Kevin Brookhouser

Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth. The obnoxious Back-to-School signs with their patronizing chalkboards and apples are up. I hated those signs when I was a kid, and I hate them now. Come to think of it, I can't stand most of the imagery associated with my profession. After 15 years teaching, I've never used a chalkboard, and I've never had a student bring me an apple, and that's a good thing.  When I was a kid, the silver lining to Back-to-School season was called a Lamborghini Trapper Keeper. For some kids and parents today, Back-to-school shopping means shopping for a gadget that can help them organize their school work. Everyone is talking about the iPad, but at $199, The Nexus 7 is a compelling device for those in schools like ours that are encouraging students to Bring-Your-Own-Device. It's great, but it's not perfect. Pros Speed   This thing flys. It goes from Sleep to Web in less than 8 seconds.  Size   The seven inch screen size is r...

In January, Apple announced their initiative to get into the textbook market and a partnership with both Pearson and McGraw Hill. From what I could tell, these eBooks are incredible. They feature the same content as the print textbooks with added video, interactive visuals, built in flashcards, and quizzes. All at $14.99. Well played, Apple. This is great news for iPad owners. But what about the (granted dwindling) numbers of people without iPads? Now, Amazon and Google, it's your turn. The textbook selection in the Kindle Store and Google Play is pathetic. If you created a platform for publishers and teachers to produce interactive textbooks books to be distributed through your stores, we would be much more likely to adopt these books because they would be device neutral. It's worth noting that Kindle books do not have to be read on a Kindle. I read mine on my iPad and my laptop, and I could also read them on my fancy new Linux powered netbook . Amazon will hav...