1) The point of iPad learning isn't words on paper, it's finding new ways to engage students using platforms that naturally excite them. By claiming what we need is "cheap words on cheap paper", you're essentially ignoring all technology. Even paper was too expensive for schools in the past, and technology will catch up.
2) Ebooks reach MUCH further than paper. Is your biology book available in rural India? With smartphone penetration in the developing world hitting all time highs and expected to expand even more dramatically, this kind of system opens up the possibility for globalizing education and giving any school with this device great tools. Will the iPad/iDevice lead the charge in the developing world? Probably not, but this is opening the doors, defining the systems and getting the entire chain into it, from publishers, to authors, to teachers and students. It's a great first step.
I wouldn't say I ignored it, just thinking of it a bit differently.
This iPad thing is where technology is going. It's good, no doubt. But as far as disrupting the textbook industry, we seem to be skipping a few steps. Cheap textbooks have to appear before cheap textbooks on electronic devices, and we don't really have that yet.
1) The point of iPad learning isn't words on paper, it's finding new ways to engage students using platforms that naturally excite them. By claiming what we need is "cheap words on cheap paper", you're essentially ignoring all technology. Even paper was too expensive for schools in the past, and technology will catch up.
2) Ebooks reach MUCH further than paper. Is your biology book available in rural India? With smartphone penetration in the developing world hitting all time highs and expected to expand even more dramatically, this kind of system opens up the possibility for globalizing education and giving any school with this device great tools. Will the iPad/iDevice lead the charge in the developing world? Probably not, but this is opening the doors, defining the systems and getting the entire chain into it, from publishers, to authors, to teachers and students. It's a great first step.