Kindle in the Writing Classroom

The authors, two librarians and one English department faculty member, received a grant to purchase of a set of e-book readers, Amazon's Kindle 3.0, to be used as an integral part of the writing classroom experience for students. In a literature and composition class held in the spring of 2011, students were loaned Kindles to read all of their class texts. Students’ attitudes towards technology and their experience with the Kindle was assessed through three online surveys and a focus group to track any changes over time to discover what effect if any, using a Kindle had on their reading, writing, and class discussion experience. The instructor also contributed his thoughts on how using the Kindle in the classroom changed his pedagogical approach. A concurrent program to lend Kindles at the library is briefly described.