Apple's January Media Event to Involve Digital Textbooks and Education?

[pjo]

We need a tool that:
images/syncs 30+ iPads at once (100 at once would be good)

www.bretford.com/apple have solutions that will allow you to connect 30 ipads to a mac via a single cable. it just won't solve the problem that you need to register/configure each of those 30 ipads individually.

having said that, since it's possible to have the devices available simultaneously over the same USB cable, then someone could write a 3rd party (non iTunes) tool to do what you need. Yes, Apple should be that someone.

I once stumbled across http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/integration/ that seemed to have APIs etc for wireless deployment of iPads but wasn't in an environment to try it so I didn't bother looking to see how much is possible with the tools Apple offers to enterprises.

 

[marksman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

This is stupid. Digital Textbooks are only good with E-ink displays, otherwise you're gonna cause eye strain.

Yeah because people don't read all day long on iPads and iPhones without eye strain

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

It isn't like reading off an iPad or a computer screen for an extended period of time is anything new. And these digital textbooks would arguably do a lot in the way of lightening the load for college students to worry about carrying/selling later. I think it's something that can really change things for the better, even without e-ink.

Carrying books isn't hard; you almost never carry more than one or two at a time. But unless Apple can drive prices down below $70 for even the most expensive books, it'll still be cheaper to buy the books and sell them back.

I don't know what college you went to where you only ever had to carry one or two books at a time.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

your first post:

"This is stupid. Digital Textbooks are only good with E-ink displays, otherwise you're gonna cause eye strain."

Nothing more to say on my end.

It seems that you are completely misinformed.
For starters, e-Ink displays can't play multimedia content. That technology is only good to emulate a page. Can't play videos or anything like it. And color e-Ink is no better.
If you just one a regular lame electronic page, just stick to a paper book.
eBooks are moving to their next stage, which is interactive content: animations, illustrations in full color, video clips, audio, etc. e-Ink is crap for this purpose.

Flickering is the main cause of eye strain. The iPad screen doesn't flickr because it's LED backlit. LEDs don't flicker like Fluorescent backlights, and regular household bulbs do.

I do 90% of my reading on an iPad, or MBP display, and don't experience any eye strain with either. And I do A LOT of reading.

If you experience eye-strain, you may need glasses or avoid reading for a long time in complete darkness (that doesn't affect me, but it may affect some people).

And I'm sure Apple is researching for even better display technologies, so it's all a matter of waiting a little, that is, if you want to wait. I don't.

 

[GoreVidal]

Oh we got another person using the old comment isn't valid deal. Cut the cliche and think up something on your own because asking someone you don't know isn't a doctor could lead to false accusations and highly acclaimed boulderdash assumptions. +1

It appears the mob is not amused.

 

[meatballs]

Whaa? Textbooks? Wake me up when something interesting happens ok zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

 

[APlotdevice]

This is stupid. Digital Textbooks are only good with E-ink displays, otherwise you're gonna cause eye strain.

I've never had any eye strain while reading off of my iPad. I think that was more of a problem with fluorescent-backlit LCDs. Where I do see an advantage with eInk is that it's easily readable in sunlight.

Anyway, even ignoring the multimedia possiblities, just the lack of color on current eInk devices is a pretty serious limitation when it comes to displaying digital textbooks.

 

[whatever]

If I am allowed to imagine,

NYC Board of Ed dictates the curriculum, buys the books, spends the money. So, the same board can hire one or two developers to come up with a good app, and maintain it. The kid is allowed to use the app to pick the books he/she will need for the semester (somewhat like the movie rental mode) at the end of the semester they will be retrieved automatically. Money can be used to pay for developers as well as licenses to publishers.

Multiply this by many more Boards of Ed, universities - you are talking big bucks being saved by publishers, schools and eventually students.

Many States are already using iPads in ther city council meetings. They are doing it to save money. They send out their agendas, work papers, amend them as many times as they need it without having to print and reprint.

Bill and Melinda Gates should give a helping hand to needy students.

