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“When I went to school, computers were put in a room called The Lab,” Bellow said. “‘What are they experimenting with in there, I thought.’ Technology wasn’t built into what we were doing. It was farmed off in a room, like it was special.

"If you're going to do something like this, you have to be as good as the book in a lot of respects," says Bezos. "But we also have to look for things that ordinary books can't do."

First, it must project an aura of bookishness;

E-book devices like the Kindle allow you to change the font size: aging baby boomers will appreciate that every book can instantly be a large-type edition. The handheld device can also hold several shelves' worth of books: 200 of them onboard, hundreds more on a memory card and a limitless amount in virtual library stacks maintained by Amazon. Also, the Kindle allows you to search within the book for a phrase or name.

Some teachers such as Tahoma physical educator instructors Jeana Haag and Tracy Krause are helping to define how new technology can affect classrooms. Jeana Haag and Krause, who use an iPad 2 for their P.E. classes, recently gave presentations at the Seattle's Best West Conference on the use of iPads in physical education. "Really, because of the mobile situation, it's perfect for us," Jeana Haag said. "Aside from the daily stuff, it's right there in our hands. We can have student scores at any time." At Glacier Park Elementary fifth grade science and social studies teacher Brandon Betlach was able to obtain iPads for the students in his classroom due to a grant proposal he promoted. He began teaching the students how to use them in late September and now uses them as a part of science experiments. Among the most noticeable changes technology has brought to the classroom has been in communication and organization. Rather than have to spend hours transcribing the grades of pencil-written homework assignments or test results onto a computer, netbooks and laptops, in addition to online assignments, enable teachers to spend more time teaching. Mercer said that it also allows teachers to direct their students from home if needed due to an emergency or illness as long as they have Internet access. In Jeana Haag's P.E. classes, the iPad, with its Internet access, can provide video instructions for various activities out on the track, or record a student's test to show their form or posture. The teacher can also immediately record their times and statistics on the spot, which aids in accuracy. "From the teacher's side, management and presentation are easier," Jeana Haag said. "We don't have to worry about getting grades in, getting things down from our clipboards. It's a big time saver for us."

Of those classrooms employing the boards and using the voting technology, there was an immediate increase of 17 percent in scores.

He also found that if a teacher had been given 20-30 months to hone his or her skills, there was an average 20 percentile gain.