Apple Textbooks: Everything You Need To Know About Apple's New Education Software

During an event Thursday at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Apple announced new software aimed at revolutionizing the way teachers teach, students learn and publishers create educational content.

Apple said, according to Mashable, that 1.5 million iPads are currently used in classrooms and that over 20,000 education or learning apps had been developed for iOS, writes TechnoBuffalo. With the company's latest announcements, those numbers could get even higher.

So what did Apple unveil this time? A big update to its popular iBooks app, a new category for the iBookstore, tools for teachers and students, and a do-it-yourself digital book creator. Check out the slideshow (below) for everything you need to know about Apple's latest. Read on to see how Twitter reacted to the news.

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Comments

[ifmwbpr2634]

05:28 PM on 01/25/2012

CONGRADULATIONS APPLE, DON'T LET THE CASH DERAIL YOUR SUCCESS. CASH IS
KING, KEEP BUILDING IT FOR THE BENEFIT OF FUTURE SUCCESS. THERE ARE PLENTY
OF RISKS THAT ARE NOT VISABLE NOW. A STRONG CASH POSITION INSURES A COMPANIES FUTURE GROWTH AND SECURITY FOR IT'S PRODUCTS AND EMPLOYEES.

[Tunghoy]

08:33 PM on 01/22/2012

You've all seen stats showing how far American schools are behind the rest of the world. But if you remove the stats from American schools in poor districts, the U.S. is way ahead of everyone else. So to fix education in this country, either solve poverty in general -- not an easy task -- or at least solve the poverty in education. If poor schools had the resources of well-heeled ones, and political demagogues stopped acting like good education is for the privileged few and not a human right, the whole country would benefit. If we'd spent 1% of the cost of the Iraq war on education, it would have been transformational.

As for expensive hardware: the price of non-Apple tablets are coming way down, and school districts will be able to purchase them in bulk for about $10 each. They're no iPads, but they'll work fine for education. Until these are available, schools can still use tablets, but keep them in the classrooms.

That means electronic textbooks will have to be available in an open format that will run on non-Apple hardware, or Apple will have to make hardware affordable for education. The free sample biology textbook in the iTunes store is amazing; if this becomes a standard for the country, it's a real game changer.

[kasukabe]

12:23 PM on 01/22/2012

This would work well in a college environment or private schools but for public schools you can forget it. There are simply too many potential pitfalls to deal with.

Firstly you have the cost issue. I know of few schools who could afford iPads for each student and what do you do when they inevitably get lost, stolen, or broken?

Secondly there is the undeniable reality that young children, especially those with the kinds of behavioral problems that they have in my school, cannot be trusted around expensive technology. So far this year alone my school has had 3 laptops vandalized beyond use as well as other technology broken or stolen. Unless you have a way to make parents financially accountable for these losses (parents I might add who have shown precious little accountability for anything else) then I can see few but the most affluent schools making such an expensive commitment.

Now I'm all for making textbooks available online and have created one myself for my students to use that combines text, links, video, and mp3 files but they still have to provide the access themselves. There are plenty of programs available to get technology and Internet access into the hands of students for little or no money. Again it all comes down to the parents. Do they want their child to have access to the digital world or a new pair of $200 trainers?

[JPHR]

02:17 PM on 01/21/2012

Huffpost ought to mark this as advertising.

[nitwitsRus]

10:20 AM on 01/21/2012

since it's a
PROPRIETARY system
i see it as kinda like
a drug dealer givin' ya
the FIRST fix
for free

[JPHR]

02:25 PM on 01/21/2012

Proprietary system indeed, locking out competition, locking in users.

No way any government in its right mind can account to its citizens to award this huge market to a private monopoly. Though in the US it just may....

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/apple-ibooks-author-ties-your-book-to-ibookstore-1056419

[nitwitsRus]

04:32 PM on 01/21/2012

what does ya mean
MAY?

[nitwitsRus]

04:32 PM on 01/21/2012

they supply them CHEAP
&
it's a forgone conclusion

[Fabini]

07:08 AM on 01/21/2012

Authoring interactive media for education is exciting. What do actual educators say?