You can imagine that all you want. But that's not how it works. Basically the content in text books (K-12) come from Texas (which is a huge problem, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html) and California.

Curriculums need to be standardized with all states working together.

Bill and Melinda Gates have already given a ton of money to finding a solution to the US education system. A good example is the Khan Academy.

There was a very good special on CNN's GPS about education, check it out:

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/05/gps-special-fixing-education/

 

[danahn17]

Just wait until they make some sort of e-ink device that's in color, touch screen and does animations. There is already a color e-ink device out, there's already a multitouch e-ink device out and there's a e-ink device that can play animations.

I have an iPad and love it but not too long ago I saw my first Kindle and I'll admit I was blown away by the e-ink on it. It wasn't enough for me to buy a Kindle but if someone made an e-ink device that can do color and animations, I'd seriously be tempted to purchase it for my reading.

That being said, I'm not 100% sure I'd buy an iPad or an e-ink alternative for textbooks. I've been able to find some PDFs of textbooks that I need online and put them on my iPad. At first, it was nice not having to carry around everything. But then I realized I liked writing and underlining my textbooks, photocopying things that I liked, and placing post-its where ever I felt like it. And while virtual solutions exist, I feel I'm much more efficient when I have a physical object. Maybe I'm just old school like that...

And while interactivity will be cool, I'm not sure it will be a "game changer" for the textbook industry. I've had a lot of medical textbooks with interactive CDs... but it wasn't too useful for me (maybe for others though?). I personally found looking up videos on youtube to be more helpful. But I digress...more than fancy interactive stuff... I just want my textbook to be clear, concise, and easy-to-understand (which hasn't really happened either ).

 

[whatever]

As a chemistry prof and tech enthusiast I am always on the look out for the next great thing and while this may be Apple's next great thing it will need something special to attract students.

There are already a number of electronic options out there, including regular ebooks, and none of them really offer anything compelling for someone who is happy with a paper book.

I just received a Kindle Touch for Christmas and have bought some Kindle books for it that were on sale, or I needed for my classes (I have been asked to give a presentation on how to study to the incoming first year students). In many cases, the books I looked at on the Kindle were more expensive than their paper counterparts. This is even more true on my iPad where the books were almost always more expensive.

This is a problem! While publishers say that there is more to a book than paper, it makes no sense that a digital edition would be more expensive than an electronic edition. From a student's perspective, this is a deal breaker because they have to buy the device and then pay more for the book, and if the system is not supporting all their classes they will still need to carry books.

An even bigger deal breaker is that students will not be able to re-sell the book once their classes are over. A typical New First Year Chemistry Textbook, and associated required "stuff," runs around $220 with a 35% bookstore markup. The required stuff, such as online codes and course notes are usually available separately but at such a premium there is little money saved by buying the text used or on Amazon (about $170) and the "stuff" on campus. However, students can sell that book back for around $50-100 if their timing is right. For courses without "stuff" the purchase of used and Amazon texts can amount to huge savings when you consider the ability to resell a book for $50-100.

This market does not exist in the digital world. Students "rent" books from the publisher at a small discount over the paper book, or can buy the book for an even smaller discount, and they currently get a poorly produced PDF (particularly with the CourseSmart group) that they cannot share and cannot view without logging in. This means the student's device must be on a network if they are to look at their book. This is a total crock. Inkling and kno are starting to develop a nice model where they take an existing textbook and make it more interactive. The problem is that the selection of texts is very limited on Inkling and the prices are not looking good. Kno charges $114 for students to RENT the book (Silberberg, 6th Ed) for six months. That barely covers two semesters and then it is GONE! They charge $146 for students to buy the book, while the hard copy from Amazon comes in at $172, Kindle eBook comes in at $130 although it does not actually work on the hardware kindle (only iPad and Computer). OR, you can buy new/used starting at $9 on Amazon.

For students who have limited amounts of cash, they are looking at cost for their required classes and not the technology cool factor.

As we know, if anyone can bring order to the chaos it will be Apple. Problem is that there are a lot of people who refuse to drink the Cool Aid and refuse to use anything Apple related. That is another potential problem.

