Kindle – The new way to educate our youth?
Last week I was at a conference and heard Marian Salzman speak. Marian’s a Futurist who studies trends in social media and technology and how it affects the world we live in.
One of the most provocative ideas she suggested was centered on the Kindle. She admitted when it was first released she thought it was a technology that would stick around for a few years and fizzle out. Now with the high adoption rate of the Kindle and introduction of the iPad, she believes it could revolutionize education.
Especially now that technology has become so portable and inexpensive to manufacture, the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is shrinking. Why will school districts continue to pay for expensive textbooks when they can assign a Kindle to a child and download all of his or her textbooks onto one small mini computer for so much less money?
Consider the buying power of a school district. It could negotiate incredible deals from Amazon, Apple or Barnes & Noble to get the electronic reader/iPad-type product. Plus, it would save the cost of ordering new textbooks when the older versions become outdated. All a school would have to do is download the most recent update for a far better price. Even low-income schools would be able to afford a better tool for children to learn.
My husband is a teacher and he will tell you that today, in order for children to desire learning, it has to be interactive. There are endless possibilities for interaction from the Kindle and other similar technologies for a child. It’s enough to get me writing our school district, even though my twin girls are not even 1 year old yet.
In these times of education budget cuts, it’s important to look for ways to save money and improve the quality of education. I think Marian Salzman might have the answer.