| Successful Pilot for 3,000 Students Saves Over $60,000 with Plans to Include District-Wide Rollout |
“These technical writing students now take their assignments more seriously and have a lot more pride in their work, knowing that the entire school district may see it”
PowerByHand, the premier provider of mobile content and solutions, today announced that Olathe Unified School District has deployed eBook software and eBooks from eReader.com. The pilot deployment of eReader in the school district has reduced overall expenditures on printed books and other materials saving the district an estimated $20 per student in the first year alone. Olathe School District, located in suburban Johnson County, Kansas, is approximately 30 minutes southwest of Kansas City, MO. The district has more than 23,500 students and consists of four high schools, eight junior high schools and 30 elementary schools.
"We originally faced some skepticism from administrators, teachers and even students, but results have been overwhelming," said Rita Lyon, Director of Technology, Olathe Unified School District. "Now that we have seen such a positive impact of eReader across the district, as well as on our budget, everyone is very supportive of the initiative and excited about expanding it."
Olathe began implementing handheld technology in the fall of 2003, in conjunction with the opening of its newest high school. At that same time, they also decided to do an eBook launch as a pilot in its three other high schools. As part of the program, Olathe has provided Palm Powered(TM) handheld devices to more than 3,000 students and staff with access to 500 eBook titles through eReader.com's Classics Collection and many other titles purchased from eReader.com's catalog of over 13,000 titles. Olathe plans to expand handheld technology throughout the entire school district of 23,500 students.
Olathe has realized significant cost savings by not purchasing printed books, and by creating electronic copies of materials traditionally available only in print. The district used eBook Studio to create school calendars, student and teacher handbooks, faculty phone books and style manuals for writing classes. In years past, many of these materials were printed so far in advance that they were outdated before the school year even started. School administrators can now make additions to the documents up to the last minute.
The value of Olathe's investment in eBooks goes beyond hard costs. Less tangible benefits such as increased classroom creativity and a renewed teacher enthusiasm have also been realized. For example, teachers can now choose from a wider range of books for their literature classes. Instead of having to teach the same book from a chosen author each time, just because the book had already been purchased in the district, teachers can now choose from a number of an author's titles included in the Classics Collection. They also no longer worry about having enough books available when new students arrive.
eReader Pro and eBook Studio have also encouraged more student-teacher interaction, as teachers leverage these new tools in their daily curriculum. eReader Pro, with its built-in dictionary, enables students to easily search for words and terms in books, highlight text, bookmark chapters and take notes on their book. Students have used eBook Studio to complete technical writing projects, including a "Handheld Device Troubleshooting Guide" and guide to "101 Uses for Handhelds," both of which have been rolled out to the entire school district.
"These technical writing students now take their assignments more seriously and have a lot more pride in their work, knowing that the entire school district may see it," said Robin Dietz, instructional technology resource teacher, Olathe Unified School District.
The Classics Collection from eReader.com contains 500 titles specifically selected for reading assignments and requirements in middle schools and high schools. Teachers and students can read any title on any handheld or desktop computer.
The Classics Collection gives every school a core compilation of literature for students in grades 6-12 and Advanced Placement English and Literature. It includes the full, original text of such titles as "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain, "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau, "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane, all the works of Shakespeare, "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin and many more.
eBook Studio is an editing tool designed to let users create their own eBooks for eReader. With eBook Studio users can easily design the navigation of a document, format it and convert the finished document for reading on a handheld.
eReader Pro is an award winning application used to read eBooks on any Palm or Windows Mobile(TM) for Pocket PC handheld device, or Windows or Macintosh desktop or laptop. It includes the Webster's New World(TM) Vest Pocket Dictionary and the ability to utilize any standard bitmapped font. In addition, eReader Pro includes sub-pixel font smoothing technology on color handhelds to provide users with the best possible reading experience. You can also highlight sections of the text and have notes attached to those highlighted selections. Other features include bookmark pages, word lookup, auto scroll, background customization and additional fonts.
"It's very exciting to see Olathe Unified School District take advantage of PowerByHand's eBook technology and really make a difference in the lives of students and teachers," said Teddy Kavadas, vice president, education and enterprise, PowerByHand.
"Our goal is to become the premier education destination and content provider for handheld devices. With our expansive catalog of over 23,000 software applications at www.palmgear.com, over 10,000 software applications at www.pocketgear.com and over 13,000 eBook titles at www.ereader.com, PowerByHand is the leading provider of handheld software solutions for students, teachers and administrators," added Kavadas.
About Olathe Unified School District
Olathe School District, located in suburban Johnson County, Kansas, is approximately 30 minutes southwest of Kansas City, MO, and consists of four high schools, eight junior high schools and 30 elementary schools. The district has more than 23,500 students, with an average increase of 500-750 new students each year; and 3500 employees with 500 new employees added just this year. For more information, visit http://www.olathe.k12.ks.us/.
About eReader.com
eReader.com (formerly Palm Digital Media), a PowerByHand company, is the largest and most popular eBook store in the world. With successful partnerships with the leading trade and reference publishers such as Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Merriam Webster, Time Warner Book Group and more than 80 other prominent publishers, eReader.com offers more than 13,000 titles with hundreds of new releases each month. For more information, visit www.eReader.com.
About PowerByHand
PowerByHand is the leading provider of mobile content and solutions. Through our industry leading technology, we deliver over 60,000 digital media titles to millions of customers monthly worldwide through our content sites PalmGear.com, eReader.com, Smartphone.net, PocketGear.com and Mobile2Day.de, and provide mobile content solutions which support over 50 million mobile subscribers through partners such as Verizon Wireless, mmO2, Lycos, PalmSource and palmOne. For more information, visit www.powerbyhand.com.
All trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
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