Just had a really good article by Mercy Pilkington over at http://www.goodereader.com pop up on my radar discussing Inkling and all of the benefits that this start-up is going to bring students and the education industry as a whole. If you don’t already know, Inkling has combined with the powerhouse textbook publisher McGraw Hill to produce hundreds of interactive digital textbooks. The great thing about this combination is that students not only get cheaper educational material, they get to the choice to purchase only the chapters their instructors deem to be necessary. To broke college students desperately seeking free textbooks, this is the next best thing to HEAVEN. Spending money is bad, but WASTING MONEY is even worse! Even if you’re not a college student, you would probably agree with that statement.
I feel Mercy sums it up nicely at the end paragraph:
“The real winners in the digital textbook world, obviously, will be the students attempting to afford the rising costs of higher education. Through a content-specific device, students can carry all of their necessary texts with them and with Inkling, they can learn far more than paper ever allowed.”
The real interesting tidbit that can be picked up within this blog post is the note about how a McGraw Hill textbooks / Barnes and Noble merger would have ENORMOUS potential in the ever-evolving digital learning landscape. I really couldn’t agree more. Barnes and Noble has been looking for ways to reach their “fast-techno-adapter” target market for some time, so having the most popular and arguably the most successful textbook company behind the reigns could only lead to good things for both corporations, and for students and instructors at all learning levels as well!
Source Article: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/inkling-makes-e-textbooks-a-reality/