1.  How can I participate in SVC's Kindle Project?

Currently, participation is limited to learners taking classes offered by the Build The Sustainable Enterprise program.  A similar criterion will apply in the Spring, 2010 semester.  Since there is a limited number of Kindles available for our Kindle Project, there may be limits on course enrolments in BTSE courses in which Kindles will be used.

2.  Do I have to be a BTSE learner in order to receive a Kindle?

No.  Quite a few BTSE courses are useful cross-disciplinary electives or cover topics which may interest you, like globalism, sustainable enterprise, social entrepreneurship, and working in virtual environments.  If you enroll in a Build The Sustainable Enterprise course in which Kindles are being used, you will receive a Kindle to use during the course irrespective of your planned or existing major.

3.  Can I use my own Kindle in the Kindle Project?

Probably not.  In our current experiments, many of the Kindles are are linked together, so having an "independent" Kindle in the experiments could possibly disrupt our research scheme.  On the other hand, that circumstance could change if the college elects to introduce a phased or elective implementation of the Kindle, or similar e-reader device, in a broader range of courses in a later iteration of our Kindle Project.

4.  What about the pending iPhone research project?  Can I participate in that?

Our iPhone research is scheduled to begin in two BTSE courses in Spring, 2010: BE225 and BE248.  You are welcome to participate in that research.  We expect interest to be very strong for both of those courses.

5.  What is the difference between the Kindle 2.0 and the Kindle DX?

The Kindle 2.0 and DX share many of the same features, although our research focuses on the Kindle 2.0.  The Kindle DX has a significantly larger screen, which, it is argued, make it advantageous for reading newspapers, periodicals, and graphic-intense materials like textbooks.  We don't entirely disagree, but that is asking the wrong question.

6.  What is the right question?

Try this: "How useful is it to have a tool which makes it slightly easier (smaller, lighter, perhaps marginally cheaper) to replicate a suboptimal learning methodology?".  We think the current Kindle, and probably some other e-readers that should be in the market within the next 6 months, have capacities which, when utilised, can provide dramatically augmented qualitative and quantitative learning outcomes if they are used to enhance thinking, reflection, and understanding.

7.  How do I use a Kindle?

When you participate in a course using the Kindle, you will receive a thorough orientation on how to use the Kindle as a knowledge tool.  Some very cool things.

8.  Do learners get to keep their Kindles?

The Kindles in our research project belong to the college.  You keep your Kindle with you throughout the semester within which you are using it in a class, including weekends and mid-semester holidays.  Kindles are returned to Professor Crowell between the Fall and Spring semesters and for over the Summer.  If you are participating in our Kindle Project in both the Fall and Spring semesters, you will receive your same Kindle for the Spring with all of your notes and materials intact.