Amazon account managers must have been rubbing their hands with glee upon hearing Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement of his state’s first-in-the nation initiative to replace traditional paper textbooks with free online digital textbooks. This is not some vision of the future, the scheme is scheduled to start in August of 2009. Science and Math textbooks will be replaced in the first phase with other subjects to follow.
An initial list of standards aligned digital textbooks covering subjects such as geometry, trigonometry, calculus, physics, algebra, chemistry, biology and earth science course will be released in August. A number of electronic books have already been submitted and are going through the review procedure. Academic publishers and content providers have been asked to submit further materials for review by the California Learning Resources Network. The last date for submission is June 15 to allow for review in time for the upcoming academic year.
Phase two of the initiative, presently in development, will make the new digital textbooks available to all grades. Interactive content will be included and a state wide web site showcasing books available will be the long term goal.
The program could potentially save Californian schools millions of dollars. It’s been suggested that a school district with around 10,000 high school students could recoup $2 million dollars by using free downloadable textbooks in just science and math classes. In 2008, the State of California spent $350 million on textbooks and other printed learning material. Upon the adoption of digital textbooks a large portion of this money will become available for use in other areas.
A furher advantage envisaged is that, because digital textbooks are more easily updated, it will be easier for students to learn about technological advances and current discoveries as they happen. Conventional paper textbooks tend to be updated, on average, every six years – which could mean that, at the back end of the cycle, students could be lacking six years of information.
It also seems likely that alternative, interactive learning methods could be introduced once the scheme is well established.
Now, it’s probably worth noting that at no point in his announcement did Governor Schwarzenegger make any mention of Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader – or any of its competitors for that matter. In fact he stated that it would be possible for schools to benefit even without computers or laptops as teachers could print out the material and that would still work out very much cheaper than a traditional text book. So why is the internet buzzing about this “good news” for Amazon?
Well, the most recent addition to the Amazon Kindle ebook reader family, the Kindle DX, launched on June 10 – justlarger version of Amazon’s recently released Kindle 2 having a 9.7” screen instead of a 6” one. Amazon have touted it as being ideally suited for reading newspapers, magazines and – you’ve guessed it – academic textbooks.
Amazon have already entered into agreements with at least three academic publishers and some higher education establishments have publicly announced that they make the Kindle available to their students. All things considered, Amazon are currently better placed to take advantage of a sudden introduction of new digital technology in the academic world than most of their competitors.
That’s not to say that they will have everything their own way of course. Sony have teamed up with Google to make Google’s vast library of public domain ebooks available to users of their PRS ebook reader, a clear indication that neither Google or Sony are willing to yield the potentially huge and lucrative ebook market to Amazon without a struggle. Other competitors also exist and it will be interesting to see how they respond to developments in the market in general and the academic sector in particular.
Meanwhile, it does seem as if Governor Schwarzenegger’s innovative plan for California’s educational future is likely to boost sales of Amazon’s reader, Kindle accessories and books from Amazon’s Kindle store. It seems likely that other states will consider similar schemes and the academic sector of the book market could hot up very quickly indeed. Of course, the academic textbook sector is only one market segment – but it does appear to be in the vanguard. It also offers Amazon and its competition an excellent opportunity to “get ‘em while they’re young” and foster brand recognition and loyalty which could influence buying decisions in later life.
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