Digital textbooks

[Fuerza]

Looks like Apple is making its way from the music business to the textbook business.

Apple sets out to transform textbooks - latimes.com

I kind of have mixed feeling on this. I love the use of new technology in class rooms. I think we American's need to push our kids harder to be more educated for a better America. As a parent I want my kid to be as smart as possible and use any and all things to enhance his learning. On the flip side to this, I remember some of the shit heads I went to school with, tearing up textbooks ect. Also the idea of a parent having to shell out 500 dollars for a iPad for their kid seems a little much. I mean, I personally could afford it, but I know there are families out there that can't. So my question is this, if we do enter a world of digital text books who picks up the bill for all these devices for kids to use? Who is held responsible for when they are dropped or damaged?

Your thoughts?

:read: :iPad:

 

[CobraBob]

If these digital textbooks become the norm, I cannot see families having to foot the bill at this point. As you said, many wouldn't be able to afford it, especially if they have more than one child in school, and then who is responsible if they are broken or lost. But prices will likely continue to drop and it is likely they will drop to a point where the school system actually saves money by buying one digital device per student that holds all of their books (expensive textbooks). When schools jump on this technology (and it WILL happen), I would have to believe that school districts will foot the bill for these devices, which means that we, the taxpayers, will end up paying for them. Or maybe families will get some type of subsidy to help with the cost if it goes in that direction. Very interesting direction for Apple, though, because the potential of using an interactive digital device (like using the Internet) is mind-boggling. This will be a big market for them and others. It also would open the door for students to get extra help by accessing optional tutorials online. Just imagine the potential for the average student. JMO.

 

[Beerdog80]

I'm sure that public school will have small insurance premiums on these things for just that reason.

For public school, I see no problem with books. For college level and above, it will eventually be mandatory I bet. I'm working on my second masters right now and the books are optional. I've been using the e-reader books for over a year now.

Very, very useful. Especially when your searching for a specific bit of information.

 

[joeg215]

That's cool and all but i feel we have much bigger fish to fry. The education system and our mentality towards it are broken.

tap-a-keg

 

[Fuerza]

Eventually it will be a wash in prices, the hard pill will be start up costs. My senior high school had roughly 1500 students. 1500 students x $500 iPad = $750.000 dollars! And that doesn't take into consideration the price of the digital books. I'm curious to see how they distribute the digital books, each or possibly an imaged copy of a digital book. For example in the Army we use an imaged copy of windows for our computers. I would assume that is some sort of agreement with Microsoft that allows that too happen. Will the book makers, and Apple, go for that?

 

[Steve@TF]

hmmm, i saw the headline the other day but didnt read the article. i thought it would be for college textbooks, which i wasnt sure was a good idea. but for kids?? :dw: besides damaging them, what about when they go "missing". and how much would that cost the taxpayers? buying ipads for millions of kids?? my high school had 3,000+ students. one out of 100 high schools in LA.

for college, im not sure it would be so great. can u highlight in them? what about writing notes? using sticker tabs for specific pages? being able to resell them afterwards. what if your ipad is stolen? you have to buy the e-book again? and i can guarantee you that after a few years, the ebook version, the only version, will be around $100, just like the damn textbooks are! except you wont be able to do anything with it after you're done with it :nonono: the college textbook industry is the biggest rip-off in the world! love how they change editions every 3 years so used copies become obsolete. like my Calc teacher said, math hasnt changed in 1000 years, why do we need new editions every 2 years?? :rollseyes all they do is shuffle the chapters around. /rant

the ONE good thing i see about it is not having to carry around big heavy books all the time. that's it.


oh, and another thing. in quite a few of my classes we had to have 2 or 3 books going at one time (especially in law school). are you going to have 3 ipads sitting on your desk?? or try to flip back and forth between books quickly?? there were plenty of times where i had to have at least 2 books open to use them in conjunction during class.

 

[WireEater]

Another way to see this is though, this is just the beginning for Apple. Apple might already have plans of building a device JUST for ereading that only cost $99+. It's already been said that there will be a version of the iPad to compete with the Fire soon. One for each student would probably be much cheaper than purchasing all hard cover books, etc per student.

 

[Fuerza]

hmmm, i saw the headline the other day but didnt read the article. i thought it would be for college textbooks, which i wasnt sure was a good idea. but for kids?? :dw: besides damaging them, what about when they go "missing". and how much would that cost the taxpayers? buying ipads for millions of kids?? my high school had 3,000+ students. one out of 100 high schools in LA.

for college, im not sure it would be so great. can u highlight in them? what about writing notes? using sticker tabs for specific pages? being able to resell them afterwards. what if your ipad is stolen? you have to buy the e-book again? and i can guarantee you that after a few years, the ebook version, the only version, will be around $100, just like the damn textbooks are! except you wont be able to do anything with it after you're done with it :nonono: the college textbook industry is the biggest rip-off in the world! love how they change editions every 3 years so used copies become obsolete. like my Calc teacher said, math hasnt changed in 1000 years, why do we need new editions every 2 years?? :rollseyes all they do is shuffle the chapters around. /rant

the ONE good thing i see about it is not having to carry around big heavy books all the time. that's it.


oh, and another thing. in quite a few of my classes we had to have 2 or 3 books going at one time (especially in law school). are you going to have 3 ipads sitting on your desk?? or try to flip back and forth between books quickly?? there were plenty of times where i had to have at least 2 books open to use them in conjunction during class.

