data. But it’s tough for some to buy into the idea that computers and mobile technologies will revolutionize schools everywhere.
Bob Pearlman, former teacher and director of strategic planning for the nonprofit New Technology Foundation, believes that in addition to installing technological tools in schools, the teaching methodology and planning must be altered to better integrate the technology.
“Unless you change how you teach and how kids work, new technology is not really going to make a difference,” he told the New York Times in August 2008.
The nonprofit created a project-based teaching model that incorporates technological tools to help prepare students for a more collaborative and self-directed future. The methodology has been adopted by 41 schools in nine U.S. states with more in the works.
This approach to teaching is increasingly important as new tools are being constantly developed. Most recently, the release of Apple’s iPad has raised the eyebrows of students and educators alike.
“As a student … I see a lot of potential for the iPad,” said high school student Eli Blumenthal on the Teen Tech Blog. “I actually believe that this could be a great device, and am really eager to pick one up for this reason alone — this could finally be the perfect school computer.”
Ashlee Ritzko, a fourth-grade teacher in Tennessee, believes that the iPad could have a place in her classroom as well. “I personally wouldn’t buy a $1,200 laptop for the classroom, but it sounds like the iPad would not only be useful and portable, but also more affordable,” she told The Journal.
“The device’s touch screen would be excellent, especially if I could hook the iPad up to my projector. It would make classroom presentations much easier,” she added.
Despite the optimism, there’s still a great deal of discussion about how the 1.5-pound (0.68 kg) tablet may or may not change the field of education. While the idea of hauling the lightweight tablet around schools and campuses in lieu of heavy textbooks sounds intriguing, it remains to be seen just how interactive such textbooks will be. Yet it appears that the major textbook manufacturers are willing to adopt e-textbooks for the iPad. It’s assumed that, depending on the success of the iPad and other tablet devices, the interactivity of e-textbooks may quickly improve.
Textbook companies aren’t the first to adopt the iPad. Developers of education software are already embracing the iPad, with company LanSchool making an application that extends the functionality of its existing classroom software to the tablet.
Some universities are also making an early jump into the iPad fray. Seton Hill University announced its intention to give an iPad to every full time student. “We see the iPad as a platform that allows our students the ability to call up information while they are sitting in a class — to create and share information not only with other students but with faculty,” university president JoAnne Boyle told the Huffington Post.
Will the iPad and similar tablets “change education this year and in the future” or will it be another fad? Will students (who typically have little money) be able to afford it? Will useful applications be made for the technology? While the iPad represents the next potential technological step in schools, these questions and more must likely be answered before educators fully integrate it into their classroom and methodology.