My company actually did a big survey of students, librarians and professors at the University level and they all want eBooks.

As I've mentioned earlier, publishers DO NOT want to provide text books in the digital format. The major publishers are not doing it. Text books are a cash cow.

Every eBook I've bought from Apple has been cheaper than the hardcover book version at Amazon, which is a surprise to me. Several of these books actually had video enhancements that the print book does not include.

These were all new books that I purchased on the day that they were released.

Also the subscription model is quite popular in the digital realm (again I'm speaking from experience, because this what I sell).

Don't lose focus, Apple is not trying to solve everyone's problem, but trying to disrupt the norm, much like they did with music and mobile phones.

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What Apple is more likely to bring is ... marketplace disruption. The current eBook business model is predominantly one of playing chicken -- the hopes that no one else cuts their prices so that everyone can stay fat. What I'm personally hoping for is that Cornell, through the NYC Tech Campus, is going self-publish many of their own texts through Apple and in doing so, be the disruptive force that this market needs to move out of the dark ages and help make advanced education (particularly science-tech based) more affordable.
-hh

Don't get me going about the university presses. They are all "for profit" now and the bigger ones are becoming stricter and stricter (not allowing downloading titles on to mobile devices, even if there is a DRM (ADE)), because they're afraid of losing that revolving revenue.

Which is why it's interesting to see what Apple does here.

The K-12 text books are written so poorly. Find me a history book that states that there was a conspiracy behind the assinnation of Abraham Lincoln. They mostly mention John Wilkes Booth and nothing else... (Thanks Texas)

 

[APlotdevice]

It's a specific implementation of an LCD; "In Plane Switching" gives a wider view angle than cheaper TFT (Thin Film Transistor) displays.

Is this a quiz?

I hate to tell you this but TFT is a technology used on many many types of LCDs, including IPS. What you were probably thinking of is a TN (Twisted Nematic) Display.

 

[Zaqfalcon]

This could be great so long as students can cut and paste great chunks from the ebooks into their essays to call their own. Wish this had been available when I'd done my degree instead of tediously re-typing. Huh, kids today; don't know they're born.

 

[Jaredly]

Sorry to hear that you are a teacher.

I may be taken this out of context and if I am I'm sorry but how could you say that. Teacher's are what makes this world go around. It takes a very intelligent and patient person to be a teacher. Also there isn't a teacher in this world that hates their job (as long as politics stay out of it) more than half of americans do.

As for this announcement: This is the number one reason i purchased the iPad. I wanted to have all my textbooks on it for my college classes. unfortunately in my two years I've only had about 3 textbooks on there and I hope this announcement could increase that number by the beginning of the fall semester.

 

[the8thark]

This sounds about right. And Apple need to keep their stronghold in education. They've always been big in this sector. Something they should aggressively fight to keep. And let the competition know digital education = Apple.

 

[iSayuSay]

That, reading in the dark, reading small text. . . all of those have been proven to not really cause any harm to the eyes.

Tell me then. Why many educated persons with a lot of reading activities tend to wear glass? While ... Let's say peasants or simple people hardly need them? Granted a lot of reading and small text wont burn your eyes or blind you, but indeed it cause eye strain and overtime it reduce your sight distance.

So yeah, while I want textbook on iPad for school/college. This kind of reading will bring so many short sighted children in the future.

Just compare now, how many people using reading glass before we know TV, computer, game console .. And iPad.

 

[APlotdevice]

Tell me then. Why many educated persons with a lot of reading activities tend to wear glass? While ... Let's say peasants or simple people hardly need them? Granted a lot of reading and small text wont burn your eyes or blind you, but indeed it cause eye strain and overtime it reduce your sight distance.

So yeah, while I want textbook on iPad for school/college. This kind of reading will bring so many short sighted children in the future.

Just compare now, how many people using reading glass before we know TV, computer, game console .. And iPad.

Have you considered that a person who reads lots of small text may just be more likely to notice a problem with their vision? Or at least find it to be an issue?

