Just a few hours ago, here in NYC, Apple announced several new applications and services that they believer will revolutionize education. The biggest point they focused on was textbooks. With a new update to the iBooks app, and a partnership with the world's biggest textbook providers, any iOS device can now download full textbooks with the touch of a button.
The list of advantages Apple pointed out is almost without contest. Paper textbooks are heavy, not searchable, not interactive, not current, and expensive. An e-textbook can travel anywhere, save notes, link to articles online, search for specific text, update itself as needed with new information, and (save the price of the iOS device) far cheaper. As before, the iBooks app is free, and at the moment, textbooks are up to $14.99.
Writing your own textbook or lesson plan? Finally finished that novel you've been working on? The Mac App Store now has the free iBooks Author. It can import documents from Pages or Microsoft Word, easily organize your work into a variety of customizable templates, and upload directly the the iBooks store. Adding multi-touch widgets is as simple as drag-and-drop. There's little info about the publishing process, and whether or not there will be a review process similar to the App Store. And hopefully, the iBooks store won't become flooded with too many options, making it hard to sort out the good from the bad.
There's an also a new iPad app for iTunes U. iTunes U has been around for a few years on iTunes, and features audio and video lectures from several recognized universities. The app now brings those features, and text transcripts, to the iPad. The best part, is that this has always been and remains free of charge. There are full courses on a wide range of subjects, from graphic design to developing computer applications.
The impact this will have on the education industry as a whole will be seen in time. The biggest hurdle is getting this potentially great content to students. Not every student, and not every school, is capable of affording an iPad.
