E-reader pilot approved at ETSU

Well, it has been a long time since I posted to the blog and there have been some exciting events since I last posted! First, I am excited to announce that my collaborator, Lee Daniels, and myself received a sizeable grant to study the use of e-readers for textbooks at ETSU during the 2009-2010 academic year. The other major event that has happened since my last posting was the big announcement regarding the Amazon Kindle DX last week. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon, along with Pearson higher education will be targeting the university textbook market with a 6-site pilot test this fall using the Kindle DX and textbooks supplied by Pearson. I will address the implications of this move in a separate posting. With regard to our pilot project at ETSU for fall, we have to make some important decisions over the summer with the help of both our administration at ETSU and with our textbook publisher partner. Understandably, until the details with our partners are worked out, I will have to be guarded about what I disclose here on the blog but suffice it say that I am very excited about this opportunity and I look forward to e-reader technology penetrating the academic market.