Apple's Textbook Initiative to Feature Strong K-12 Focus, Aid Publishers Large and Small

[JAT]

The biggest problem for me is this: I have always studied books using the physical pages. The way my brain operates using a book & physical paper as opposed to a screen is simply different. I am very capable and experienced working with computers, which isn't an issue; rather, the point I am getting across is that physical pages which do not have a screen have a different effect on people.

With the way the iPad is right now, one could say "Oh they can reproduce those interactions", but it just wouldn't be the same; some of the things I'll list below might be recreatable (ex. highlighting), while others really can't. The thing is, when you have a good thing, sometimes it was the best thing, and no new technology can take that away. Things would include being able to flip back and forth between two or three different pages with a bookmark very quickly, not having to scroll down a page without seeing the whole thing in front of you, being able to photocopy any content you want at any time, having the capability (if you buy the book) to highlight material, ability to flip to and from various pages physically and very quickly in their own way (it's a different approach using your brain flipping pages than it is using a computer or tablet to flip through pages & indexes).

First paragraph: interesting point. Second paragraph: I don't think you've used an iPad. The bookmarking and flipping between pages in iBooks is actually quite good, and I'm sure others could create even better apps, Apple isn't often good at productivity details like that. Also, ebooks would be designed to fit one page = one screen, no scrolling.

As a tech

Lost me right there, no wonder you are against Apple's (rumored) ideas.

3) In my country (France), kids with an iPad would generate tragedies. I predict kids assaulted on the street, beaten, attacked, wounded by guys hanging around in the street. I can see thugs waiting for the innocent children on the way to the bus stop to rob and traumatize them. Every week, you can hear about kids being victims of racket. Cell phones, Nikes, leather jackets. I don't think equipping kids with an EUR 500 tablet can be a reasonable idea.

Seriously, France, might be time to add some police or something. Even New York has seen a reduction in crime over the last 2 decades.

 

[LWX]

Certainly in the UK, Macs in school are barely even heard of in schools.

I think breaking into the Education market is a very smart move. From my experience (and I'd wager in the states), it's largely on PCs, rather than Macs that students/staff are using.

By providing the incentive to buy textbooks through Apple, from a networking point of view it encourages investing into the desktop/laptop line as well.

I really hope the textbook initiative takes off, I'd love to see more textbooks on iBooks. At the moment, I find there's a very limited selection and while I was at University I didn't find the information on the web for my degree at the time, great either. I hear what people are saying about what having an actual book is good for, but in many ways this makes books so much more accessible to those that need it. As a student with a disability, I hated lugging the bastards around and spent a lot of time photocopying stuff I would need. Not to mention being roped into buying books as well, which were used mainly for reference so were essential but in the end leave a hole in your wallet, lots of space taken up.

Now as a graduate - approaching my 2nd year after graduation, I've found that my degree suffered as a result. I thrived on online resources and succeeded through using those through high school - but the reliance on physical textbooks were counter-productive and in ways, affected my degree as a result.

Since I'm now in work, I find myself actually redefining my education and looking to redo the university level stuff all over again. But its difficult and the digital market isn't there yet in terms of the materials available and the quality of them too. The thought of interactive content in e-Books is great, hopefully this will propagate towards degree level textbooks too.

 

[Reach]

3) In my country (France), kids with an iPad would generate tragedies. I predict kids assaulted on the street, beaten, attacked, wounded by guys hanging around in the street. I can see thugs waiting for the innocent children on the way to the bus stop to rob and traumatize them. Every week, you can hear about kids being victims of racket. Cell phones, Nikes, leather jackets. I don't think equipping kids with an EUR 500 tablet can be a reasonable idea.

Really? This goes for France in general, or a particularly bad neighbourhood?

 

[Tinyluph]

They aren't. And let's stop expecting them to, in College or High School.

Education is for those who actually want it.

I'm sure we'd all like that to be the case, but let's be honest here. Zero tolerance policy schools aren't about to start letting students use iPads just because "education is for those who actually want it."

 

[JHankwitz]

But there are federal regulations, state regulations, school boards, and teacher's unions that ultimately make all these decisions.

I can see charter schools benefiting from this, but I don't think public schools can simply say "this is the book we're using".

Apple is not and will not be publishing books! Apple is providing publishers with options for creating and distributing the books they create. Those in charge of purchasing books for their school will now have a wider choice.

----------

Only book nerds care about this "rumor".

People that have read at least one book in their life do care about this romor. Anyone that has never read a book wouldn't care.

