Small computers better in schools than e-books?

The article describing the pilot project in North Branford to useAmazon Kindle e-book readers in place of textbooks provides aninteresting example of innovation in public education. I found itimpressive that the initiative there is coming from an imaginativeschool superintendent, since technology innovation rarely originatesat the top. I doubt Kindle is the right way to go, however. Themajor development in educational technology now is the super-portable laptop computer, rugged and powerful yet cheap enough forevery student to have -- $200 to $300 and likely to get cheaper.

To assign students a $500 single-purpose device when each one canhave an equally portable, do-everything machine seems unwise. Unlikethe Kindle, "netbooks" have advanced multimedia capabilities andcolor displays, deliver Internet content and run all the software astudent needs to master: word processing, spreadsheet, database andso forth.

We don't want students carrying around more than one book-sizecomputing device if one goal is to reduce their backpack load.Textbook publishers already provide Windows-compatible content alongwith many textbooks, so it's a short step to offering the whole bookin digital form. That sort of textbook can include audio and videodownloaded from the Internet, can be updated at any time and can bea channel to online resources and learning communities.

The Kindle is a neat choice for book-loving, frequent travelers,and a similar device may someday eclipse the paper book. But, thenetbook is here now, and does seem the better educationalinvestment.

James C. van Pelt

New Haven

Editor's note: James C. van Pelt is the senior technology adviserfor Area Cooperative Educational Services, serving south-centralConnecticut.