The Education Week article above focuses on Microsofts $300 million investment in the Nook Tablet. The original goal was wipe out competition such as Apple and Amazon, and so the two companies, Microsoft and Barnes and Noble, collaborated in this plan. Their hopes are to make textbooks available via the Nook, primarily for college students. However, this article states that there is a possibility that these companies will include K-12 textbooks as well. How cool is that?
As a future English teacher, I think this idea is brilliant. I am a Nook owner and download all of the novels for my courses on my Nook. It is such a convenience because I don't have to carry around a load of books. On this lightweight tablet, I have all the books I need for class. I also find it much easier and faster to read off of the Nook because the page lengths are much shorter. Now, imagine not having to carry around large textbooks?
I really believe that having the Nook tablet readily available to students is a great way to motivate students to read and ultimately carry their books to class. I remember when I was in high school I used to dread carrying my textbooks around, especially when I had to carry two or three at a time because I did not have time to stop at my locker. I believe the Nook is a tool that can be used in any classroom and will really encourage students to do their reading assignments.
However, there are some setbacks in using this device. First, it is very costly and for a school district that has a low budget, it might be extremely difficult to purchase Nooks for everyone. If there is not enough of them for each student, students cannot complete homework assignments. If this is the case, Nooks can only be used inside of the classroom. The second reason why this might be a challenge is because you make the student responsible for the damages and misplacement of the Nook. Because it would be considered school property, the student might have to pay for the damages or harm done to their assigned Nook. Do we really want to burden the students with this?
So again, I believe this is a great tool to have in the classroom. It can really enhance the willingness of the students to read. The Nook should be implemented in schools' curricula. However, I believe the safest way to go about this is to only use this device during school hours. What do you think?
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