According to this press release, “the first-ever e-book readers for the educational market” have now arrived. The "first ever" claim is a bit of a stretch given other devices released in the past two years, such as the Entourage Edge as one example.
Apparently for the U.S. market alone (for now at least), the jetBook K-12 features “speaking dictionaries” in English and Spanish—with promise of 38 more languages to come—as well as an electronic SAT-prep course, speed-reading courses, a text-translation system, calculators, preloaded reference books in a variety of academic subjects, an audiobook player, and more.
For the world market, the jetBook Color boasts a 9.8-in. color E Ink screen, all the features of the jetBook K-12 plus “extra components based on each region’s educational system.” This seems to refer to the release’s claim that the jetBook Color will be “implemented in schools across the U.S., China, and Eastern Europe,” although no specifics are provided about any actual adoption agreements or timelines.
The devices are the result of collaboration between Ectaco Inc., a New York-based producer of handheld electronic dictionaries and translators, along with the existing jetBook line of e-readers, and China’s Hanvon Technology Co., which specializes in pattern-recognition technologies and products and also manufactures the WISEreader e-reader.
It will be interesting to see what sort of reviews post after readers get hands-on experience with these devices.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Students Show a Tablet/Textbook Disconnect
A recent Pearson Foundation survey of college students and college-bound high school seniors contained good news for tablet-makers. Even though only about 7% of college students queried own a tablet, 60% of them envision owning one in the future (15% within the next year), and nearly 70% said they believe the devices will transform higher education.
The survey results were less rosy for e-textbook publishers. According to this Inside Higher Ed article, students’ belief that tablets such as the Apple iPad and Barnes & Noble Nook will revolutionize learning isn’t matched by any enthusiasm for digital textbooks. While almost 70% of those who said they wanted a tablet claimed they would read e-textbooks on it, only 39% of students who own a tablet actually use it to access such content.
That statistic, coupled with the mixed results from tablet pilot projects on various campuses, suggests that firsthand experience with the current crop of tablets may curb students’ enthusiasm for leaving print textbooks behind.
The survey results were less rosy for e-textbook publishers. According to this Inside Higher Ed article, students’ belief that tablets such as the Apple iPad and Barnes & Noble Nook will revolutionize learning isn’t matched by any enthusiasm for digital textbooks. While almost 70% of those who said they wanted a tablet claimed they would read e-textbooks on it, only 39% of students who own a tablet actually use it to access such content.
That statistic, coupled with the mixed results from tablet pilot projects on various campuses, suggests that firsthand experience with the current crop of tablets may curb students’ enthusiasm for leaving print textbooks behind.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
A Textbook Future: Cheap with Lifetime Updates?
As detailed on CrunchGear, a $49 biology e-textbook is the latest product unveiled by the new Nature Education division of Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Slated to go on sale Sept. 1, the college-level Principles of Biology is actually a web page rather than an app or “traditional” e-book, and features continual content updates with no additional charge to the original purchaser.
“Lifetime access is difficult to picture for many kinds of app-based books, because of how rapidly the underlying technologies and devices will evolve,” said Nature Publishing Group executive Vikram Savkar, “whereas a browser-based solution has a good likelihood, in our opinion, of being accessible decades from now.”
Having the content—which includes quizzes, assessments, and an online gradebook—stored in the cloud means access is available on any device the owner uses, from a tablet to a flip-phone, without any additional setup, as long as they employ the same username and password.
To maximize the usability of the gradebook component, Savkar added that Nature Education plans to integrate its text with most major course management platforms by the end of this year.
Principles of Biology has already been adopted for introductory biology courses at California State University’s Chico, Los Angeles, and Northridge campuses.
“Lifetime access is difficult to picture for many kinds of app-based books, because of how rapidly the underlying technologies and devices will evolve,” said Nature Publishing Group executive Vikram Savkar, “whereas a browser-based solution has a good likelihood, in our opinion, of being accessible decades from now.”
Having the content—which includes quizzes, assessments, and an online gradebook—stored in the cloud means access is available on any device the owner uses, from a tablet to a flip-phone, without any additional setup, as long as they employ the same username and password.
To maximize the usability of the gradebook component, Savkar added that Nature Education plans to integrate its text with most major course management platforms by the end of this year.
Principles of Biology has already been adopted for introductory biology courses at California State University’s Chico, Los Angeles, and Northridge campuses.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Square Turns iPad into Cash Register
It seems there’s a new report every day detailing what the Apple iPad can and will do for education and students. Now, the device appears to be ready to serve the college store as a new type of cash register.
According to reports, including this one from Information Week, the mobile payment startup firm Square has developed a free application that allows merchants to use an iPad to accept payments and receive sales analytics. The Square Register app works with Card Case, a consumer app available to both iPhone and Android users.
“Every single merchant that uses the Square Register has Google-style analytics for everything they do,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and cofounder of Twitter. “They can easily answer the question: ‘How many cappuccinos did I sell today?”
