Textbooks by Kno Inc | The iPhone Mom

Kno Inc. is offering a special deal to readers of theiphonemom.com: Get your child’s first eTextbook for free (up to $10 value)! Coupon code: KNO4PARENTS â€" Limited Time Offer Until 9/30.  Read below for the review of Textbooks by Kno, Inc.

 

Way back when, in my high school days, my backpack was so heavy from all my textbooks that I ended up with a few physical therapy sessions!  It was always funny seeing little incoming first year students with backpacks that would bend them over so they appeared no taller than a 5^th grader!  Well, funny to upperclassmen but not so much to their parents.  My school did offer us the ability to buy a second set of textbooks to keep at home, but the cost was prohibitive to most.

Enter Textbooks by Kno Inc, an app available for the iPad. As a parent, I think this idea is brilliant, though, I will add, while I downloaded the app to get a feel of the features offered, I did not buy a textbook to demo for this review.  Kno Inc., in partnership with the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is offering textbook rentals for the entire school year for $9.99 â€" or as Kno Inc. puts it, “for the price of two happy meals or less!”

Instead of carrying home heavy textbooks each night, students in grades K-12 can have their textbooks available on their devices or computers (while I am focusing on the iPad app, books can be downloaded onto multiple platforms including iPad [1] , Android [2] , Windows 7 [3] devices, and the Web).  Back in our days, the best way to learn was with an actual book, but there are several reasons I think downloading a text book is a great idea:

1. The ability to carry the text everywhere you go.  Waiting at doctors’ offices, on vacations etc. there is no heavy book to carry around. Just a device you would probably have with you already.
2. No more running back to school for forgotten books!
3. We have heard of some private schools supplying students with iPads. Many students have access to home computers or other devices.  These devices are now prevalent in the lives of our children and their learning style is changing and adapting.  Textbooks on an iPad, phone or computer is the next step in this process.
4. Schools tend to frown at students highlighting books that they will need to return at the end of the year.  I remember my first year of college going crazy with the highlighter in the texts I actually owned and was able to keep (until I sold them back used at the end of the year and got $5 for a $50 text).  These rented textbooks provided by Kno, Inc provide an interactive experience.  Students are able to highlight text and take notes in the app.

 

But the interactivity goes even further according to Kno, Inc.: http://www.kno.com/features [4] .

“Ever wish your textbook could create flashcards automatically for you? Wish you could get the “A” students’ notes directly in your textbook? Wish you could search for answers in your book instantly? Or watch videos and bring external content directly into your book? Now you will wish no more. With over 70 features, Kno goes to work for you:

•  Social Sharing with students:

1. Share and consume content in Kno with your friends. This is the perfect tool to collaborate with anyone, anywhere, by accessing their highlights, sticky notes, and ultimately their drawings, journal and video content. Go ahead, create a study group and see how much time you can save, by using Social Sharing by Kno. (Available on iPad, Android and Win 7)
2. Educators share with students: Professors now can share with their students, colleagues or TAs. Social Sharing for Professors is a great way to share the most important and relevant information. It’s easy and simple and all done through Kno’s Social Sharing tool.

• Journal: Your instant, personal study guide: Ever wish there was an instant study guide for your textbook? Wish you could automatically create a study guide from the reading you’ve been doing throughout the term? Welcome to Journal. It’s all your content, in one place. (Available on iPad).

1. All your hardwork in one place: Instant, automatic and effortless. Journal brings all your work throughout a term into one linked document for you to review.
2. Fast review, before your exams: You’ve already highlighted, created sticky notes, and read all the chapters you were told to. Now go back and review all your hard work before the big exam. It’s easy.

• Advanced Search: Get the answer, faster: Your textbooks with a more powerful search engine. Search through your books, courses, terms, highlights or notes. Advanced search let’s you find what you are looking for, immediately. (Available on iPad and Win 7)

1. Search by course or term: Don’t you hate it when you know the exact term you are looking for, but can’t remember where you read it? With Advanced Search, Kno allows you to search across all your courses or terms immediately.
2. Search by content: Filter your searches to what’s the most important. By searching through your highlights or sticky notes, you can now quickly identify what you’ve already marked as being important. It’s awesome!

• Smart Links: Challenging topics, made easy: Smart Links delivers instructional video, images and photos directly into your book in the context that makes the most sense. It’s like having a teacher directly in your book for free. (Available on iPad, Android and Win 7)

1. Automatically created: At no extra cost, Kno automatically delivers hundreds of in-context links to videos, web links and interactive modules.
2. Instantly added: Think there is a link you have to remember? Instantly add it to your textbook using custom smart links and it will never leave your book again.

• Kno Cloud: Sync. Recover. Anytime. Anywhere. Never lose or leave your work behind. (Available for all platforms)
• Flashcards: Glossary terms are automatically turned into flashcards. Say bye-bye to 3×5 note cards. (Available on iPad and Web)
• Kno 3D: 3D in 2D. Pinch and zoom to get a whole new perspective on complicated molecules. (Available on iPad)
• Quiz Me: Automatically turn any diagram into a multiple choice quiz for easy self-quizzing before tests. (Available on iPad)
• Pen: Mark your textbook like you’ve never before. Don’t worry about taking notes in the margin again. (Available on iPad and Android)
• Dropbox: Connect directly into your own dropbox and bring everything to your finger tips. (Available on iPad and Android)”

 

Textbooks by Kno, Inc. really shines on the iPad.  As you can see from the Kno, Inc. provided list of features above, all the features are accessible on an iPad.  As I mentioned, I did not download a k-12 textbook to try.  However, the app does have a few sample books and instructional manuals that come preloaded onto the app.  I highly recommend reading “Kno Start Here”, “Gestures” and the other app related manuals.  The interface is user friendly and intuitive but an elementary school student will need help learning how to access the many available features.  To access note taking, flashcards, journal etc. give the screen a light tap and side bars will pop up momentarily.  Tapping and holding the text, as if to select words, will bring up the highlighting menu.

 

Kno, Inc. did provide a biology textbook with the app.  Looking through it briefly, I found the flashcards available with the provided textbook to be a fantastic idea!  It takes key terms found in the chapter and creates flashcards to study with on the screen.  There are also relevant links and videos provided.  The only concern that stands out to me is the availability of the “sharing” button which provides ease of access for sharing on Twitter, Facebook or Kno. Since this app is geared towards students in grades K-12 I would like to see a way to disable that button for the youngest students.

 

Overall, I feel that Textbooks by Kno, Inc is a fantastic idea to save little ones shoulders the burden of carrying home multiple textbooks each day.  While the app is free, the textbooks can be rented for $9.99, which, given the multitude of features and the interactive nature of the text on an iPad, seems like a reasonable price.  And for college students, Kno, Inc. also provides college textbooks!

 

Price: free for app, $9.99 per textbook.  Howveer if you use this promo code before 9/30/12 you can download your first textbook free, up to a $10 value:    KNO4PARENTS

See the app in iTunes [5]

Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Seller: Kno, Inc. [6]

 

Links

1. ^{^} iPad (www.businessinsider.com)
2. ^{^} Android (www.businessinsider.com)
3. ^{^} Windows 7 (www.businessinsider.com)
4. ^{^} http://www.kno.com/features (www.kno.com)
5. ^{^} See the app in iTunes (itunes.apple.com)
6. ^{^} Kno, Inc. (www.kno.com)

source: www.theiphonemom.com