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EBook News

EBooks and Education in the News. The following are news articles that relate to the use of electronic books in schools or that could be applied to education:

E-Texts In The Classroom
E-text readers designed for use in higher education will reduce textbook pricing and address environmental concerns. EDUCAUSE http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/Article15842.phtml 4/15/08

Next Chapter For E-Books
That great new book is timed for release this summer, and you¹d love to have it on your syllabus for the fall semester. But like many a high-demand scholarly book, the one you have your eye on is being released only in hardcover.  Inside Higher Ed: http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/Article15841.phtml 4/15/08

Computers help professor 'author' 200,000 books
In a unique twist on publishing, a business school professor has developed computer algorithms that collect publicly available information on a given subject and turn it into books, printed on demand or delivered digitally, reports the New York Times. | Read More  (4/14) Automated ebooks on the subject of your choice.

Free text reader to help print-disabled students
Students with print or reading disabilities will have a new resource to help them access thousands of books, magazines, and other texts electronically: Bookshare, a nonprofit online community, and Don Johnston Incorporated, a supplemental instruction provider, recently announced a partnership that will give print-disabled students a free text reader to access electronic books from the Bookshare.org  library. | Read More  (4/4/08)

Audio books for children draw educators' interest
Educators and children's librarians are closely watching newly launched AudibleKids site, which offers more than 4,000 downloadable children's audio books, priced from $1.99. "It's particularly good for kids who are struggling to read, who aren't reading at grade level," said Elliott Battzedek of the Children's Literacy Initiative. "Our comprehension of spoken language comes well before reading." The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.) (4/1)

Read an Ebook Week is a yearly event, and this year (2008) it runs from March 2 to March 8.
In preparation for Read an Ebook Week, Epublishers Weekly has written a list of reasons why you should put down that paperback and focus on reading electronic media instead. http://epublishersweekly.blogspot.com/2008/02/30-benefits-of-ebooks.html 

Opinion: Reading, thinking skills critical in Internet age
While some educators might find technology intimidating, it may be the key to engaging many of today's students, writes Iris Salters, president of the Michigan Education Association. Children also need high-level reading and thinking skills to judge the accuracy of online information and put disparate bits of information into a coherent context. The Detroit News (2/22) (this is why we will need online librarians too)

Are enterprises ready for eReaders?
More than a decade after the first clunky electronic books appeared, a new push is under way to get readers to curl up with digital versions of their favorite best-sellers. But despite backing from heavyweights such as Sony Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and a handful of publishers, the idea has yet to catch fire with consumers... | Read More (2/21)

New tool for online collections
Archival collections, impossible to house centrally at many campuses, are about to get easier to use. Starting today, librarians and archivists can upload digital content into online collections with relative ease, allowing them to effectively curate items with open-source tools instead of relying on third-party consultants to build specialized web portals... | Read More (2/21)

Cell phones tackle reading, language barriers
New technologies that enable cell phones to translate speech on the fly and read documents for the visually impaired could have important implications for both educators and students. | Read More (2/12)

Report: Teens most comfortable with new communications media
Nearly three in ten teens have blogged -- especially those from single-parent or lower-income families -- while only 8% of adults have done so, according to a new Pew Internet & American Life Project report. "The nature of conversation and communication is changing in a world in which young people are becoming very comfortable with expressing themselves through video and audio and mixing it together," said Mary Madden, a Pew senior research specialist and one of the report's authors. "And that's difficult for adults to understand, how teens can navigate these spaces." Education Week (premium article access compliments of Edweek.org)/Associated Press (2/11)

Laptops help school lighten children's load
Sixth-graders at a Maryland parochial school will carry a lighter load this fall as their school replaces three hefty textbooks with laptops equipped with online versions. "Some of the students are carrying 45 pounds," said William Rehrig, the school's dean of students. "Even with wheels, the kids have to carry them up and down the stairs." The Sun (Baltimore) (free registration)

Video game designed to build vocabulary
"My Word Coach," a new Nintendo video game, claims it can boost vocabulary with just 20 to 30 minutes of daily use. The six training exercises feature more than 16,000 words and adjust to suit each player's age and skill-level. ABC News (1/28)