The potential fly in the ointment is that both merchant and consumer must have the right software installed to operate properly, according to IDC analyst Aaron McPherson, who also suggested Square should integrate its system with a PC-based point-of-sale system.
According to reports, including this one from Information Week, the mobile payment startup firm Square has developed a free application that allows merchants to use an iPad to accept payments and receive sales analytics. The Square Register app works with Card Case, a consumer app available to both iPhone and Android users.
“Every single merchant that uses the Square Register has Google-style analytics for everything they do,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and cofounder of Twitter. “They can easily answer the question: ‘How many cappuccinos did I sell today?”
The potential fly in the ointment is that both merchant and consumer must have the right software installed to operate properly, according to IDC analyst Aaron McPherson, who also suggested Square should integrate its system with a PC-based point-of-sale system.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Adapting to new business reality
I am at the SIIA Educational Technology conference this week. The opening keynote was great. Maybe more of the same messaging I have heard elsewhere (and am often sending myself), but I liked the presenter's approach to conveying the information.
The presenter was Genevieve Shore, worldwide CIO and Director for Digital Strategy for Pearson. Okay -- she is a CIO and leads digital strategy, like me, so admiting biases, that won points in my book up front. Anyway, her presentation was "how do we adapt to new business reality" and she offered five points of advice:
1- Be disruptive.
We must challenge our companies, customers, employees, etc. How do we change everything while holding on to our traditions? She commented, "This is the moment of our lives when we will see the most changes to [learning]. The next 5 years will be mind-blowing." going on to talk about the disruptive trends that would fuel this radical change to learning in the next five years: gaming, tablets, continuous assessment coupled with artificial intelligence, and location.
2- Be global.
As we transition to a more global community, we must do truly global thinking. She then provided interesting data points or perspectives on India, China, Africa and elsewhere.
3- Be social.
Through several examples and discussions of different technologies she boiled down to a couple questions: How can we be social? How can we make many-to-many work, yet at the same time, how do we make and keep it increasingly personal?
4- Be Valuable.
She commented that, "The world has changed. The most important word on the internet is no longer 'search' but 'share'." In discussing business models she noted that you "need multiple business models today to have a business," which suggests to me the need to think openly and broadly about what we do and how we do it -- and recognizing that we might have "multiple business models co-existing at once" and that there may not be any "one" business model for the future. Her point being that things will be more complex in the future, and that looking for the "one" model is probably a fruitless effort. If anything, the one model is a combination that provides several other models simultaneously.
Her other point in here, which I particularly appreciated was "sometimes you have to be wrong to eventually be right." I would have put this observation under "Be Disruptive," but the lesson to be open to failing and failing fast was well made. She noted that we are just starting to see the first ebooks for education -- and that it is a new product that is not really an ebook. Much as I have tried to talk about "digital course materials" as a more accurate term than "ebook." She also suggested that we find time to talk about metadata -- that it is critical to make it easy for students to search and share. She asked the group to think about working toward global, open metadata standards for the benefit of all.
5. Be Trustable.
Her last set of comments reminded me of comments Chris Tabor at Queen's University often makes about trust. She talked about how we must be careful in how we manage the ownership of data about customers, and the importance of trust in our relationships with students.
Overall, a great session. In the panel I chaired today I pulled out several other comments of interesting, but one particularly stuck with me in the context of the points Genevieve made. Matt McInnis from Inkling had a captivating image of a coming "renaissance of learning materials," that he sees as just beginning. I agree, and that is yet another concept I have been promoting for a while.
It is always reassuring to hear, once in a while, that other thought leaders think things are going in the same direction. The future is not yet determined -- but it is taking shape. I will bang my head on that wall one more time and suggest that stores that stores and the store channel have an opportunity to act, and waiting until 2015 to begin adapting to what will clearly be a new business reality for our channel is not a particularly good strategy for making it to 2016, 2020, or beyond.
The presenter was Genevieve Shore, worldwide CIO and Director for Digital Strategy for Pearson. Okay -- she is a CIO and leads digital strategy, like me, so admiting biases, that won points in my book up front. Anyway, her presentation was "how do we adapt to new business reality" and she offered five points of advice:
1- Be disruptive.
We must challenge our companies, customers, employees, etc. How do we change everything while holding on to our traditions? She commented, "This is the moment of our lives when we will see the most changes to [learning]. The next 5 years will be mind-blowing." going on to talk about the disruptive trends that would fuel this radical change to learning in the next five years: gaming, tablets, continuous assessment coupled with artificial intelligence, and location.
2- Be global.
As we transition to a more global community, we must do truly global thinking. She then provided interesting data points or perspectives on India, China, Africa and elsewhere.
3- Be social.
Through several examples and discussions of different technologies she boiled down to a couple questions: How can we be social? How can we make many-to-many work, yet at the same time, how do we make and keep it increasingly personal?
4- Be Valuable.
