The *New* Democratic Leadership Council recently published a white paper by Thomas Z. Freedman that details the rationale and the economics of deploying Kindle ereaders to schoolchildren across America. In a thoughtful approach to envisioning the cost, the method, and the timeframe for getting a Kindle into every backpack, Freedman says
We shouldn’t wait a decade or two to begin to achieve what is inevitable — an education system where each American schoolchild has an eTextbook, like Amazon’s Kindle, loaded with the most up-to-date and interactive teaching materials and texts available. The ‘Kindle in every backpack’ concept isn’t just an educational gimmick—it could improve education quality and save money.
If you are curious about this proposal, and want to read it (yes!) on your Kindle, you can follow this link to download the report from the DLC site. EduKindle proudly provides the Kindle-formatted report to the DLC and its readers.
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I know this is a blog about kindles, but if they were to do that I do hope they would do that with another e-ink device with more open formats and controls. Kindles aren’t the be all and end all of devices, after all.
Absolutely, Steph! I think that there are going to be a lot of other devices that will challenge the Kindle in this space. In fact the Kindle will be hampered by its consumer orientation and its commitment to DRM, and will, in my opinion, be forced to give them up if it hopes to make a real impact in schools.