New version of digital storage software for libraries
A new, 12th version of a software program to create, manage, publish, share and preserve digital content that has been used by libraries at Cornell and the University of Virginia has been released. FEDORA -- which stands for Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture -- can be used by anyone aiming to preserve digital content, and is available for free download... | Read More (1/21/08)

Sears.com to offer $199 Linux PCs
Linspire, Inc., developers of community desktop Linux operating systems, and Mirus Innovations, a North American PC manufacturer, have announced the availability of a $199 Linux PC that will be sold through Sears.com... | Read More (1/21/08)

eSN TechWatch: Books for the Visually Impaired -- January 21, 2008
Bookshare.org, a global digital library for people with print disabilities, was in the spotlight at the Technology Innovators Conference in Washington, D.C., not long ago.... | Full Story (1/21/08) More companies making student affordable devices (which would include readers) is a good thing.

              Using laptops to enhance student engagement
Laptops not only prepare children to explore and learn in a connected world, they can keep students engaged in a way textbooks sometimes cannot, said one school official whose district issues free laptops to all students in grades four through 12. The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)/Newsday (1/9)

Next-gen OLPC laptop to support both Linux, Windows
Microsoft has teamed up with the One Laptop Per Child project to make Windows available on the low-cost machines, by offering a dual-boot function that supports both the Linux OS and Windows. The company also is working with OLPC to bring together the laptops with some of the Microsoft-run educational programs available in developing countries. Yahoo!/InfoWorld (1/9) Hopefully it will have an ebook reader built in.

Comics may help motivate, inspire struggling students
Educators are increasingly looking toward comic books to encourage children's literacy and English-language skills. "Teachers are looking for ways to engage their children, and they're finding some of that in comic books," said Michael Bitz, who founded the Columbia University Teachers College Comic Book Project, which in six years has expanded to 860 U.S. schools. "For kids who may be struggling and for kids who may be new to the English language, that visual sequence is a very powerful tool." The New York Times (subscription required) (12/26) Luckly today there are a number of comic books and graphic novels available online - see the eBook Libraries - Other Books Section

Study: Young adults heavy library users
Young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access a wealth of information over the internet from the comforts of their homes, according to a new study. Education-related tasks -- making decisions about schooling, paying for it and getting job training -- are the most common problems drawing people to libraries... | Read More

Digital textbooks expand for K-12 students
A shift toward digital textbooks for kindergarten through high school not only is updating the way students learn, it's changing the business model for Pearson, one of the world's largest publishers of school textbooks... | Read More (12/19/07)

Google working on internet encyclopedia
Google is working on a new, freely accessible internet encyclopedia that will consist of material submitted by people who want to be identified as content experts and possibly profit from their knowledge. The concept poses a potential challenge to the nonprofit Wikipedia, which has drawn upon the collective wisdom of unpaid, anonymous contributors to emerge as a widely used online reference tool. | Read More  (12/18/07)

Opening up free content on the web
The most ambitious "open content" venture is a self-described "Encyclopedia Galactica," being created by a geographically dispersed collection of techies and academics called the Digital Universe Project. Their goal is of Googilicious proportions: to "organize the sum total of human knowledge and make it available to everyone" in a free portal, edited by experts... | Read More (12/18/07)

Digital textbooks expand into K-12 classrooms
Teachers may be driving growth in digital texts as they experiment with tweaking material for different learning styles or to aid English-language learners. "Essentially what you're doing is you're able to reach all types of learners," said Jim Blackwell, whose central California district participated in a pilot program for a digital text in 2005. "Reaching them verbally and visually, you're letting them control the material and go at their own pace. They stay engaged at all times." USA TODAY (12/17)

Can Kindle eBook ignite interest in reading?
Just days after a report from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) warned of a continuing decline in reading among today's students, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced a new electronic book-reading device, the Kindle, that some experts are touting as the future of reading. But whether the device can help spark new interest in reading among a generation of students weaned on technology remains to be seen.| Read More 12/11/07

Microsoft and DAISY Help Enhance Reading Experience for People with Print Disabilities
A tool for Microsoft Word, to be released as a downloadable plug-in at no charge early next year, will enable the translation of millions of Open XML documents into DAISY XML, the lingua franca of the globally accepted standard for digital talking books. Read this release 12/6/07