[SoCalifTeacher]

08:29 AM on 01/21/2012

You can give a student an iBook, but you can't make him read.

[jianyoa]

04:48 PM on 01/20/2012

I can see this being used in classrooms of the future. A single slab, textbooks, notes, and the endless resources of the internet. THe only problem is the high price and limited storage. But still a major advancement from the classroom of yesterday.

[RedDogBear]

07:44 PM on 01/20/2012

I don't see how limited storage is a problem. I have an incredible library stored on my iPad and it takes up less space than videos, music, or any other type of medium. I think the basic iPad has 32 Gigabytes and you can store hundreds of books on that and still have plenty of space left.

[TINA ANDRES]

11:52 AM on 01/21/2012

The basic model has 16 GB and you can be sure that would be the model that students get. Every step up is another $100. I still think you are right though, the old textbooks could just be deleted to make space. There could be a problem when the kids take it home and download all sorts of other apps. Apple knows that the costs do not end there because it is the nickel and diming that happens when a teacher wants everyone to have certain apps. Some apps like "Stack the Countries" could be invaluable in teaching social studies, however, at .99 per iPad, a teacher would probably need to cover the $200 cost to get access for all students on their iPads. It definitely won't stop teachers from constantly spending their own money.

[foresure]

03:52 PM on 01/20/2012

Part III

Offer the same deal to every organization that has ever advertised in any publication the school runs. It should not be a violation of the church/state boundary to offer the same to religious institutions. No parents by name. That would be intolerable for most kids.

9. You know who could be "encouraged" to donate, every pediatrician.

Can you think of a better place for a pediatrician to have their name. Just name address and phone number.

10. Let the whole issue of finding money be assigned to high seniors who are looking for a business education.

The only thing that I would not approve of, would be to have female students standing outside in bikinis to run a car wash fun raising. Nor for that matter boys.

Money is not the problem. Inertia and resistance to change is the problem.

No I don't have anything to do with Apple. As a matter of fact, I am the last American not to own an Apple product.

[foresure]

03:51 PM on 01/20/2012

Part II

4. It costs a huge amount of money to pay all the non-teaching professional staff in the public school system. The Superintendent in Atlanta got a severance package of $800,000.

A Congressman from South Carolina on "Morning Joe" claimed that only 44% of the educational budget of that state went to the classroom.

Can we start to see if we can reduce the travel money and per diem required by the non-teaching professional staff?

5. Can we skip for one year the annual raise for all teachers and non-teaching professional staff, earning over $70,000 a year?

Yes, I know that few teachers make that much, but that's the point.

6. And finally, can we get teachers to contact their State Legislators for money earmarked for electronic text books?

Can we get all the teachers in all the States to go to the Capital, on a non teaching day, to sit in at the capital to accomplish that?

Can the teachers all over the country show the same spirit that the teachers of Wisconsin have showed?

7. Can we get the teachers in every state to call at least one Legislator to donate a least ten iPods to their school

Tell t the Legislators, that Teachers Union will pay to have them a three square inch sticker that could be put on the back of each iPod they donate?

[TINA ANDRES]

12:15 PM on 01/21/2012

In case you weren't aware, teachers in many districts haven't received an annual raise in over five years. A great many of them have received pay cuts instead. Money is earmarked for textbooks in general and e-books are included in that. The state adopts acceptable texts for districts to purchase and a great deal of our education budget pays the large private corporations called textbook publishers. Teachers can make recommendations from the approved list but the district administration makes the final choice, sometimes listening to teachers who spend numerous unpaid hours reviewing the books and sometimes completely ignoring them. The textbook salespeople generally make far more money than teachers and they are the ones with travel budgets and massive gift accounts to lobby school districts with hotel rooms, dinners and other goodies. That is how the textbook dollars are spent. Promises are made regarding support for the programs purchased and most of the these salespeople disappear once the contract is signed and paid.

