Laureen Kodani | ePortfolio
 
Background & Overview:

The Internet was made public in the 1990ʻs, however, Project Gutenberg began offering free electronic books in 1971 (“Internet timeline,” 2000; “Project Gutenberg,” 2012). The first electronic document by Project Gutenberg was the Declaration of Independence. Since then, digitized reading materials have become routine and perhaps expected (Mealer, Morgan & Williams, 2011). More than 2,000,000 titles are available from various electronic distributors and the number continues to grow ("Survey of Kindle," 2011). The 2011 Horizon Report described the practice of electronic books to be a meaningful impact in the area of higher education (Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine & Haywood, 2011). There are several eReader devices available such as Kindle, Sony Reader, Nook, and Kobo.

An essential point to keep in mind is the difference between eReaders and tablets. Although some eReaders have wireless features to access the Internet, they should not be considered the same device as tablets such as Appleʻs iPad. However, eReader applications can be easily installed on tablets.

Discussion:
What are the implications of implementing eReaders in a higher education learning environment? Are eReaders being utilized in learning contexts? Are there formative and summative opportunities with eReaders? Here are a few advantages and disadvantages to consider:

Advantages:
  • Accessibility
  • Cloud-based
  • Contextual search capabilities, annotation and citation tools, highlighting, and bookmarking.
  • Lightweight portability for mobile learning (BYOD)
  • Individual and social interactive features
  • e-ink for easy reading
  • Text to speech feature
  • Available on multiple platforms
Disadvantages:
  • Lack of page number identification
  • Eye fatigue for some eReaders
  • Not all models have touch screen capabilities
Other Considerations:
  • Device and Internet access required
  • Entry level behavior skills required
  • Digital Rights Management (DRM)
  • Intellectual Property & Copyright
  • Accessibility, American Disabilities Act (ADA)
  • RAM (memory)
  • Battery life (dependent on eReader device)
  • Overall cost (versus printed textbooks)
Summary:
A thorough context and learner analysis is necessary in order to determine whether this technology can be integrated to successfully meet learning objectives.

References:
Internet Timeline. (2000). Teacher Librarian, 27(5), 68.

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 horizon report: Higher education edition.
Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report.pdf.

Mealer, C. K., Morgan, P. J., & Williams, C. W. (2011). ereaders in higher education. (Master's thesis, University of Alabama). Retrieved from http://csm570spring11.pbworks.com/f/eReader.

Project Gutenberg. (2012, April 08). Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page.

Survey of Kindle, Nook, Ipad, Sony and overdrive ebook store collection size. (2012, January 12). Retrieved from http://www.ebookreaderguide.com/2011/03/13/kindle-nookcolor-ipad2-sony-overdrive-which-ebookstore-has-most-ebook-titles/


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