Bestselling cell-phone novels a danger to Japanese literacy?
Five of Japan's bestselling books for 2007 are "mobile novels," books that are designed for users to download onto cell phones. The books are written using simple sentences that can be easily displayed on cell phones, which is a worry for some who say such compositions will stunt literacy in young readers. The Times (London) (12/5)

Column: Can technology boost reading rates?
Amazon.com's new wireless reading device, Kindle, may help improve young people's dismal reading rates, writes Daniel Henninger, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page deputy editor. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (11/29)

Another book-scanning project rivals Google's
Nearly a decade ago, computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University embarked on a project with an astonishingly lofty goal: Digitize the published works of humankind and make them freely available online. The architects of the Universal Digital Library initiative on Nov. 27 said they have surpassed their initial target, having scanned more than 1.5 million books, and are continuing to scan thousands more each day. | Full Story 11/29/07

New online tool aids literacy programs
Schools, libraries, and other organizations that aim to improve students' reading skills have a new online tool to help them evaluate how well their literacy programs work: the Verizon Literacy Program Self-Assessment Tool (VLP-SAT). Developed by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) with funding from the Verizon Foundation, VLP-SAT is available free of charge to all... | Full Story

Amazon debuts eBook reader
The online-retail giant Amazon begins selling Amazon Kindle, a new electronic book reader, with hopes to succeed where other hardware companies have failed. For $399, Kindle tips the scales at a total 10.3 ounces and uses an "electronic ink" technology to mimic paper, not a computer screen. There is no backlight. Currently, the screen is black-and-white. ... | Full Story Let's hope for the best with this new reader and Amazon as its backer.

 Reading turns new chapter in the digital age
Is reading at risk? Or is there a "new literacy" emerging that can't be measured by traditional testing tools and standards? That debate is sure to flare anew today among literacy experts, teachers, multimedia whiz kids, and good old-fashioned book lovers as the National Endowment for the Arts lays out a study that sounds the alarm about the dire state of reading in our culture, reports the... | Full Story

Report: U.S. youth reading less than previous generation
Young Americans spend an average of 10 minutes or less of their daily leisure time on reading, according to a new National Endowment for the Arts report, raising concerns about their academic performance, career prospects and civic engagement. Focusing on testable reading skills in classrooms does little to instill a love of books, according to Dana Gioia, the organization's chairman. The New York Times (11/19)

Google's book scanning faces competition
Already facing a legal challenge for alleged copyright infringement, Google Inc.'s crusade to build a massive digital library is encountering stiff competition from an alternative... | Full Story 11/15/07

World Digital Library's prototype unveiled
Reporters in Paris got a peak Wednesday at a prototype for the World Digital Library, an online initiative by the U.S. Library of Congress, the U.N. cultural body UNESCO, and international partner... | Full Story

School must prove students have access before using online texts
California science teacher Gerald French experimented with using online texts rather than traditional textbooks, but a county inspection team required his school to issue paper textbooks, as well, because some students may not have online access at home. "The question becomes: How do you ensure that students have access at home, and what do you do if they don't?" said Charmaine Lawson, a county education administrator. San Diego Union-Tribune (10/7)

Low-cost XO laptops to be sold in U.S.
The project that hopes to supply developing-world schoolchildren with $188 laptops will sell the rugged little computers to U.S. residents and Canadians for $400 each, with the profit going toward a machine for a poor country. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative expects that its "Give One, Get One" promotion will result in a pool of thousands of donated laptops that will stimulate... | Full Story They are supposed to have a form of book reader built in.

Recorded Books introduces downloadable teacher's guide in an effort to help combat declining test scores. | Read the full announcement 9/26/.7

Low-cost school computing set to take off
Get ready for the $40 school computer. One way or another, the idea of ubiquitous, low-cost computer access for schoolchildren, both in the United States and abroad, is fast... | Full eSchool News Story 9/18

Even in an electronic age, digital textbooks still rare
As California schools begin adopting the state's first digital text, some ask why textbook publishers aren't offering more electronic versions of their hefty tomes. Teacher preferences, technology access as well as state and local policies all play a role, educators and publishers say.  Education Week (9/18/07)

ClickN’ READ Phonics: helping special needs children learn to read | Read the full announcement

 Tips on turning children into book lovers, part 2
Teacher Donalyn Miller prides herself on turning her sixth-grade students into readers who read an average of 50 to 60 books a year. In the second part of a three-part series, she offers advice on motivating reluctant readers. Teacher Magazine (9/12)