Some of that is covered here.
Apple's Channel - YouTube

College text books are ridiculously expensive. My wife just dropped $400 dollars for 3 classes...

 

[WireEater]

The future of learning is here. Embrace it, I think hands on is a much better way to get a kid to learn that from plain paper books. It can also save a lot of cost of materials etc, for labs and such projects, experiments, etc.

I potty trained my son this summer by using my iPad 2 as a treat. Every potty he did he got to play one puzzle game. Had him fully trained in about a week. So not only did he learn to go potty, he learned to stimulate his mind with puzzles. Now he can use iPhone without even blinking an eye. He is 3 1/2.

 

[Beerdog80]

College text books are ridiculously expensive. My wife just dropped $400 dollars for 3 classes...

I've dropped nearly that much for ONE class before. Seeing a price tag north of $1000 per semester was not uncommon.

 

[Ditty]

I'm starting my Freshman semester on the 30th and don't even have a list of the books I'll need for the three classes requiring them. The college is no help. "Go online and search" they tell me. How about just putting the required books in the description of the durn class??!!!

And I'm more than certain I'll be dropping $300-400 for these books. Just like Steve@TF said, Math and History haven't changed. What's the point of changing the editions every few years for general classes. The History of Civilization hasn't changed much in 2-3 years! And MATH???!!! Math hasn't changed over the eons. It's fundamental.

 

[roushcobra2003]

I'm starting my Freshman semester on the 30th and don't even have a list of the books I'll need for the three classes requiring them. The college is no help. "Go online and search" they tell me. How about just putting the required books in the description of the durn class??!!!

And I'm more than certain I'll be dropping $300-400 for these books. Just like Steve@TF said, Math and History haven't changed. What's the point of changing the editions every few years for general classes. The History of Civilization hasn't changed much in 2-3 years! And MATH???!!! Math hasn't changed over the eons. It's fundamental.

Did you try the schools bookstore online? That's usually how I get my books. I check online to see what books I need to get then go on amazon to get used books. I saved about $200 this semester going this route.

 

[Beerdog80]

Actually, history changes quite often as new evidence is discovered by others continuing reasearch.

As for your books, Im sure your school has a list of required books for each class at the campus bookstore. Or, read the syllabus from your instructors. If all that fails, get a hold of the department lead and ask

 

[Ditty]

I checked w/ the bookstore...and the online bookstore. The website is setup like it was made in 2000. Pretty difficult to use. I have to log-in everytime I click a link. Annoying. I'm planning on waiting until the first day of school to see what books they are requiring, (friend told me that a LOT of the profs at this school change the books or add/delete books, or don't require them at all.) I'm planning on transfering to another University for my summer session and beyond. I'm currently enrolled at a Community College.

Why a CC? B/c when I called around to see what all I needed, NONE of the other area school's VA offices answered the phone or e-mails. THIS school picked up on the 2nd ring and has been MORE than helpful...except when getting me a list of my books.

 

[PoohBear]

hmmm, i saw the headline the other day but didnt read the article. i thought it would be for college textbooks, which i wasnt sure was a good idea. but for kids?? :dw: besides damaging them, what about when they go "missing". and how much would that cost the taxpayers? buying ipads for millions of kids?? my high school had 3,000+ students. one out of 100 high schools in LA.

for college, im not sure it would be so great. can u highlight in them? what about writing notes? using sticker tabs for specific pages? being able to resell them afterwards. what if your ipad is stolen? you have to buy the e-book again? and i can guarantee you that after a few years, the ebook version, the only version, will be around $100, just like the damn textbooks are! except you wont be able to do anything with it after you're done with it :nonono: the college textbook industry is the biggest rip-off in the world! love how they change editions every 3 years so used copies become obsolete. like my Calc teacher said, math hasnt changed in 1000 years, why do we need new editions every 2 years?? :rollseyes all they do is shuffle the chapters around. /rant

the ONE good thing i see about it is not having to carry around big heavy books all the time. that's it.


oh, and another thing. in quite a few of my classes we had to have 2 or 3 books going at one time (especially in law school). are you going to have 3 ipads sitting on your desk?? or try to flip back and forth between books quickly?? there were plenty of times where i had to have at least 2 books open to use them in conjunction during class.

Highlighting and putting post it notes can be done within the software or digital textbook. You can also create flash cards to help you study. The video that Fuerza replied to you with shows what the digital textbooks will be capable of. Pretty cool if you ask me.