The Kindle DX: students don’t love it
By James • May 14th, 2010 • Category: eBook Readers
- Photo: Amazon
Amazon, and educators, were hoping the Kindle DX would do well in an academic environment. But this isn’t the case. A Kindle ‘experiment’ has shown that students don’t like the e-book reader when it comes to the classroom.
The Kindle ‘experiment’
The Darden Business School at the University of Virginia in the US is close to the end of its Kindle ‘experiment’, and it’s already concluding that students don’t like the Kindle at school. A handful of schools besides Darden took part in a trial run with the Kindle DX in classes to see if students would respond well. And, they didn’t.
Arizona State University also recently ran a programme looking into the Kindle DX, and they weren’t impressed either. Princeton, too, was underwhelmed, and one student, interviewed by the Daily Princetonian, described the e-book reader as a ‘poor excuse of an academic tool’.
But all’s not lost for the e-book reader
- Photo: Amazon
While the Kindle isn’t doing so well at school, with 75-80 per cent of students answering ‘no’ when asked in a survey whether they would recommend the Kindle to new MBA students, Amazon must have breathed a sigh of relief when 90-95 per cent of students who took part in the survey said ‘yes’, they would definitely recommend the device for personal reading.
But, despite students not expressing interest in using the Kindle in the classroom, educators at Darden aren’t completely giving up on the e-book reader. They just don’t think the Kindle DX is the right device for students. Hoping to have zero waste by 2020, the school is looking into digital options wherever possible, and did note that some – albeit not that many – students did use the Kindle exclusively for learning purposes.
It’s clear e-readers are very popular in non-academic environments, though. Nook, the iPad and Borders’ Kobo are offering customers a wide range of options, and despite its failure in the academic realm, the Kindle is still alive and kicking.
Tags for this article: Amazon Kindle, e-reader, ebook reader
