<p>Saw this on our local news yesterday and wanted to share. Seton Hill (small school near Pittsburgh PA) will be issuing I PADS to all incoming freshman students and they will be able to download all their required textbooks to it. This not only will save trees, but will save the student's backs. My D has a friend going here in the fall and she is very excited about this.</p>
<p>I hope that this will be the trend of the future.</p>
<p>I read that too… it does come with an additional fee ($500?) …no surprise there. Definitely good for the backs, though.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if the IPAD will let you “highlight” passages for future test/class review?</p>
<p>I have read where students will be able to rent textbooks. The savings will be huge and that $500 will quickly be recouped. Further, the ability to take notes, see embedded video, have access to the Internet as one reads, and many useful Apps, adds even further value. One can highlight text, add notes, search by note, etc. The iPad ushers in a new way of computing. I have been very impressed with the reviews. College will never be the same.</p>
<p>I know a few schools tried using the Kindle last year in place of textbooks. My understanding is that it lacked certain features so that most kids would prefer a hard copy over the Kindle. I Pad is more advanced so hopefully it works better.</p>
<p>Unless the iPad solved the touch screen issues, so far all of these devices have accessibility issues that have not been resolved. Colleges should not be using them as textbook replacements for everyone until everyone can access them. If they are making everyone have one alternatives still need to be available and provided to those who cannot use them.</p>
<p>Well, of course they are going to have alternatives available to students who cannot use iPads (blind students, etc.). But as long as alternatives are provided, I see no reason why students who can use an iPad (or Kindle or other electronic means) should be prohibited from using them.</p>
<p>Eh, I still don’t flip over the iPad/Kindle. I’d rather have the actual book, as for me, nothing will replace actually highlighting the book, flipping actual pages, not being glued to a screen, etc. Hopefully books are still used throughout my time at college! =D</p>
<p>I was not talking about being able to use them. Anyone can use any tool they wish. I was talking about the school handing them out to replace the textbooks. What are they doing for the students who can’t use them?</p>
<p>I read this article too. It’s a very cool concept and apparently a lot of other schools have been offering the same things (iPods, laptops, etc). </p>
<p>But the thing I dislike about the iPad is that it is back-lit. My poor eyes wither enough times already under the strain of reading normal paper. I don’t even want to imagine studying for all my classes on the iPad.</p>
<p>And if anyone ever comes out with a computer/laptop/tablet that is not back-lit, I’ll be first in line. I’ve always wanted to take something like the Kindle outside (under the sun with no glare) and type on “paper” surface.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed, in so far as people that can not use an electronic device have access to the physical or aural textbook. But denying such a device to all is akin to banning stairwells for everyone in deference to the mobility handicapped. Empathy doesn’t work like that, nor it should.</p>
<p>How can every textbook be on the iPad? One of my classes this quarter has a required text that was published in 1945. Who’s going to move that book to an electronic format? Or is that book just not going to be used ever again?</p>
<p>One of my textbooks last quarter sells for $200+ when new. Who would have the rights to make it available for download?</p>
<p>toblin, once again, no where in my post did I say they should be DENIED to anyone. Anyone who wants to can purchase one and use it for their textbooks. I object to using tuition money for devices that are not accessible to all of the students. In addition to stairwells, schools have to provide elevators.</p>
<p>I have a Barnes and Noble nook. It is not backlit. </p>
<p>Singersmom - tuition money gets used towards all sorts of things that may not be accessible to each and every student. Athletic equipment and fields strike me as the obvious example. Surely you don’t believe that tuition money shouldn’t be used to renovate, say, the track when students in wheelchairs can’t run.</p>
<p>Thiscouldbeheaven - why so black and white in your thinking? Yes, maybe the book published in 1945 doesn’t get digitized (yet). So they use an iPad for most books and they use a hard copy for that one. So?</p>
<p>It’s like people who say “well, I don’t want to convert all my existing library to a kindle.”. So don’t! I buy certain books on my nook for travel and other purposes, and I buy hard copies of other books for other reasons. The two can coexist. Buying an iPod doesn’t mean you can never listen to a radio again.</p>
<p>I never thought I would like the Kindle but I got one for Christmas and I am in love with it! Best gadget ever for a person who travels a lot like I do.
I still love browsing books at B&N or another bookstore, but now I simply enter the ones that catch my eye onto my kindle’s wish list and I am never without a great book.</p>
<p>I do wish highliting and making notes was easier but I am sure that capability will only improve with time.</p>
<p>Someone could just scan in the textbook into PDF format.</p>
<p>If you go onto MIT OCW, there are many courses with handwritten course notes that are just scanned in.</p>
<p>BCEagle, I don’t know the rules, but there may be copyright infringement. I can’t just go take a book, copy all the pages and distribute it without ensuring that the owner gets some kind of compensation.</p>
<p>In that time period, copyright lasts 28 years. If extended, it lasts a further 67 years.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, another bad example. There is nothing inherent in the track that prohibits a wheelchair. It is accessible to those with the right type - watch the Paralympics. At the current time there is no way to make the iPad and Kindle accessible. Someone with a disability cannot purchase a tool to allow them to use it. The programmers chose to ignore that, which is their prerogative. But then the school should not purchase them. They should just let the students who want to use them purchase them themselves.</p>