 

[Dizzy11523]

Reading is for nerds.

 

[GRuizMD]

Post of the year

there is so much free information on the internet there is no need to keep books around for years.

You are probably wrong. If you were right, then my job that includes being a contributing author for a surgical book would be a waste of time. All the dozens of hours spent on research, cross checking references and individual papers, the communication with field experts and all the writing and proofing that in my job transform into months of work (this is done on my free time from work) - for just one chapter in a book - would be a useless endeavor.

if your theory is right, perhaps, instead of writing a chapter, I could probably direct the practicing surgeons, fellows, residents and medical students to Wikipedia so they can find all the "free internet information" and learn from there.

 

[Abazigal]

I originally thought this would be very college oriented. As much as I would have loved to carry around an iPad when I was in high school instead of a bunch of textbooks I can't see how any of my teachers would have let that happen. How are they supposed to control whether I'm looking at my textbook or playing Angry Birds?

They can't, which is why the smart teacher makes the students want to study by training them to see the ipad as a tool for content creation, not consumption.

Yes, the first instinct with an ipad would be to go online, play games or watch videos, but it also can be used for so much more beneficial purposes, and it is up to the teacher to model to the students what else it can be used for.

It's all about setting the proper routines and class expectations.

 

[drewyboy]

You are probably wrong. If you were right, then my job that includes being a contributing author for a surgical book would be a waste of time. All the dozens of hours spent on research, cross checking references and individual papers, the communication with field experts and all the writing and proofing that in my job transform into months of work (this is done on my free time from work) - for just one chapter in a book - would be a useless endeavor.

if your theory is right, perhaps, instead of writing a chapter, I could probably direct the practicing surgeons, fellows, residents and medical students to Wikipedia so they can find all the "free internet information" and learn from there.

Well at least in my industry (electrical computer engineering) my books were outdated by the time I graduated. Obviously basic electrical theory wasn't but any higher division class was. I hope this is one aspect that this digital push by apple solves. Books being updated for a minimal fee yearly or bi-yearly so that way my books are actually relevant after a few years. Small revisions and updates and the oh holy "chapter shuffle to justify price" wouldn't need a whole frick'n reprint. Just a small delta update But of course I'm dreaming because publishers will cling to their old ways till they die...

 

[jlc1978]

That's just a complicated way of claiming Democracy doesn't work.

No, it's not. While people were claiming this would somehow yield better, more rational textbooks, I pointed out that this is a two edged sword.

What you describe is exactly what *should* happen in a vibrant democracy.

True. We're free to elect whatever idiots we want; and the best organized idiots win.

----------

Oh, of course that will happen. But at least the members of that school board were elected by the residents of the district, and also subject to recall elections if things got too out of hand. However, one local idiot won't affect the education of tens of millions of students across the country, in districts and communities who never voted for him, such as is the case now.

Though school board elections are often in off years with low turnouts, so a few well organized zealots can take control and wind up wasting money on their pet causes. Of course, we get the government we deserve and if people can't be bothered to vote then that's their tough luck.

 

[jacg]

If there are tools for educators, I wonder how the eBooks will be distributed? Will there be some sort of sharing option to iPads on the same local network? Will there be a two way connection between eBooks on iPads and a 'hub' (on a Mac say) for assessment/feedback/collaboration?

 

[GRuizMD]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

You are probably wrong. If you were right, then my job that includes being a contributing author for a surgical book would be a waste of time. All the dozens of hours spent on research, cross checking references and individual papers, the communication with field experts and all the writing and proofing that in my job transform into months of work (this is done on my free time from work) - for just one chapter in a book - would be a useless endeavor.

if your theory is right, perhaps, instead of writing a chapter, I could probably direct the practicing surgeons, fellows, residents and medical students to Wikipedia so they can find all the "free internet information" and learn from there.

Well at least in my industry (electrical computer engineering) my books were outdated by the time I graduated. Obviously basic electrical theory wasn't but any higher division class was. I hope this is one aspect that this digital push by apple solves. Books being updated for a minimal fee yearly or bi-yearly so that way my books are actually relevant after a few years. Small revisions and updates and the oh holy "chapter shuffle to justify price" wouldn't need a whole frick'n reprint. Just a small delta update But of course I'm dreaming because publishers will cling to their old ways till they die...

I agree.

