iPad Textbooks: Apple Education Event, January 2012
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New York. 19th January. Apple prepare for one of their often over-hyped press events, although this time, they announce no new smartphone, or tablet. No ‘revolutionary’ computer, but a way to step into education, in a way no major tech firm has yet. Apple are opening themselves up to the world of textbook publishing, and daringly: creation.
As one of three major points, Apple today announced an update to their iBooks app, allowing publishers to sell media-rich textbooks with graphics and full interactivity. iBooks became an often overpriced place to buy fiction and non-fiction books when it was announced alongside the first iPad in January of 2010. Many complained that the bright screen of the iPad distracted from the text, and left users feeling tired. Apple then became keen to show off how books have all new possibilities on a tablet device, and have now done just that. Textbooks have been one of the prime ways to learn for decades, yet Apple grasp the idea that they are heavy to carry, can only hold so many notes, and quite frankly are boring. The new textbooks they demonstrate have ‘widgets’ such as image galleries, video’s, interactive photo’s and quizzes; using one almost feels like a game. Other features include quick one touch note taking and revision cards within textbooks.
An immediate concern is undoubtedly the price of replacing a textbook collection with iPads, yet Apple are keen to show how buying in bulk, and keeping textbooks fresh and up to date are within their ethos. It would cost an average of £400,000 (US$620,000), for a medium sized secondary school however, if they were to buy one device for every student; this is shockingly high and proves that full integration between technology and education may be a long way off. The worry that students who can afford to buy their own gadgets will succeed better than those who can’t, is understandable, and a worry for parents; this could ultimately lead to disputes between, and within establishments. Those running schools and universities have the right to be skeptical, yet it seems that they may be forced to move into these modern day mediums soon.
iBooks Author
For the publishers, big companies or independent writers alike, the opportunities which Apple have announced yesterday for creating these textbooks is new, innovative, and really could go somewhere. Mac users can download a free app to create textbooks themselves, and publish them to iTunes, for all to buy and subsequently download, of course after being previewed and tested on any connected iPad. Personally, I immediately downloaded the app once it became available to test it myself, see if Apple were just over-hyping the usability of the app, but they were not. After setting some time aside, even with no experience with graphic design, a writer could create a professional looking, interactive textbook to sell for however much they like; Apple get a 30% take of revenue. Whether this will catch on, whether we will see new authors arising to put together knowledge of subjects to create these books, we will have to patiently wait to see.
Finally, Apple announced an ‘iTunes U‘ app, which allows students to view the library of educational content on their devices for free.
Apple have stepped down a daring route which they may, or may not succeed in, as a project said to be close to the late Steve Jobs’ heart. They have clearly innovated, they have clearly invested much into education, and have a clearly defined viewpoint of the future, and it is a step forward. As I accounted in a previous article: Technology is a vital part in the future of education.
The level of thought that has gone into the education programme is extraordinary.
I remember thinking when the iPad first came out that it would be great to replace textbooks in education, turns out that was Apple's plan all along, although I still think there needs to be a 'library' system within iBooks, where you can subscribe and rent 2 free books at a time for say, 30 days
On the point of cost for schools, 2 points:
1) I remember that quite a while ago my secondary school funded a full-time college course at the cost of £5,000, which apparently is around the budget per student in secondary schools. If they bought them and loaned them to students on a yearly basis, they could probably get away with one iPad lasting 2 years (a decent insurance policy would be required!). Moreover, some head teacher pay can be up to £100,000 if they got into the business for the right reasons, surely they'd take a pay cut to make their school a leader in future teaching methods.
2) HE&FE institutions budget is huge in comparison to schools. I think it's only a matter of time until universities and colleges in the UK begin offering iPads for relevant courses – that is, provided required reading is available on it.
It seems like the natural transition… I mean, PDFs are easily readable on the Kindle, and alot of academic texts and textbooks are in PDF form now. So for Amazon it really seems like they already have themselves positioned in place for the earliest of adopters. Plus their handsets are far cheaper and would be far less distracting (in terms of the range of apps available) than an iPad – bulk ordering for an entire class would probably be less than two iPads…
That said, some of the iPad/ iPhone educational apps are exceptional, especially medicine and human biology.
Thanks for the comments,
Of course, Amazon have a cheaper alternative, with the Kindle, yet Apple know that just simply PDF's aren't simply enough to grasp the attention of students who need animations, graphics, quizzes and all-round interactivity to stimulate them, in a world where technology is everywhere.
The days of reading plain pages, or inanimate PDFs are over, and therefore, educators will realise, that investing this extra money will be worth it.
If I am correct, over 1.5 million iPad's are in education now, according to Apple, and we will need to wait to see if this grows rapidly with these new initiatives, yet I expect it will.
Rory,
I love the idea of renting textbooks, and feel that it could work really well if schools could rent devices themselves. This is more needed in secondary schools, notably state schools, where budgets are lower, and it is not as easy to raise these funds, especially with a seemingly sceptical government.
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