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Textbook Publishers Strike Deals to Bring Content to iPad

Online educational content

The ebooks deals sounds very promising but I hope Apple didn't pay anything for the Pearson et al's online e-learning support...most of it is flash based !!!

:rolleyes:
 
One small step...

cmaier said:
They are...visual reminders of how far the semester has progressed, collectibles, resources to be saved and put on your office shelf for occasional reference once you get a job, etc.
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You forgot that they also gather dust on shelves as they quickly become outdated, then clutter up your garage, are an additional heavy box each time you move and, ultimately, will be given away to the library when you haven't a bit more room on your shelves for another book.

:p I think I have maybe three college textbooks still in my library. All the rest got sold back to the school or went off to the library yeas ago.

Regarding textbook costs: they may not go down by much but if they're even 25% cheaper, that's going to be some relief. If a student spends $600 on textbooks, then 25% is $150. Multiply that by 4 years of college--8 semesters worth of books. It adds up. And these could be textbooks with addition content (films, lectures) and/or directions to useful websites.

And if the iPad saves students hauling around the books, selling the books back (only to find out that they can't because no one is going to buy the used copies because there's a new edition that the teachers are insisting all students use...) then it also is worth something. Bitching that it won't save much is silly. If you had the choice to spend $600 or $450 on books, which would you go for? Would you say, "Well, the savings is so little..." and ignore the chance to spent $150 less? Savings is savings. And not having to haul a weighty bag of books across campus is also a savings.

I don't know if this is huge or revolutionary, but it is a step toward something different.
 
thirteen1031 said:
Regarding textbook costs: they may not go down by much but if they're even 25% cheaper, that's going to be some relief. If a student spends $600 on textbooks, then 25% is $150. Multiply that by 4 years of college--8 semesters worth of books. It adds up. And these could be textbooks with addition content (films, lectures) and/or directions to useful websites.
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Be fair - in my engineering school days I could sell back my used books for 20%. In my lawschool days 25%. If the ebook discount is only 25%, i save essentially nothing ($0 to $30 in your scenario) vs. buying new and selling back the books, and I lose the opportunity to save those books I actually want to keep (because they'll probably "expire," or refuse to transfer to future devices I might own.)
 
AnalyzeThis said:
Blocking simply means reducing electro-magnetic radiation with a layer of absorbing material with in a perimeter of a given exam room. The gadgets are simply could not get operational signal strength, egro are effectively useless. Absolutely legal practice and used by governments, labs, theaters, schools and etc.
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MR never fails to disappoint.
 
ShiftyPig said:
As I've said before, the only people who see this as a "paradigm shift" are simpletons who are mesmerized by a different, inefficient user interface.
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There is a contingent of people who are pretty convinced that the simpletons are actually the ones who can't see beyond the user interface.
 
Text books

Will they be time limited rentals, or will there be an option to buy?

Many people keep some of their books as reference.

Will universities have deals that enables students to buy iPads at a heavily discounted price? Will they be given to incoming students as part of their tuition?

Not only could you have textbooks, but videos of experiments and medical procedures accompanying the textbook and course. Yes, you can probably get lectures to play over and over again to help facilitate sleep.
 
cmaier said:
Which is relevant only if you are so insecure that you care what a stranger thinks.
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Or not so deluded with Messianic infallibility that you are still open to the idea that perhaps you are bickering with a fool.
 
Niko03 said:
Eye strain from reading backlit screens is a red herring.

There is no difference between reflective light
and transmissive light. Light is light.
The big issue is the brightness difference and contrast
A bright background in a dark area can cause eyestrain.
But a backlit screen where the backlight brightness is matched
to the ambient light won't.
These variables can be controlled, even though one may not always
take the time to do so.

At work I stare at a backlit screen all day. Day after day.
No eyestrain. My office is fairly bright and my screen brightness
and contrast is adjusted to match.
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Thank you. Thought I was the only one who knew something about light.
 
rtdunham said:
whew, thanks, shifty, for setting me straight! I was SO at the mercy of my own independent thought. Having an opinion different than yours: what was I thinking!?

sincerely,
simpleton
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And yet you're about the fifth person in this thread to bite without coming remotely close to addressing either of my points: 1) since it isn't about the device but "content," name one bit of content that I can access on an iPad but not on an iPhone/iPod/laptop and 2) a solution to allow open-book exams with an iPad.

The only solutions presented by the genius MR masses so far are 1) nothing (exception being that you manipulate it with your fingers versus a mouse, i.e. simpleton remark) and 2) break the law and jam cell phone/wi-fi signals or spend millions per school installing signal-proof walls. Good luck where those before you have failed. While you're at it, perhaps you could point me toward a city built around Segway use as Jobs predicted.
 
