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Apple Posts Video of iBooks and iTunes U Media Event
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Science and math are all about visualization and imagination. Doing things like walking through thought experiments. It's been proven over and over again that previously conventional methods of presenting physics and math to a very poor job of teaching students so that they understand, really understand fundamental concepts. Just reading is not the best way or working through text problems. My nephew who is very bright has dyslexia and a conventional book packed dense with text is a real barrier for him. To have $15 or less for multimedia books that can be kept dynamically up to date is phenomenal.
Sure as always a small percentage will excel regardless of the methods, and already learn by conventional means, but in a world in which science and technology become increasingly relevant to to even high school graduates and also the political support of research by the general public is more and more of an issue, it becomes all the more critical to bring everyone along and get them at least a real understanding of basic concepts and methods of science. With the likely future state of the economy, we just can't afford the current rampant scientific illiteracy.
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And here was me imagining all those numbers and letters on paper...
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Who pays for the high school textbooks in the US??
Highschool students don't normally have to pay for their own textbooks in Canada so who is going to purchase these? .... the students or the school boards??
I can understand this model for University or College students. Currently, I can order electronic textbooks for my students and they cost them about 50% of the physical version. So, the textbook for the cognitive psychology course I teach is $60 versus $120 for the physical version. However, the student can't sell the used electronic version after completing the course so, in the end, it costs about the same.
I can't imagine that university textbooks will have a maximum price of $15.00. It will likely be higher. But, if it's less than 50% of the physical version, students could save some money!!!
Highschool students don't normally have to pay for their own textbooks in Canada so who is going to purchase these? .... the students or the school boards??
I can understand this model for University or College students. Currently, I can order electronic textbooks for my students and they cost them about 50% of the physical version. So, the textbook for the cognitive psychology course I teach is $60 versus $120 for the physical version. However, the student can't sell the used electronic version after completing the course so, in the end, it costs about the same.
I can't imagine that university textbooks will have a maximum price of $15.00. It will likely be higher. But, if it's less than 50% of the physical version, students could save some money!!!
What you're forgetting is that people/schools currently purchase the text books, which are very costly. In grad school, some of my books cost up to $250 each. From my understanding, much of the cost is in the printing and excess copies are printed because it is very costly to run a job on the presses. I've been told that oftentimes twice as many copies as are needed are printed.
The point I'm making is that digital books should be much cheaper as you eliminate the printing costs. My bet is that this likely brings the iPad solution to a similar price point as the current text books. In any event, I'm pretty confident that Apple will make this affordable to schools as I would bet they are focused on adoption/market share. If they can become the dominant player in digital textbooks, they have a lot of money they can make from book sales.
Sure, theft is a problem, but it's not like many kids aren't already running around with iPhones and other expensive electronics.
People still read books...?
Joy!
Much prefer reading over watching, especially online news and magazines (like MacRumors).
Yeah, or you could buy college textbooks for $200 a piece. I could easily see myself using this. Can't believe some of you who think this is a bad idea.
But there was a sadness in his voice, in all their voices really. The event lacked the optimistic tone that generally characterizes Apple events and what all this free technology could mean to education.
Sure as always a small percentage will excel regardless of the methods, and already learn by conventional means, but in a world in which science and technology become increasingly relevant to to even high school graduates and also the political support of research by the general public is more and more of an issue, it becomes all the more critical to bring everyone along and get them at least a real understanding of basic concepts and methods of science. With the likely future state of the economy, we just can't afford the current rampant scientific illiteracy.
Perhaps what he wants is a first generation Kindle. Something that does not reimagine what a text book could be in electronic form but simply replicates the existing paradigm and adds a battery and an on-off switch.
Correct, one time cost, lifespan 4 years or so. But your books are now $15 instead of $125 each. Professor "updates"
his required-reading textbook each year, you have to buy a new $15 version or a new $125 version (and no trade-in on your old paper text because it's out of date and no longer part of the syllabus--happens every year). So $4000 over 4 years, or $980 to about $1300 or so depending on iPad purchased. Easy decision.
Did you watch something different than the rest of us? They introduced authoring, publishing and distribution tools today; they did not announce any of their own books. In fact there is no original content outside of tutorials for Apple products available from Apple in iTunes or iBooks. So I do not know where you came to the conclusion that Apple has any particular point of view on history, science or religion they want to put in children's heads.
Watched video of event
I'll begin by saying I have an iPad2 and I think it's a great tool. Replacing expensive, outdated books is good for the environment. As it becomes more popular, it will place paper publishers on the path of Kodak. There is another landscape that wide-scale adoption will ravage: parks and outdoor areas where students read on benches, under trees and stretched out on lawns. iPads are virtually unusable outdoors. So we will nurture a society of students that never leave the building. Is that a worthy sacrifice for the sake of education? I would have been more impressed if an alternate e-Ink technology were built into iPads.