 

[locust76]

bill and melinda gates have already given a ton of money to finding a solution to the us education system. A good example is the khan academy.

Khaaaaaaaan!!!!

 

[locust76]

Tell me then. Why many educated persons with a lot of reading activities tend to wear glass? While ... Let's say peasants or simple people hardly need them? Granted a lot of reading and small text wont burn your eyes or blind you, but indeed it cause eye strain and overtime it reduce your sight distance.

When I was 5, I didn't do very much reading. My days were mainly filled with eating sand and running around, yet my parents realized that my eyesight wasn't perfect and got me glasses.

While I am intelligent and educated (and flattered by your comment), suggesting that education leads to poor eyes because of reading is just dumb. Genetics and age lead to poor eyesight, and society + technology leads to more people with poor eyesight, because people with poor eyesight can function in a modern society, whereas only the wealthiest scholars and kings could afford glasses, and cavemen who couldn't see were eaten by lions.

 

[iSayuSay]

So .. Are you saying that advanced visual technology (book, video games, computer, TV, ebook) not necessarily affect modern society's eyesight?

Is it perfectly safe to just ignore what grandma told me not to? Watching tv closely, read in the dark room, playing video games too long?

And by that .. Statistically there is no correlation between myopic eyes and modern activities that require continuous/prolonged sight?

This is a real question by the way, not meant to be sarcastic or challenging you in any way.

I'm totally cool with this iPad revolution on learning method. I just want to be sure it has no significant effect on eyesight.

 

[TMay]

I hate to tell you this but TFT is a technology used on many many types of LCDs, including IPS. What you were probably thinking of is a TN (Twisted Nematic) Display.

Cool!

I am informed.

 

[whiteboytrash]

So .. Are you saying that advanced visual technology (book, video games, computer, TV, ebook) not necessarily affect modern society's eyesight?

Is it perfectly safe to just ignore what grandma told me not to? Watching tv closely, read in the dark room, playing video games too long?

And by that .. Statistically there is no correlation between myopic eyes and modern activities that require continuous/prolonged sight?

This is a real question by the way, not meant to be sarcastic or challenging you in any way.

I'm totally cool with this iPad revolution on learning method. I just want to be sure it has no significant effect on eyesight.

II think the radiation from the students mobile phones will get them before their eye sights goes!

You could be right but its not going to stop it shifting mountains of product.

 

[geko29]

Do people remember what computer monitors were like 20 years ago? Yet, people used them.

Yes, we did. And I've spent thousands over the years on glasses and contacts, and another $4k on eye surgery last year, BECAUSE I spent a lot of time staring at computer monitors 20+ years ago.

At 10, I had 20/10 vision in both eyes. By 12 that had deteriorated to 20/80 in one eye and 20/110 in the other, I believe solely due to the Amber CRT attached to our Apple IIc.

I love my iPads, but count me in the e-Ink camp for serious reading. I'm 300+ books deep on my Kindles, with just 1 under the iPad belt (because that one had hundreds of large diagrams and illustrations, and I did not yet have a 10" Kindle in my collection. This deficiency has now been remedied.)

 

[Renzatic]

So .. Are you saying that advanced visual technology (book, video games, computer, TV, ebook) not necessarily affect modern society's eyesight?

Is it perfectly safe to just ignore what grandma told me not to? Watching tv closely, read in the dark room, playing video games too long?

And by that .. Statistically there is no correlation between myopic eyes and modern activities that require continuous/prolonged sight?

This is a real question by the way, not meant to be sarcastic or challenging you in any way.

I'm totally cool with this iPad revolution on learning method. I just want to be sure it has no significant effect on eyesight.

I've never done much research on the topic, but I can tell you what I know from my personal experiences.

I have sensitive eyeballs, coupled with against the rule astigmatism. Normally, it's not a huge deal. The only reason I don't have glasses is because I only need the lowest available prescription. I'll probably need to a pair in a few years. But right now? It's not a big deal.

