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= Nook C o l o r in the Classroom =



**Introduction:**

The Nook is a hand-held lightweight electronic device that has many intriguing factors. It is an amazing 7-inch full color LCD touchscreen e-reader. One great quality is that the Nook does not have edge-to-edge glass making it more durable and less likely to crack or shatter when dropped. It also has a built in Wi-Fi connection allowing you to connect wirelessly to the Internet in numerous locations. Based off of the Android, the Nook has the capability to download usable applications. The price of this device is approximately $249.

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**Definition:**

The nook is an e-reader created by Barnes and Noble for the purpose of having the capability to carry around numerous books, magazines, and applications, all in one hand-held device.

**History:**

Nook was first introduced on November 22, 2009, and was developed by Barnes and Noble. The features that were included with this first product were Wi-Fi, AT&T, 3G wireless connectivity, and a smaller color touchscreen, which is the primary input device. The next version, was released on June 21, 2010. This product only included Wi-Fi. This version was called the Nook Simple Touch Reader. The upgraded third edition is named the Nook Color which has a LCD screen and is based off the Android 2.1.

**Advantages:**

The nook color has many great features that could be of use to teachers of many different classrooms. In an elementary class you could use the nook for interactive story time or in art class a young student with free time could look up books about drawing animals. Special education classrooms might be able use some of the downloadable education applications to help students learn easier. Each 8x5 lightweight nook comes with built in Wi-Fi which allows you to take it almost anywhere and jump straight from the book you are reading to the internet and right back to the book again. It has a speedy processor, lots of memory, and can also have expandable storage through a built in microSD slot. There are so many options for you that there are over two million books, magazines, and newspapers you can instantly download to your nook, with many of the books being free or $9.99 or less. The nook also offers plenty of Apps that give many options to explore, learn, organize, and play. With all the accessories that are available for purchase such as covers, cases, charms, and essentials you can customize your nook any way you want. Another great feature specifically for the classroom is interactive story telling. Children are able to use the AliveTouch technology to control the story and jump into an interactive adventure just with the tap of their little fingers.

**Disadvatages:**

Even with so many positive features every device also comes with its disadvantages. While the nook color provides you with many materials and internet access it also has a limitation such as not being able to provide access to materials outside of the United States. Another disadvantage is that the nook’s battery life is only about 8 hours and that is with the Wi-Fi turned off.

**Future Direction:**

Using the Nook has the possibility to better education in the near future. There are many ways that the Nook can be used in the classroom that will help children learn and help teachers teach. The device can be used to get kids who are not into reading more excited about it. If there was, for example, one nook in the classroom for kids to use they could take turns having it once a day during a free reading period. The use of the nook as opposed to a regular book may be more intriguing to the kids who don’t get excited about reading. It could be a way to turn things around for elementary education and get literacy rates back up. Also, there are many applications that have come out for the Nook that could be of use to most teachers in their classrooms. Some examples are as follows:
 * __Introduction to Geometry__: This book is an introduction to geometry book that has many things in it that most elementary teachers will be teaching in their classrooms. It is a new innovative way to get kids more involved in their math skills.
 * __The Water Cycle__: This is a book available to teachers that helps explain the water cycle with illustrations to go along with every step. This handheld tool may help kids get more excited about learning.
 * __Drawing Pad:__ An application that allows you to create mobile art with actual size photo realistic materials.
 * __Shape Builder__: An application that allows children to play with shapes made into puzzles to piece together different pieces as a learning tool.

Teachers are starting to use the Nook color in classroom settings now more than ever. The reasoning behind this is the product is more durable because of edge-to-edge glass, multi – touch screen, more storage, and fast processor. Teachers are also able to download affordable and helpful applications to further students’ knowledge. A few examples of applications which can be used on a day to day basis in the class room are: First word ABC: fill in the blank, Days/Months, shape and sight words. They also have applications that will be beneficial to special education classrooms. A few examples are: Bubbles, TapToTalk, AAC Speech Buddy, and sign language dictionary.

**Conclusion:**

====In conclusion the Nook can be a very useful tool in the classroom. It can help children learn in many different ways, from reading to math. We believe that eventually it will be a more widely used tool for educators on all levels, from kindergarten to college. Although there are disadvantages to the Nook, they do not overrule the advantages to having one in the classroom. With time there will surely be additions to the already numerous applications and it will become a very important tool for all educators. ====

**References:**

Bosworth, L. (2010, December 21). Pros & Cons of Kindle, iPad, Nook and Kobo eReaders. In //Mobile Technology//. Retrieved September 16, 2011, from http://loribosworth.suite101.com/pros--cons-of-kindle-ipad-nook-and-kobo-ereaders-a323181

Klien, J. (2011, April 9). In //Nook Color in the special education classroom//. Retrieved September 16, 2011, from []

K12 Handhelds, Inc. (n.d.). In //K12 Handhelds Ebooks//. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from http://k12opened.com/ebooks/

Nook Color features. (n.d.). In //Barnes and Noble//. Retrieved September 16, 2011, from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookcolor/features/index.asp

 (2011, September 14). In Barnes & Noble Nook. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from [|Http://En.Wikipedia.org/Wiki/Barnes_&_Noble_Nook]

 (2011, September 10). In Nook Color. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from [|Http://En.Wikipedia.org/Wiki/Nook_Color]