Institutions put kindle to the test

University Business, June, 2009 by Michele Herrmann

COULD AN E-READER CUT DOWN ON PAPER USE, ENRICH ACADEMIC LEARNING, OR EVEN become the preferred choice over printed textbooks? The question has been asked before about certain devices. This fall, students and faculty at five institutions will participate in trials to test the Kindle DX, the latest version of Amazon's wireless reading device.

Their plans vary. Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) officials will evaluate how the device can impact [earning experiences of about 40 undergraduate students in chemistry and computer science courses. Talks with Amazon had sparked a chemistry professor's interest in the technology.

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At Princeton, a joint project between the IT department and library will investigate whether using an e-reader can reduce paper use. Readings for three courses will be Loaded on Kindles, with students and faculty receiving free devices. A gift from the High Meadows Foundation, which promotes environmental science, will support the program.

Plans at Arizona State University, Reed College (Ore.), and the University of Virginia's business school are stilt being ironed out. For Reed spokesman Kevin Myers, "the promise of the Kindle DX is quite remarkable and could change things really substantially about how colleges do business."

The Kindle DX certainly aims to be student-friendly. It has a built-in dictionary and note-taking capability, and it replaces weighty textbooks and other course materials. The device can also read PDF files and store up to 3,500 books, and it has a larger screen than the original Kindle.