iPads vs. Textbooks – Who ya got?

On January 19th Apple made the announcement they were throwing their hat into the very lucrative textbook game with the launch of iBook 2 and iAuthor. There has been plenty written about this topic, from how Apple will make textbooks more accessible and offer a better learning experience to how any author using iAuthor can potentially end up having to give their work away for free.

The idea of a fully interactive textbook is pretty exciting, when I was getting my master’s degree we used a lot of e-Books and if there was the opportunity to get a version for my Kindle that was the route I always took. If I would have had the opportunity to have a book that gave me the opportunity to take full advantage of everything iOS has to offer and tap into the Internet at the same time… that is what I call a holistic learning strategy.

I really believe that if school districts and Apple can work out a deal to make iPads more affordable it will be better for students in the long run. The best of deal for both will be to have Apple provide iPads to schools at a reduced price (for the amount of tablets needed hopefully they can make up in volume what they would normally get in price). Either way, iBooks are 100% in the best interest of the student and even if they aren’t classroom ready at the moment, it is nice to see the direction education is heading and just like the Apple IIe of my day the iPad will hopefully be just as synonymous with education for the current generation of students.

Agree or disagree, check out the very interesting infographic below to get an idea of the monetary breakdown.

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Brian Avatar– Brian (follow @briantudor on Twitter)
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iPads vs. Text Books