E-books to return with Amazon Kindle?
In the heat of the dot-com boom, tech companies promised that the e-book would bring traditional print publishing into the digital age. Several devices did hit the market--notably... | Full Story

Free access to online educational tools and literacy curricula from ePals
SchoolMail & In2Books Read the full announcement

Envisioning the next chapter for electronic books
Two new offerings this fall are set to test whether consumers really want to replace a technology that has reliably served humankind for hundreds of years: the paper book. In October... | New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/technology/06amazon.html?ei=5088&en=6e2b4718c80c1875&ex=1346731200&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1189095354-fhUaQCCBvGU//KvnvPsDnQ) (9/6)

Tips on turning children into book lovers
Teacher Donalyn Miller prides herself on turning her students into readers who devour an average of 50 to 60 books a year. In the first-part of a three-part series, she offers her secrets. Teacher Magazine <http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/itgIedrGsXzXAzCiaWlOmpPN?format=standard> (9/5) OK, it is not about eBooks, but the same strategies could be used to get kids to read ebooks too.

New tool mines Wikipedia trustworthiness
Because anyone can edit Wikipedia, the Web encyclopedia's reliability varies wildly. Now a computer science professor hopes to give users a better baloney detector: software that flags... | Full Story <http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showclips.cfm?clipid=2591> (9/6) Sounds like a great eBook research/reference tool.

Internet Public Library gets facelift
Drexel University is working with the University of Michigan and Florida State University to transform the Internet Public Library (IPL) into a virtual teaching and learning... | Full Story <http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showclips.cfm?clipid=2586>

Knowledge is priceless but textbooks are not
Considering the average college student can pay $700 to $1,000 a year for textbooks from the campus bookstore, buying books online--cheaper alternative--is gaining... | Full Story <https://webaccess.unf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showclips.cfm?clipid=2585> - but what about textbooks as eBooks, they should be at least 20% less expensive (although it doesn't seem so from the publishers.

Study: Boys respond better to female reading aides
Boys struggling to read develop better feelings about themselves as readers when working with female teachers, according to a new Canadian study of 175 urban third- and fourth-grade boys published in the May 2007 issue of Sex Roles. "The strategic hiring of male teachers as a way to address boys' poor reading scores may be naïve," said University of Alberta professor Herb Katz. Reuters (8/23) , ScienceDaily (8/23)  - Issues for using text-to-speech engines.

Software emulates time spent reading with parents
Soliloquy is designed to be "an electronic lap" for struggling students who don't get one-on-one reading time with parents, creator Marilyn Jager Adams says. The program will read a story, listen and gently correct a child's reading or explain new words. The Christian Science Monitor (8/2)

Study: eBooks could spark interest in reading
Can the use of wireless handheld reading devices, or eBooks, in classrooms boost students’ interest in reading? According to a group of Ball State University researchers, the answer might be “yes.” A team of graduate students led by Richard Bellaver, associate director of Ball State’s Center for Information and Communications Sciences, is in the midst of a multi-year study designed to test the ... | eSchool News Story 8/2/07

One Laptop Per Child machines to begin mass production in October
Having conducted pilot programs in a number of countries, the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child announced that mass production of its XO laptop will begin in October. NewsFactor Network (7/23/07)

All-digital school passes first test
Nearly a month into a revolutionary experiment in 21st-century education, students and teachers at Arizona's Empire High School, part of the Vail School District, say they don't seem to miss toting textbooks around. When the school issued iBooks--laptop computers from Apple Inc.--to each of its 340 students at the start of classes July 22, it became one of the first public bricks-and-mortar schools in the United States to shun printed textbooks. So far, the risk appears to be paying off… Read More 7/25/07

Selecting literacy software
Good reading software can help students strengthen decoding, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills, but figuring out which software works stymies many educators. Comparing products' features with educators requirements and preferences probably isn't enough: The best software must engage students, said Marilyn J. Adams, a prominent reading researcher. Education Week (article free to SmartBrief subscribers) (7/11)

Seattle offers iPods for test prep
Seattle high-school students who failed reading or math on the 10th-grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) are being given the chance to earn an iPod Shuffle, the Seattle Times ... |http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/  (7/12/07)

