Instead of an apple for the teacher, it’s time for an Apple. Or more specifically, an Apple iPad.
On Thursday, Jan 19, 2012, Apple unveiled its plans to remake the educational landscape. There were 3 announcements that interest me as a book person and affect me as a professor.
1. A free app called iBooks Author will let me, or anyone, create a digital interactive textbook. My gears are already turning as apparently from the live blogs, it’s very fast to create an ebook, which means I can cross off that New Year’s resolution from 2011 (I believe in carry over resolutions. I still have to make bread, which was a resolution in 2008.)
2. An update to iTunes U, which lets educators share and communicate curriculum with students using the iPad. There are a number of courses that people can take for free via iTunes U. This means I should check out whether I want to offer an online marketing course via iTunes U as you can apparently design and distribute complete courses, including audio, video, books and other content. I assume there’s a paid version too? Will need to check, unless some kind soul will tell me in the comments.
3. A new textbook store called iBooks 2, which is also a free app that will feature digital ebooks for schools. Major textbook publishers are on board, and I’m excited about the enhanced ebook possibilities for textbooks.
For enhanced ebooks, iBooks really offers the best capabilities. I really hope textbook publishers create some cool stuff here!
I’m excited about the announcement. What do you think?