But I have noticed that reading anything on the computer or iPhone for extended periods of time does seem to exacerbate the condition. If I go from reading a PDF file or iBook for two or three hours straight, then head outside, my eyes feel dry and tired, and anything off in the distance is considerably blurrier. It's been so bad before, that I could see a clearly defined second ghost image of the moon out of my left eye (which is, medically speaking, my bad eye). Going to sleep, or just resting my eyes for a couple of hours, is enough to regain my normal vision.

This is pretty much a textbook example of eyestrain. Anytime you have to focus on something close to your eyes for any extended amount of time will cause it, whether print book or a backlit display. A backlit display can tire your eyes a little faster, especially if you're reading in a dark room, but it's not a huge, huge, huge amount of difference. Basically, if you find yourself reading quite a bit, the best thing to do is to rest your eyes for 15 minutes for every hour you spend staring at text in front of your face. Eyestrain is eyestrain, no matter where you get it from.

So no. LCD screens won't lead to a generation of toe headed myopic kids, all throwing out thousand yard stares because they can't read a sign across a modestly sized school room. Provided, of course, that they don't constantly stare at a screen for hours upon hours on end for days at a time.

 

[JustAdComics]

Rimshot!

They will if it's intelligently designed.

Well played, Sir!

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No, the charts and illustrations are essential.

Plus, just think about giving the student the ability to interact with a chart, especially one that is mapping a function. Let the student try different variable values to see what kind of effect they have on the curve...

Videos or animations that illustrate complex processes, speech clips, maps that change borders over time or show the spread of a civilization or species ...

Allowing the student to highlight and annotate sections, possibly attach voice recordings of a teacher for specific sections ...

If you all haven't, check out the textbooks that Kno has been putting out. They had that very interesting but short-lived two-screen ebook that was aimed at students. They've since refocused on ebooks for iPad (maybe others - not sure) that are pretty impressive. They've got a demo text that you can download that's pretty cool.

I can easily see Apple teaming up with Kno and the other publishers and making textbooks that not only are informative, but will help capture the imagination and interest of students who may have struggled with paper textbooks in the past.

More power to them if they can pull this off!

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As a teacher I am worried. When the ipad allows smaller publishers and experts to put out a textbook as easily as bigger ones (w/o the cost of a printing press) i will probably say bravo, but for the mean time i'm not so sure that whatever bull some promo video featuring "executives" sticks under my nose is going to make me want to give one tech company and a handful of textbook companies an even more entrenched monopoly over our education system.

but like i said, i knew this was coming and if the ubiquity of tablets some day democratizes textbook production, i'm all for it.

and oh yeah, of course there will be a picture of saturn. please... is there anything more cliche for a textbook than saturn? i wonder if you can touch it!

The Solar System app is pretty cool. It allows you to spin the planet about its axis. I can see versions that would show the complex orbits of all of the moons, too. So, cliched or not, a picture of Saturn can still capture the interest and imagination of a student.

 

[JustAdComics]

Your mileage may vary

Just wait until they make some sort of e-ink device that's in color, touch screen and does animations. There is already a color e-ink device out, there's already a multitouch e-ink device out and there's a e-ink device that can play animations.

Combine all three and we have the best textbook replacement out there. Far better than an iPad.

Not saying an iPad isn't a great device, just saying, it's not a great device to read off of.

The number of people who are perfectly content reading lots of books on their iPad would disagree.

Since I've gotten mine, I've stopped buying regular books. I'm a voracious reader and I have a ton of books that I've read only on my iPad. No eye strain. I love being able to adjust the font size and style, I love the responsiveness of the screen, I love "night mode" for reading in bed with the lights off.

I don't read outside in bright sunshine, so that's never an issue for me with glare on the screen. Frankly, I wouldn't want to bring my iPad to the beach to read with... hate to expose it or any other electronic device to sand and salt air.

I think that the responsiveness, color depth and animation features of the iPad more than make up for any perceived advantage eInk holds. Again, your mileage may vary.

 

[twoodcc]

well maybe we can at least read iBooks on our macs?