University to digitize copies of rare books
Less than 5 percent of all the books published since Gutenberg invented the printing press in about 1450 are available for the public to buy, reports the Bangor Daily News. UM has become one of just four organizations in the U.S. to reach agreement with a company that will scan hard-to-get, hard-copy volumes into digital files, then offer them for sale through Amazon Books.| http://bangordailynews.com/ ... (7/11)

The ABCs of learning online
Like many 7- and 8-year-old girls online, Emily and Kayla Strickland are regulars to Barbie.com and the virtual world Webkinz, CNET reports. But much to their mom's delight, the sisters also have been... | CNET News http://news.com.com/ ... (7/11)

Teachers swap summer reading online
Web sites like PaperBackSwap, BookMooch, FrugalReader and Zunafish are saving teachers money as they swap books with other members for usually nothing more than the cost of postage. The sites allow members to list books they no longer want and use credits to request other members' listings. Teacher Magazine (7/10) Not eBooks but they are great ways to expand your personal library.

‘PennSound’ offers poetry for your iPod
Online audio archive developed by University of Pennsylvania professors , recordings of Ezra Pound or William Carlos Williams can take their places on students’ iPods  ... | Full eSchool News Story (7/5/07)

Califone® introduces first MP3 player designed specifically for students and educators
Audio technology, dual listening, and volume control built to ensure student safety  Read the eSchool Newsl announcement (6/28/07)

Students "read" biology through their iPod® with the new interactive online edition of Holt Biology |Holt, Rinehart and Winston released the new Interactive Online Edition of Holt Biology at the National Educational Computing Conference in Atlanta. Among the innovative resources included in this interactive online edition are downloadable audio readings which are a direct read of the student edition. Students can listen to their textbook in English or Spanish on their iPod® or other digital music player. Read the eSchool News announcement (6/25/07)

Librarians play vital role in an Internet age
Although libraries play different roles in schools and communities than they did a decade ago, librarians still play an important role in helping students learn, said hundreds attending a Washington, D.C., conference. "We need to teach kids how to evaluate information, and we need to help them navigate it," said school librarian Domi Long. USA TODAY (6/26)

Teachers launch internet safety picture book
Hillcrest Elementary (Bucks Conty, PA) teachers Jan Whittaker and Bea Chiccarine are scheduled to launch a children's picture book about internet safety titled “Wolfwillbuildforfood.com,” reports ... | http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-06152007-1363642.html  | http://wolfwillbuildforfood.com/ (6/15/07)

‘E-books' get a boost with new kids' offerings
Two leading children's publishers, Scholastic Inc. and Disney, soon will discover whether the laptop compares to the lap book in the hearts of young readers. Scholastic is officially launching BookFlix, an educational web site pairing short films based on popular picture books along with nonfiction e-books that allow early readers to follow the text online. |  Full eSchool News Story (6/12/07)

Big Ten joins Google’s book project
Twelve more major universities will digitize select collections in each of their libraries as part of Google Inc.'s book-scanning project, reports the Associated Press. Twelve major u... | Full Story (6/7/07)

Intel to develop $199 laptop to challenge nonprofit
Intel hopes to develop a range of low-cost portable computers, including a laptop that would sell for under $200. The One Laptop per Child Foundation, a nonprofit group, produces a $180 machine with chips from Intel rival AMD for distribution to schoolchildren in developing countries. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (6/5/07) Would also have an ebook reading program built in.

Microsoft to offer improved book-search tools
Microsoft has announced that it will offer an improved Live Book Search to search copyrighted books on the internet, Reuters reports. The move, which comes as the company battles Google for advertising... | Story from http://news.yahoo.com/ ... 6/1/07

TeachingBooks.net Unveils Reader's Theater Original Author Program
Reader's Theater is storytelling through narration, without the help of costumes or props. This interpretive reading activity allows students to take any piece of literature, analyze it and then adapt it into their own script. A valuable tool for any classroom, Reader's Theater combines reading, writing, speaking, and listening experiences in an engaging way... http://www.teachingbooks.net  (5/17/07)

Digital Publishing :: Out of Print
K-12 educators are moving away from bound textbooks and ramping up their demands for digital content, causing a ripple of anxiety among traditional publishers. John K. Waters