Social Impact, it's ALL (mostly) Good

...textbooks that ARE available on the iPad: every copy purchased digitally is one less copy purchased in print format, thus reducing the print run and increasing the cost per copy.
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Printing is but one cost. Despite mega-publishers attempts to limit textbook choice/keep high prices, lower (overall) production cost = more publishers = increase choice and lower prices.


[newspapers]...only those wealthy enough to afford the necessary reader would be privy to the news.
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Public libraries could be a source. No library, then manage/design public schools to serve the FULL community with more than a smattering of "adult-ed" cooking, tax-filing, etc. evening classes. Perhaps digital printing kiosks to replace newspaper vending "cans" which clutter sidewalks in cities and 'burbs?


This could be a very undemocratizing device:
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Interesting post. I'm not dismissing this notion but see much upside potential.
 
cmaier said:
Be fair - in my engineering school days I could sell back my used books for 20%. In my lawschool days 25%. If the ebook discount is only 25%, i save essentially nothing ($0 to $30 in your scenario) vs. buying new and selling back the books
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That would be fair...except I don't know when your engineering/law school days were. Last year or ten years ago? The percentage of buy-back might not be that much now. I do know that when I was teaching class only a few years ago that students were not able to sell back ALL of their books.

That means that they don't get any savings on some books, only 20% on others (assuming it's still 20%). So they get to sell back the law books, say, but a new edition of the engineering as come out and no one's buying the old. Hence, NO savings on the engineering, only on the law. So saving 25% on all books still makes a difference.

As for saving the books you want--I'll grant you that. But I don't know the deal and neither do you. There might be a way to pay extra and keep it. Some texts, after all, are needed all through college, not just for a semester.

I don't say this is a magically perfect solution, just that it could be beneficial to a lot of students. I mean, really, think about it. Your backpack has the iPad and the keyboard. That's it. You can use it in class to take notes (no notebook paper or pens required). You can use it to read all the textbooks (no textbooks required). You can use it to check your calendar, go through your email and do research (no laptop required, no calculator, no dictionary, etc.). And while I wouldn't want to write a novel on this thing, with the keyboard I could see myself writing a paper on it (I haven't seen it close up, I assume there's a way to print up what you write on it).

If I were in school I'd jump at this simply for saving me from hauling all that around. And, if it's possible to write papers on it, there will be students who pick the iPad over a laptop. That's a significant savings. With 10 hours (okay, it's probably more like 5-7 hours) battery power, it'd be great for note taking in class.

It could be a money, time and certainly space saving devise for a student.
 
thirteen1031 said:
*a bunch of text*
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I realize I'm a bit of a pariah in this thread, but speaking from the perspective of someone who sat in a classroom today, if it can't run Gchat/Facebook chat and take notes at the same time, it's dead to students.

I would estimate that, in my 100-person section, 80% of those who type notes instead of handwriting has one or the other open along with a word processor in class. And this isn't an undergrad setup where nobody gives a crap what the professor is saying.

Add this to the fact that you're looking at a minimum $570 setup, which buys an awful lot of laptop, for a 16GB WiFi w/ keyboard dock and I'm not sure that a cost-conscious student is going to bite.
 
Oh! Poor baby can't get on facebook while taking notes!

ShiftyPig said:
I realize I'm a bit of a pariah in this thread, but speaking from the perspective of someone who sat in a classroom today, if it can't run Gchat/Facebook chat and take notes at the same time, it's dead to students.
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But probably not to their parents or teachers for that very reason :rolleyes: And if parents are paying for it, then it might not be dead to students at all. They may have to have that rather than something that allows them to check out facebook and chat rather than paying attention to the lecture and taking notes.

I can say, as a teacher, that *I* would much rather students have an iPad limiting them to note taking then knowing that they're chatting, etc. while I'm lecturing. :mad: It's childish, disrespectful, stupid, and proves that you really don't deserve to be there--so don't expect any sympathy for me at your "boo-hoo! It doesn't multitask!" Oh, poor baby, can't go on facebook during class! :p So far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't be wasting the teacher's time or yours or your parents money by doing such things.
 
thirteen1031 said:
But probably not to their parents or teachers for that very reason :rolleyes: And if parents are paying for it, then it might not be dead to students at all. They may have to have that rather than something that allows them to check out facebook and chat rather than paying attention to the lecture and taking notes.

I can say, as a teacher, that *I* would much rather students have an iPad limiting them to note taking then knowing that they're chatting, etc. while I'm lecturing. :mad: It's childish, disrespectful, stupid, and proves that you really don't deserve to be there--so don't expect any sympathy for me at your "boo-hoo! It doesn't multitask!" Oh, poor baby, can't go on facebook during class! :p So far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't be wasting the teacher's time or yours or your parents money by doing such things.
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Speaking of disrespectful, I pay my own tuition, thank you.
 
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