[foresure]

01:33 PM on 01/21/2012

TINA:

"The textbook salespeopl­e generally make far more money than teachers and they are the ones with travel budgets and massive gift accounts to lobby school districts with hotel rooms, dinners and other goodies".

On the basis of your statement above, I something for your to consider.

1. In a basically capitalistic system, employers will pay what they think the employees are worth, and what the market demands.

And employees will accept the payment that they receive, or, and here is the beauty of the captialist system, they will move to a higher paying and/or more satisfying job., or even a better climate.

There is apparently a teacher shortage in North Dakota, and high salaries are being paid there. (See Huffington Post today, January 21, 2012.

2. I am very familiar with the constant plight of teachers having to put up with awful, mean, and dumb administrators. Where does the educational syste find such terrible people? What is their education and experience?

3. I notice that you have not addressed anything about teacher putting pressure on the Legislators to push, what I genuinely believe leap in the delivery of knowledge.

4. Of course teachers never have to worry about economic conditions eliminating their job, or lack of comptency eliminating their job. But I do understand the need to whine. It come with the job.

5. Most of all I appreciate your teacher "Can't Do" philosophy.

SUCCESS IS NOT AN OPTION

[TINA ANDRES]

12:50 PM on 01/21/2012

We're not talking about iPods, we're talking about iPads and they cost over $500 each. If you know a legislator that would be willing to shell out $5,000 for ten iPads, maybe you should call him or her yourself.

[foresure]

01:47 PM on 01/21/2012

Tina Andres:

Right you are about the price. And it was my fault if I referred to iPods, instead of iPads. I would blame Steve Jobs, but unlike teachers, I beieve in personal responsibilites.

Now, how much does it cost to buy a 30 second add for a re-election adverstisment.

Your statement 'If you know a legislator that would be willing to shell out $5,000 for ten iPads, maybe you should call him or her yourself" Reminds me of a rather dull friend of mine.

When we would be watching a baseball game on T.V. and one of us criticized one of the players, he would say, "and you could do better"?

None of the others ever responded, we know that David (his real name) wouldn't understand if we said, "but we are not on the playing field, trying to accomplish anything".

What I would love, is to hear why it is a terrible idea to give high school seniors a for credit assignment to raise funds for buying iPads.

I admit, it is not as much fun as wearing a bikini in front of the car wash to earn money to pay for "supplies" in the conscession stand, but still.

You are a good teacher.

I can only admire how you manage to find all the reasons to avoid change.

[foresure]

03:48 PM on 01/20/2012

SHAME you if you have written in complaining about the cost.

DOUBLE SHAME if you are a teacher. .

1. Yes there will be costs associated with this. Yes we are dealing with children, and not cloistered nuns. There will be breakage, loss, vandalism, destruction and theft.

2. In a few years, insurance companies will be offering "comprehensive insurance" on all of that. For all I know it already available.

3. It also costs money to educate, feed and clothe children. They tend, frequently through their own negligence, to get sick or injured.

If you don't like dealing with the annoyances and expenses that children create you should neither be a parent or a teacher.

Has any parent, maybe with the exception of Gov. George Romney, the father of Gov. Willard Mitt Romney, if their kid believed in the arboreal source of money? :)

[TINA ANDRES]

12:20 PM on 01/21/2012

Teachers are not complaining about the cost because they want something to complain about. We are expressing concern about the cost because there is no money. We are personally purchasing pencils and paper for our students right now. We just can't afford to buy $500 iPads for our students and we are a bit skeptical about the possibility of our districts paying for iPads when they won't buy pencils. We realize and know all too well that it costs money to educate children, we spend our own money to that end all of the time. Of course there will be insurance, iPads are warrantied for a year anyway. It would be naive of anyone to consider such a huge purchase and not try to account for all of the ramifications of that purchase. Kids will not only destroy them, they will lose them. If we replace those that are lost, a whole bunch more will say they lost them. Some kids will have them stolen on their way home from school, hopefully they will not be seriously injured or killed. It is not shameful to think about these things, it would be irresponsible not to.

[foresure]

02:08 PM on 01/21/2012

Tina:

Now I don't work in marketing at Apple.

