Student use

[Melinda Miller]

Hi - I have a couple of very different questions both relating to student use. I am at the point where  I am about to add titles to the Kindles. How have people handled the prevention of kids ordering items?  Did you de-register the kindles when you placed them in students' hands after the books were downloaded?  Do you let your students take the Kindles home or do they use them only in school? Did you build up to out-of-school use and just ~kaboom ~ went ahead with it? Thanks for any information anyone can provide me.

 

[cathy troublefield]

I asked myself this question also. 

 I decided that I would "ease" into the circulation of my 10 Kindles by starting with my HS book club kids.  We discussed student use and my expectations, they signed a contract agreement along with their parents, and I meet with them weekly to discuss the chosen book (and answer questions about Kindle use as well as "check up" on them).  So far, so good. 

My hope is that I will learn the ins and outs so that if I get more Kindles I will know the pitfalls of circulation.

[Mary Alice Powers]

I've checked with Buffy Hamilton and several others---as far as library lending go, most are satisfied with "deregistering" the kindles before giving them to students.  Of course, whenever they are returned or when you want to add titles, you need to re-register them (however, the same email address for the device comes up).  Of course, if kids' parents have an Amazon account and the child knows their login & password, they can order kindle books---but they won't be stored on YOUR device.

 

If I'm wrong, someone out there will correct me.  My question is:  how do users organize their titles on Kindles? With so many free books and the possibilities out there for organizing systems via the Collections feature, what are some suggestions?

[Melinda Miller]

Thanks so much for that useful info. I really appreciate it. I will get back when I get my titles added and think about how best to organize them...that will be another step in this process.  :) Again, thanks.

[Kathleen Parker]

Hi Melinda,

We have been using Kindles for over a year.  We have never (knock on wood) had a student download a title they weren't supposed to.  We informed the students that if they would ever like to read a particular book on their Kindle, they were to first ask their teacher if the title could be downloaded onto their Kindle.  Once the student has teacher approval they come to the library to see me & we order it together.  We have found this has worked well because the students feel as though they have some ownership and input into the Kindle program.

To answer your second question - we only let our 8th grade students take the Kindles home.  It was a gradual process.  We started with just a few going home but this year we let all 8th graders take them home.

Best,

Kathy Parker

 

[Victoria Holcomb]

I am hoping to be able to get a grant to purchase some for my students, and so I called tech support for kindle with this security question. they recommended that I have it registered, but just not tell the student what the password is. This way, they would not be able to download any materials at all. I would be in control of what goes onto the kindle. I want this for my struggling readers. Could it really be that simple?