In a press conference earlier this week in New York City, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduced the new Kindle DX and announced details of a new Kindle education project the online giant has launched with the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.
Darden will be the world’s only business school to participate in the two-semester pilot program, in which students will use the Kindle DX to access academic materials. The DX is Amazon’s latest-generation wireless reading device, featuring a new, larger screen.
Darden plans to distribute the devices beginning next fall to two groups of students – one from the full-time MBA program and another from the MBA for Executives (EMBA) program – to test and assess them.
“We expect considerable interest from our students in terms of pilot program participation,” Darden’s Associate Dean for MBA Programs Robert Carraway said speaking in New York after the project was announced. “Having the case studies and textbooks required for classes on the Kindle DX will be a wonderful benefit to students.”
Indeed, the new Kindle DX will allow students to carry all of their books and case studies in a single lightweight device. A larger screen than earlier Kindle versions combined with cellular and wireless connectivity will give students the ability to take notes and highlight text, search across the school’s library and access a built-in dictionary.
“The sky is the limit in terms of the positive outcomes this project can produce,” Darden’s Dean Bob Bruner said in a statement. “It has the potential to have a great impact on technology, environmental sustainability, student and school savings, teaching and learning,” he continued.
The new education project is the first Amazon-sponsored project involving students and institutions of higher learning. Four other schools spread across a range of academic disciplines were also selected to participate: Princeton University, Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University and Oregon’s Reed College.
For more on the Amazon-Darden Kindle pilot project, click here.