She commented that, "The world has changed. The most important word on the internet is no longer 'search' but 'share'." In discussing business models she noted that you "need multiple business models today to have a business," which suggests to me the need to think openly and broadly about what we do and how we do it -- and recognizing that we might have "multiple business models co-existing at once" and that there may not be any "one" business model for the future. Her point being that things will be more complex in the future, and that looking for the "one" model is probably a fruitless effort. If anything, the one model is a combination that provides several other models simultaneously.
Her other point in here, which I particularly appreciated was "sometimes you have to be wrong to eventually be right." I would have put this observation under "Be Disruptive," but the lesson to be open to failing and failing fast was well made. She noted that we are just starting to see the first ebooks for education -- and that it is a new product that is not really an ebook. Much as I have tried to talk about "digital course materials" as a more accurate term than "ebook." She also suggested that we find time to talk about metadata -- that it is critical to make it easy for students to search and share. She asked the group to think about working toward global, open metadata standards for the benefit of all.
5. Be Trustable.
Her last set of comments reminded me of comments Chris Tabor at Queen's University often makes about trust. She talked about how we must be careful in how we manage the ownership of data about customers, and the importance of trust in our relationships with students.
Overall, a great session. In the panel I chaired today I pulled out several other comments of interesting, but one particularly stuck with me in the context of the points Genevieve made. Matt McInnis from Inkling had a captivating image of a coming "renaissance of learning materials," that he sees as just beginning. I agree, and that is yet another concept I have been promoting for a while.
It is always reassuring to hear, once in a while, that other thought leaders think things are going in the same direction. The future is not yet determined -- but it is taking shape. I will bang my head on that wall one more time and suggest that stores that stores and the store channel have an opportunity to act, and waiting until 2015 to begin adapting to what will clearly be a new business reality for our channel is not a particularly good strategy for making it to 2016, 2020, or beyond.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
My Modern Tech
An interesting message went out to a range of different institutions this week. We have not found or received additional information on this new company yet. The concept is "Microbooks" by a company called My Modern Tech. From the description, the technology does not seem that different from other entrants in this space -- like CafeScribe, NookStudy, or VitalSource. What is interesting is some insight into where Amazon is headed next with textbooks.
We do not yet know how many campuses received this invitation, or the diversity of the campuses invited. We are interested in learning more if anyone has more information to share.
Do you like seeing your students in the history books? How about putting your campus there? We're inviting your campus to be one of the first. Partner with us and industry giant Amazon Inc. to be one of the first campuses in the country to start offering microbooks, the newest online tool in student learning. This is not only going to change your campus, but change education around the entire country. Partner with us and Amazon Inc.to put your college in the history books.
Microbooks are the same textbooks you currently use, only made available online for the ease of use of students to access them via their smart phones through android, iPhone, and iPad apps or even via a computer. The power comes in the convenience, but also the state of the art features such as the ability for teachers to make notes, highlight text, and have everything reflected to students books, as well as give quizzes, and even see the last time their students read their books. The main point behind this project is that since it's made available in an electronic format the cost of the books are up to 50% cheaper for students than the same physical textbooks. By utilizing these state of the art books you make the books more accessible to all your students including low income students. With the backing of Amazon Inc. we're getting ready to push this new program to colleges and universities across the country and we're exclusively inviting your campus to be one of the first to start using it.
Give your campus and your students the opportunity to make history and be one of the few exclusively invited campuses to change the world of education across the country.
Thank You and we look forward to your acceptance of our invitation and to discuss with us any questions that you may have."
We do not yet know how many campuses received this invitation, or the diversity of the campuses invited. We are interested in learning more if anyone has more information to share.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
More tablets on tap
More tablet devices are on the way, with familiar names behind them. With the languishing position of its e-reader device in the single-purpose device niche, SONY recently announced two new tablets, focusing on their strength: media. B&N is rumored to be making a big announcement this coming Tuesday at BEA. That announcement is expected to relate to a new Nook, that will likely be an Android-based tablet. Amazon is also rumored to be releasing a new tablet soon (date unknown).
Why more tablets? With all of the hype you would think that everyone in the world already owns an iPad. Nielsen reported this week that less than 5% of the US population own iPads. It is estimated that penetration is even lower in other countries. While Apple may own 80% of that market, it means that there is still room for other competitors to enter the space and gain market share.
There may be some question yet as to the ultimate niche and place of the tablet in history. We are still at the very early stages of a new technology. Expect more innovations, variations, and ultimately applications of this technology in the year ahead.
Why more tablets? With all of the hype you would think that everyone in the world already owns an iPad. Nielsen reported this week that less than 5% of the US population own iPads. It is estimated that penetration is even lower in other countries. While Apple may own 80% of that market, it means that there is still room for other competitors to enter the space and gain market share.
There may be some question yet as to the ultimate niche and place of the tablet in history. We are still at the very early stages of a new technology. Expect more innovations, variations, and ultimately applications of this technology in the year ahead.
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