Ellington

Most college students are used to the burden of lugging giant books around campus in weighed-down backpacks.

But next school year, approximately 150 UW students — 60 graduate students in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) along with 90 master’s of business administration (MBA) candidates in the Technology Management MBA program— will be spared those academic payloads through participation in the Kindle pilot program, where each student will receive an electronic reading device that is able to store entire textbooks as a digital file.

“There is a huge benefit to not having to carry 30 pounds of textbooks,” said Edward Lazowska, chair of the CSE department. “Our graduate students are literally printing over 1,000 pages of required reading from the Web and probably re-printing duplicate copies many of those pages.”

The UW is one of seven other universities nationwide to help give Amazon.com important feedback about students’ experience with the electronic reading device.

“Amazon is interested in putting books into classes through the Kindle DX in a test involving a small number of academic programs,” Lazowska said. “[It’s] to see what kinds of changes they need to make to make this device better.”

UW professors participating in the program are curious to see if the device will impact the way students study and interact with course material.

“The Kindle DX has the capacity for input on the side of any information in Amazon’s kindle format,” said CSE professor Dan Grossman.

Grossman will utilize the device this fall when teaching graduate CSE classes.

“My understanding is the Kindle DX has the ability to write in margins and highlight passages,” Grossman said. “Students will also be able to search and upload the information. It combines the advantages of taking notes on paper with taking notes on a computer.”

Since the pilot program is designed for Amazon.com to attain feedback about the Kindle’s use in the academic setting, university professors aren’t shy to spot areas where the Kindle may not have reached its full potential.

“The Kindle doesn’t have the best keyboard, so we’ll see if note taking and collaboration take off,” Lazowska said.

Observers will be able to judge the performance of the device across academic disciplines and within individual disciplines with device-using sections compared to non-device using sections.

The UW CSE department traditionally provides computing equipment to its incoming graduate students. In 2007, incoming students received a desktop computer and in 2008, incoming students received a laptop computer. This year’s incoming class will receive the Kindle DX instead of a computer.

“I was worried there would be some complaints from this year’s grad students,” Lazowska said. “But our students handled it well; they were envious but not grumpy. It’s part of moving forward.”

The financial arrangement between the UW and Amazon.com is confidential, but university officials have arranged for students to keep the devices, valued at $489 at Amazon.com. Students will be encouraged to use the device for their own personal reading in addition to holding their course material.

University officials predict Kindle DX users will pay less for textbooks. Electronic books eliminate additional costs such as inventory and transportations costs associated with bookstore markups.

Lazowska said the process of converting books into electronic books is a time-consuming process. The Kindle DX pilot program will allow Amazon to focus on converting the reading material required for the seven participating schools while it receives feedback on its device.

“The big value is having the content when you need it,” Lazowska said. “It will only get better when more and more academic content becomes available.”

Reach reporter Michael Truong at news@dailyuw.com