 

[MattInOz]

You guys are missing one aspect of what goes on in the K-12 side of the textbook industry. Only a few states, mainly California and Texas, have large enough markets for publishers to specifically target books towards. They get whatever they want out of their curriculum, and other states are often forced to adapt their curriculums so they are able to make use of the books designed for the large states. Eliminating the need to print millions of copies of a textbook in order to turn a profit will give the other 48 states the freedom to determine their own curriculum. States like Colorado won't have to accept science texts that omit evolution just because some evangelical committee member in Texas was able to throw his weight around and get it eliminated from the curriculum in his state. This is where the revolution is. Finally providing every state, and even individual school districts, the ability to determine what to teach kids in THEIR schools, instead of having non-elected officials in another state ram it down their throats.

I think you need to go one step further.
Why wouldn't Apple open the channel sell direct to the parents?
Sure the political process still sells the core text to the school and sure it might be a physical book.

With a channel direct to the parents Apple and Publishers can still do end run around school boards that Mr Jobs thought corrupt, but not have to give product away. Sure they'd have to sell supplementary material but that could still be a massive secondary market for the publishers to drive innovation that then provides back pressure on the system to change.

 

[PaulWog]

Second paragraph: I don't think you've used an iPad. The bookmarking and flipping between pages in iBooks is actually quite good, and I'm sure others could create even better apps, Apple isn't often good at productivity details like that. Also, ebooks would be designed to fit one page = one screen, no scrolling.

I don't own an iPad, however there are two iPad 2's in the household. They lie around the house all day every day, so I can pick one up whenever I like. I thoroughly know what the iPad is like

The point I'm getting across is even though the iPad 2 is capable of having some nice seamless features, it has no way of replacing physical paper. Flipping pages, and flicking a touchscreen, strike the brain in different ways. The question, I guess, will be this: in the short-term, and in the long-term (for a multitude of aspects), will a touchscreen be more beneficial to students in general over textbooks? The answer (my guess): in some instances, yes; though, in most instances, unless if the student has a particular learning diagnosis, then no.

If I study notes I've written down through my computer, my memory deals with those notes differently than if I print them out on paper. When I study notes from a computer screen or iPad screen, it's different than being able to rapidly flip back and forth using pieces of paper. Furthermore, if I were to study half my notes on a screen, and half through paper (which has incidentally happened a couple times), things get wonky.

Ultimately, my opinion is that (for grade-school individuals) the iPad shouldn't be in schools replacing textbooks, unless if a child has opted in to do so.

 

[tlbwriter]

In the biography jobs talks about hiring their own textbook writers and offering free textbooks with every iPad purchase. This would allow them to bypass state certification of textbooks, and allow school boards to just buy iPads.

But if they are working with publishers as seems to be the case, this could not happen. It's an interesting question.

I don't really see any reason why Apple would want to get into the textbook business. There are plenty of organizations already creating the content, and many are already producing it in electronic format, or are very eager to do so. Apple should work with them instead of attempting to supplant them.

I would love - being a teacher - to make my own digital interactive textbooks!

Wouldn't creating the content take too much time? Or are you talking about taking the content someone else has already created and putting it in a digital format? If so, how would you address the copyright implications of this scheme?

if your theory is right, perhaps, instead of writing a chapter, I could probably direct the practicing surgeons, fellows, residents and medical students to Wikipedia so they can find all the "free internet information" and learn from there.

Nah. YouTube is the best way to learn surgical techniques.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

That's not a crime. Knowledge isn't free, and writing a good textbook is hard and should be rewarded.

We're talking about k-12, so the knowledge IS free. Maybe you consider the Pythagorean theorem cutting edge, but it's been around for a while, so you shouldn't have to pay to see it in a textbook.

95% of what I see in textbooks today can be found on Wikipedia alone.

This is a no brainier for k-12. How this applies to undergraduate and graduate courses will undoubtedly have to be judged on a case by case basis.

 

[slrandall]

We're talking about k-12, so the knowledge IS free. Maybe you consider the Pythagorean theorem cutting edge, but it's been around for a while, so you shouldn't have to pay to see it in a textbook.

95% of what I see in textbooks today can be found on Wikipedia alone.

This is a no brainier for k-12. How this applies to undergraduate and graduate courses will undoubtedly have to be judged on a case by case basis.

I don't know what you learned in high school, but for me it certainly wasn't just the Pythagorean theorem.

Many students today have learned multi-variable calculus by the time they graduate. While it's true that they can try to learn a lot of this stuff for free on Wikipedia or other great sources out there, sometimes a professionally given exposition is what's needed for real comprehension.

Just because the same information is out there doesn't mean that it's of the same difficulty to understand. For the same reason that some textbooks are way better than others, the best textbooks are still much better teachers than the internet.