EDUCAZIONE DIGITALE

Le università americane stanno al passo con i tempi e hanno deciso di rendere digitali i libri di testo. Ufficialmente per risparmiare carta, ma credo anche per abbattere i costi, visto che un documento digitale è molto più veloce ed economico da riprodurre.
Una scelta sensata, visto che ormai c'è l'esigenza di avere a portata di mano tutto, 24/7,e possibilmente con il minimo sforzo.
Dopo la musica e i video mancavano all'appello solo i libri. Adesso si può consultare tutto su un unico apparecchio (I Phone)

ecco la notizia del NYT

Universities Turn to Kindle — Sometimes to Save Paper
By Sara Peters
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

In May, Amazon introduced the electronic book reader Kindle DX, touted as a new way to read textbooks, newspapers and other large documents. This fall, six colleges and universities will test the technology in a pilot, which includes making the textbooks for certain courses available online.

The Kindle DX (for “deluxe”) is searchable and portable, a plus for students accustomed to toting heavy backpacks. But there is another reason that some institutions jumped at the chance to try it out: the technology could substantially reduce their use of paper.

“Sustainability is the driving force behind Princeton using the Kindle,” said Lauren Robinson-Brown, the assistant vice president for communications at Princeton University, which is participating. She explained in a telephone interview that the Kindle pilot project was part of a Princeton initiative to use less printed paper.

Some other schools in the pilot voiced similar hopes. Behind an interest in expanding its use of technology, Robert Carraway, an associate dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, said that the Kindle could help the school achieve its goal of becoming “carbon neutral” by 2020.

Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve University’s chief information officer, said that saving paper was one advantage of the program. However, “freshman student success is really our interest in Kindle,” he added.

Besides Princeton, Darden and Case Western Reserve, other universities testing the Kindle this fall include Reed College, Pace University and Arizona State University. Each school will offer reading assignments from several classes on a free Kindle device to selected students and faculty.