Kno launches digital textbooks for K-12 pupils

Kno's Course Manager

(Credit: Kno)

Kno has announced a new partnership with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt that sees the company getting into the K-12 education space.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kno has launched a digital textbook rental system aimed at K-12 students, expanding its product range beyond its higher education roots.

From today, digital versions of HMH's K-12 textbooks can be rented through the Kno digital textbook app at a cost of $9.99 or less for one year.

The app is currently available in an iOS and Web version, while Kno plans to develop versions of the app for both Android tablets and Windows 7 before the start of the new term.

The K-12 books available through the app come with interactive features including automatic flash cards of key terms, a journal of student's notes, and links to relevant academic material including video.

Kno CEO Osman Rashid believes that parents will be willing to pay a small fee each year to save their children carting around bags full of heavy books and give them access to school texts when they're not in the classroom.

Rashid said:

"Even if the schools have not adopted digital textbooks, we wanted to give parents the option to have their kids' same textbooks available at home. With digital books priced at $9.99 or below, parents can now finally stop their kids from carrying their heavy backpacks to and from school for less than $60 for the school year by supplementing classroom materials with interactive textbooks that can be used at home and on the go."

The textbooks are not state-specific, and adhere to Common Core standards.