Having said that, I am really excited about the iBooks author app and iTunes U materials.
I'll begin by saying I have an iPad2 and I think it's a great tool. Replacing expensive, outdated books is good for the environment. As it becomes more popular, it will place paper publishers on the path of Kodak. There is another landscape that wide-scale adoption will ravage: parks and outdoor areas where students read on benches, under trees and stretched out on lawns. iPads are virtually unusable outdoors. So we will nurture a society of students that never leave the building. Is that a worthy sacrifice for the sake of education? I would have been more impressed if an alternate e-Ink technology were built into iPads.
Having said that, I am really excited about the iBooks author app and iTunes U materials.
I think it's better to say it's a bad idea for high school students. I can see a market for this type of thing in private prep schools, where cost issues would probably be a non-issue, but for public schools?
At least in the United States, I don't see a lot of parents being happy/willing that even a heavily discounted, education only iPad is a required purchase for their 14 year old. School districts would certainly not be enthusiastic about having to spend ever-dwindling public funds to issue every student an iPad either. And, admittedly I haven't been in high school in over a decade, but for subjects like math and English, those textbooks remain relevant educational tools for years as long as they're in decent condition. I mean, my calculus book was probably 30 years old and I still managed to learn calculus just fine.
By college, it's a non-issue. The students are older, more responsible and out-of-pocket expense is expected. I just don't see major publishers willing to jump on board and ditch a market that essentially prints money for them. Also, just given the generally left-of-center views on a lot of college campuses, I can see some professors opting to continue self-published required texts via the local print shop to keep the student revenue local instead of out to Cupertino.
Back in my day we WALKED to school. We didn't have no SCHOOOOOL BUS. NO SIR! We walked in the snow uphill, BOTH WAYS! We didn't need no new-fangled CAL-CU-LA-TERS. We counted on our fingers. Some kids didn't even have ten fingers because they lost some to frost bight in the snow. But, that was the way it was, and we liked it. BY GOLLY WE LOVED IT!
That sure is a lot of whining about something that doesn't cost you a red cent. Want flash tools? Go throw money at Adobe.
Some parts of their slick marketing videos make me excited while others have me fearing for our future. For this to really work, Apple must do two things with new iterations of the iPad:
1) ditch the glossy screen and bring back a good matte screen to prevent eye-strain.
2) come up with a better way to enter data/take notes. The screen keyboard is incredibly goofy for doing any sort of real typing work. What will we be doing, raising a whole generation of kids to continually look down while they are typing instead of at the screen in front of them. At the very least, someone needs to come up with a very cheap keyboard to tether to the iPad, but then once you do that, you loose the functionality of holding the pad to take notes.
In the end Steve wanted to be different and cool and thought the need for a stylus was not real and we would "lose them." Unfortunately he could not have been more wrong. Taking notes while holding an object like an iPad screams for a stylus rather than some huge invasive keyboard that has no tactile response.
1) ditch the glossy screen and bring back a good matte screen to prevent eye-strain.
2) come up with a better way to enter data/take notes. The screen keyboard is incredibly goofy for doing any sort of real typing work. What will we be doing, raising a whole generation of kids to continually look down while they are typing instead of at the screen in front of them. At the very least, someone needs to come up with a very cheap keyboard to tether to the iPad, but then once you do that, you loose the functionality of holding the pad to take notes.
In the end Steve wanted to be different and cool and thought the need for a stylus was not real and we would "lose them." Unfortunately he could not have been more wrong. Taking notes while holding an object like an iPad screams for a stylus rather than some huge invasive keyboard that has no tactile response.
Then they can continue to use outdated textbooks, make sure their kids learn false information, and then complain later on when they all have to learn Mandarin to get a job sweeping floors. It's time to face facts, we are behind, and it's our own fault for being so blind and lazy.
Which is why it makes great sense in college or grad school. You pay out the ass for books within those educational walls, but in grade school I never paid a dime. The schools did, through taxes, but those books were reusable for years and years and years and nobody ever kept a book. The issue at hand is how to get an iPad in every kid's hand.
I don't see schools issuing iPads to kids as loaners for the school year. I think we can all remember the ritual of putting book covers on our books the first week we received them from our teachers, to protect them. I can't see schools trusting kids with $400 loaners that are so easily breakable, lost or stolen.
Who knows, maybe Apple has a solution to all of this, but it's a large missing piece in their presentation that left me completely dumbfounded as to where these magical iPads come from.