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[Treefingers]

Jesus I would kill to have had this shit when I was in HS.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Highlighting interactive content is dumb IMO.

It's not about the quality of the books. It's about the price/business model, and content availability/partners.

 

[Meus Renaissance]

That notetaking feature is turning me on

 

[LCfiner]

Highlighting interactive content is dumb IMO.

It's not about the quality of the books. It's about the price/business model, and content availability/partners.

I Imagine that's coming later in the presentation. If it doesn't then all this is relatively useless.

 

[The_Inquisitor]

Highlighting interactive content is dumb IMO.

It's not about the quality of the books. It's about the price/business model, and content availability/partners.

Yep. Who gives a shit if they'll only have 2-3 books. They also need to have books coming out AS THE PAPER VERSION does.

 

[Meus Renaissance]

The price of these books has me very worried, especially considering you probably wont be able to share them or gift them later on to others like you would an actual paper based book

 

[angelfly]

Real whiz-bang of a conference they have going so far.

So they consider the iPad to be durable? I can throw my textbooks across the room all day long and they'd still be perfectly usable.

 

[sk3]

No public school will have this shit. This is for rich private schools. For Uni, there may be a paper version and an ibooks version, but this will not revolutionize anything.

 

[Buckethead]

I want to export my notes gimme you jerks

 

[kehs]

No stream, just liveblogs?

 

[Treefingers]

No public school will have this shit. This is for rich private schools. For Uni, there may be a paper version and an ibooks version, but this will not revolutionize anything.

Yup I'm worried this is the case.

 

[bob page]

Highlighting interactive content is dumb IMO.

It's not about the quality of the books. It's about the price/business model, and content availability/partners.

How is it dumb? It keeps a log of your highlights in each area of the book so you can keep track of important content, then make note cards/questions out of them.

All of this looks great. I wish this would have come a few years earlier when I was still a student.

No public school will have this shit. This is for rich private schools. For Uni, there may be a paper version and an ibooks version, but this will not revolutionize anything.

Their main target is probably going to be college. I can see lots of people dropping $500 on an iPad and using that as their main device for school now, especially vs. the alternatives.

 

[sk3]

Templates for textbooks? Are you fucking kidding me? Come on Apple. This is a joke.

 

[i_am_ben]

So they consider the iPad to be durable? I can throw my textbooks across the room all day long and they'd still be perfectly usable.

and what the hell does current mean?


anyway the whole etextbook thing falls apart when you need to use two+ etextbooks at the same time.

 

[Stumpokapow]

How is it dumb? It keeps a log of your highlights in each area of the book so you can keep track of important content, then make note cards/questions out of them.

All of this looks great. I wish this would have come a few years earlier when I was still a student.

Who cares if the content availability isn't there?

 

[Treefingers]

and what the hell does current mean?

Presumably it means they can update the textbook to keep it current.

 

[Technosteve]

Needs a read back feature like kindle has. verbal reinforcement

 

[CF_Fighter]

Presumably it means they can update the textbook to keep it current.

Make your 30$ check payable to Houghton-Mifflin

Needs a read back feature like kindle has. verbal reinforcement

Agreed, it would definitely help students who have different learning styles.

 

[Tobor]

Who cares if the content availability isn't there?

Shouldn't we wait until the end to see if they announce any partners?

 

[LCfiner]

Make your 30$ check payable to Houghton-Mifflin

You mean "in app purchase". Apple will need to get their share for any content additions/ updates.

 

[bob page]

Shouldn't we wait until the end to see if they announce any partners?

Yeah, I'm sure Apple has secured some sort of partnership for this, seeing as without it, the whole thing is pointless (like what happened with Inkling).

 

[Dragon]

Shouldn't we wait until the end to see if they announce any partners?

Assumptions are really the way to go on GAF, especially if you don't like something!

 

[SimleuqiR]

The price of these books has me very worried, especially considering you probably wont be able to share them or gift them later on to others like you would an actual paper based book

I wonder what the cost difference is between building an iPad (or any ebook device) versus actually making a book, and what effect it has on the environment?

Is it really more eco friendly?

 

[kehs]

Wait...people have to pay for textbooks in high school now? wtf?

 

[bob page]

HS textbooks $15 or less. Partnerships are secured:

McGraw Hill
Houghton
Pearson

No mention of post-HS, though?

Wait...people have to pay for textbooks in high school now? wtf?

I did for about half of my classes.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Shouldn't we wait until the end to see if they announce any partners?

If you want I can just lock the thread so that people don't react prematurely, but as-is I think it's pretty typical that people react to announcements in the order that they occur.

 

[sk3]

So there we go. Students in public schools now have to pay for their own books.