But I have a hunch, just a hunch, that Apple will sell $500 iPads to a school for less than "Best Buy" will sell them one at a time.

Now I appreciate that teachers are not PhD's in economics, but it is something you might think about. Nor do I know whether or not Apple provides an extended warranty.

Or whether or no private companies would want to get a maintainance contract.

You know I never appreciated just how dangerous an iPad could be.

"hopefully they will not be seriously injured or killed".

I had no idea that "neighborhood schools" were the equivalent of the "killing grounds" of Cambodia. Goes to show how little a non-teacher knows.

See: http://www.haienu-vietnam/des-cambodia-killing-fields

Gee, and I never knew that kids could be irresponsible, and even dishonest.

You know what, they should not even be given books, and we all know how much permanent blindness pencils cause.

Hey, you know you have to take off your shoes to board an airplane, same should apply to schools.

Did you know that when they are very young, they don't even bother to control their bladders or bowls, creating considerable inconvenience to adult.

Not t speak of the cost!

Oh course, in keeping with teacher thought, the thought of improvement suggests change, and change is abhorrent.

Let me propose a new motto for the education industry:

"No Problem is Solvable"

[mlaiuppa]

01:38 PM on 01/20/2012

Now, if I could only afford an iPad.

[Mydian01]

10:45 PM on 01/21/2012

entry price is 500$, I've heard rumors that the iPad 3 will be closer to the 350$ entry price range, and if your really that broke, there are always other alternatives, google netbooks, the library.. i would say, you get what you pay for.

[long lost cousine]

01:09 PM on 01/20/2012

This is a GREAT idea ... What doesn't help now are the 55 pounds of books many high school children (including my son) carry in their back pack to and from school every day. It is crazy ... this can lighten their physical burden and help their forever chaning mood.

[Chris Cheramie]

05:45 PM on 01/21/2012

It builds character.

[Wayne Caswell]

10:47 AM on 01/20/2012

An important point missing from many discussions of Apple's announcement is that eBooks are more accessible. Beyond adding videos, links, and collaboration features is the ability to adjust fonts, font size, brightness and contrast for better readability among people with low-Vision or for totally blind people to use screen readers. For sighted people, such features can provide a books-on-tape experience so you can listen while driving, for example. Next is to make sure that the ebook format is supported by all platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows and OLPC (the $100 one laptop per child initiative). I'm glad to see Apple take a leading role.

[foresure]

02:39 PM on 01/20/2012

Wayne:

Thank you for providing this information. This is really a great thing.

Could I be the first this is the best thing since the invention of moveable type?

Probably already said.

[RedDogBear]

09:39 AM on 01/20/2012

Does anyone know has Apple yet come out with (or have plans for) a reader that will let me read iBooks on a Macintosh or other PC? To me that's the biggest drawback between the iPad format and the Kindle format. Kindle has a reader for the Mac.

So if I'm writing a paper, review, etc. on my Mac I can have various books open at the same time as my word processing tool and can even copy paste small quotes of text into my new work. Last time I checked you couldn't do that with iBooks which is why even though I have an iPad I always buy Kindle format eBooks.

[Onutz]

10:34 AM on 01/20/2012

Good points.

[Mydian01]

10:47 PM on 01/21/2012

http://calibre-ebook.com/

[Flaxseed]

08:35 PM on 01/19/2012

Ah thanks Apple!
Now every 12 year old will be smarter than me.

Thanks!!!

[NHBill]

11:51 PM on 01/19/2012

What's Apple got to do with THAT?

[Aban Ehsan]

06:40 AM on 01/20/2012

Its just about business. The culture at Apple is profit first, education second. Because of this culture, this technology is limited to proprietary devices. This is why Wikipedia is endlessly better, and hopefully an open textbook format will be adopted to work on anything with a screen. I just watched the event video http://bit.ly/xWcvqx

[Mydian01]

10:48 PM on 01/21/2012

i disagree, just like i did with the copy/paste of this same post in another thread.. does android pay you by the post, or the hour?