That's not going to work.

 

[Technosteve]

Let's make a OT Gaf quarterly magazine guys. I don't own a mac so i can only provide content!

 

[sixteen-bit]

I did for about half of my classes.

public school or private school?

 

[The_Inquisitor]

So there we go. Students in public schools now have to pay for their own books.

That's not going to work.

What if the school subsidizes it?

 

[kehs]

I did for about half of my classes.

Really? That's craziness. What years were you in HS if you don't mind me asking.

 

[sruckus]

Why can't schools pay for them? They have many advantages and it'd be like $15 * number of students each quarter. Not that bad,

 

[bob page]

public school or private school?

Public. Granted, they were $20-30 each- not nearly as much as college.

 

[The Last Wizard]

Can we get some college related announcements?

 

[Treefingers]

Maybe the school can gift the textbooks to students? lol

 

[DrAndonuts]

I had to buy books in HS, too. It was private school - graduated in 2005. Books ran $40-$80.

 

[The_Inquisitor]

I'd really love for some technical EE books to get this treatment. Would be amazing.

 

[Treefingers]

Wish they had something college/university related..

 

[trudderham]

I wonder what the cost difference is between building an iPad (or any ebook device) versus actually making a book, and what effect it has on the environment?

Is it really more eco friendly?

Just one book? Nope, but who's going to load just one book onto their iPad?

 

[Meus Renaissance]

Wish they had something college/university related..

Books would be x10 the price. I'm not rich

 

[nel e nel]

How many folks hating on this have been in college recently?

$499 can be the average cost of textbooks for one semester, especially in the sciences. And what if the department decides to change textbooks after a semester? Or a revised edition comes out? Well, that chemistry textbook you thought would last you 3 semesters is now out of date.

I really hope for the sake of students - and especially ones that rely on grants/scholarships/work to pay for tuition - that we are seeing the beginning of a new way of dealing with textbooks.

Kindle already has some offerings, but there is a desperate need for an overhaul in that segment of the education industry.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

Wish they had something college/university related..

That's probably in the works to come out soon.

Overall, it's a good initiative, but it'd be even better if Apple released an iBooks app for Mac & PC.

 

[survivor]

How many folks hating on this have been in college recently?

$499 can be the average cost of textbooks for one semester, especially in the sciences. And what if the department decides to change textbooks after a semester? Or a revised edition comes out? Well, that chemistry textbook you thought would last you 3 semesters is now out of date.

I really hope for the sake of students - and especially ones that rely on grants/scholarships/work to pay for tuition - that we are seeing the beginning of a new way of dealing with textbooks.

Kindle already has some offerings, but there is a desperate need for an overhaul in that segment of the education industry.

Is there a way to resell these books? I always do that for my college books and generally either make a profit or get close to making my money back.

 

[Tobor]

If you want I can just lock the thread so that people don't react prematurely, but as-is I think it's pretty typical that people react to announcements in the order that they occur.

That wasn't my point, it was just fairly obvious they were going to announce the content at the end.

 

[Treefingers]

How many folks hating on this have been in college recently?

$499 can be the average cost of textbooks for one semester, especially in the sciences. And what if the department decides to change textbooks after a semester? Or a revised edition comes out? Well, that chemistry textbook you thought would last you 3 semesters is now out of date.

I really hope for the sake of students - and especially ones that rely on grants/scholarships/work to pay for tuition - that we are seeing the beginning of a new way of dealing with textbooks.

Kindle already has some offerings, but there is a desperate need for an overhaul in that segment of the education industry.

I hope so as well.

I hope to see independent authors start making textbooks for iBooks given how easy it seems to be.

 

[kehs]

How many folks hating on this have been in college recently?

$499 can be the average cost of textbooks for one semester, especially in the sciences. And what if the department decides to change textbooks after a semester? Or a revised edition comes out? Well, that chemistry textbook you thought would last you 3 semesters is now out of date.

Most professors will also tell you that it's bullshit, and you can get away with older "revisions" because most "updates" are minor things that have little impact on the subject matter.

 

[CF_Fighter]

Posted this in the other thread, but thought it fit in here too. As a future teacher my only concern so far is books that are written and designed around state specific achievement tests. In Florida many of our textbooks are designed for the FCAT tests and as of now the books look like they aren't that differentiated.

 

[elohel]

looks like they've got some partners no?

 

[Tobor]

So there we go. Students in public schools now have to pay for their own books.

That's not going to work.

If its a personal iPad, yes. If its the school's iPad, they could pay for and download the books by grade before handing them out.

 

[CF_Fighter]

Damn, just getting to Part 2.

YAY College information, but I'm done next semester so :LOL