The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
You may think of an iPad as a gaming device, news reader, email server or digital photo frame. Apple sees the device as an important educational tool and wants to re-invent the textbook to transform the way students learn. Last week, Apple introduced iBooks 2, an updated iPad app designed to bring interactive textbooks to students in grades K-12.
At Apple’s Keynote Address in New York, Phil Schiller, Senior Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing, explained how iBooks would revolutionize education. He pointed out shortcomings of physical textbooks: they’re heavy, they wear out, they can’t be updated and they’re difficult to search. Interactive iPad textbooks solve those problems: iBooks are easily portable, durable, instantly updated and easy to search. Textbooks through iBooks 2 cost $14.99 or less and students can keep them for life.
Four main publishers have signed with Apple to bring their textbooks to iBooks: Pearson, McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and DK Publishing. These publishers sell 90% of textbooks to schools in the US.
iBooks Features
iBooks textbooks are much more than PDF files of physical textbooks. iBooks textbooks offer interactive features such as embedded videos, 3D animation, audio, and interactive images. For example, swiping your finger over the Worldwide Photosynthetic Activity image in the Life on Earth textbook shows you the changes in photosynthesis over time.
Some textbooks include review questions that provide immediate feedback. If a student chooses the wrong answer, a link is provided which guides the student to the part of the book showing where the correct answer can be found.
Searching is much easier in iBooks textbooks than with physical textbooks. Tapping on a word brings up the definition from the glossary. Tapping on the dictionary icon brings up the entire glossary. Entering a term in the search box guides you to the location where the term can be found. Entering a number in the search box takes you to that page in the book.
The note-taking feature of iBooks is designed to make studying a breeze. Select text and you can highlight it in your choice of colors and/or take notes in a pop-up window. You can then access your notes and highlights in a section organized by chapter. You can also add bookmarks and add notes to the bookmarks.
iBooks has a handy Study Card feature where you can take your notes and highlights and put them on Study Cards. iBooks also puts the glossary terms on Study Cards with the definitions on the back of the cards. You can shuffle these cards or study them in order. Think Flash Cards of the Future.
Students can navigate through these features easily by using a toolbar at the top of the screen.
Improved Student Performance
All of these textbook features are truly impressive. But do impressive features make for smarter kids? One study suggest that’s exactly the case. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt conducted a one year study called HMH Fuse that brought the Algebra 1 iPad textbook to the Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverdale, California. The study was conducted by a third party research firm who provided one set of students with the physical Algebra 1 textbook and the other students with the iBooks Algebra 1 textbook on an iPad. The students who had used the iPad textbook scored 19% better on the California standardized math test than the students who used a physical book. HMH Fuse Pilot Program
Issues with Using iBooks
As exciting and effective as iBooks may be, these interactive textbooks bring up issues that were not addressed in Apple’s Keynote Address. These textbooks require an iPad. With school districts being squeezed by a challenging economy, finding extra funds to purchase or lease iPads for students may be difficult if not impossible. Requiring students to provide their own iPads may impose an undue hardship on families.
If schools provide iPads to students, would students be permitted to bring the iPads home? What if an iPad were lost or damaged? Should schools offer iPad insurance to the parents?
Interactive ebooks, with video, graphics, audio, 3D animations and interactive images, require a lot of space on an iPad. The lowest price iPad holds about five to seven books at the most, meaning space management on the device could become an issue. (If you’re thinking of buying an iPad for a student, Apple just gave you a good reason to get one with more storage space.)
Bottom Line
Apple has provided an innovative and effective way for students to learn. Issues exist regarding device management and cost. But students who have access to these interactive textbooks may be receiving the educational opportunities of the future.
The kids here are already doing this..my daughter’s friend has a son in Middle School in the district that started this last fall..interesting it is.
Yes they do bring them home and at home may use them for whatever! in shool they have guidelines.
I don’t know much more about how that’s all working but I know her friend is pleased with jer son having this opertunity.
Hi Ann Jane, Very interesting. Were your friends’ kids using iBooks textbooks? Textbooks have been available for a while in plain text (PDF) format, but interactive textbooks for K-12 are new, except for some pilot programs.
If that school was part of the pilot program, I imagine the iPads were provided to the school. Very cool!
Thanks for sharing this with us, Ann Jane! 🙂
The school system using them started doing this last year and yes they were provided to all the students.I’m not sure if K-5 got them as her kids are all older than that. As far as I know that’s the only district in the area that has the program so far.
Thanks for letting us know that, Ann Jane. I’m thinking it won’t be the last district to use iPads!
I know I’ve mentioned this before in one of your other posts that taught us about the text books we could purchase and the cool way to learn today using iPads, etc. I sure wish we had been this advanced when I was going to school.
For someone who didn’t quite comprehend what I was reading this would have been so much more helpful. I mean if you get the answer wrong they take you to the page with the correct information. Do you know how long that would have taken me back then!
I’m sure most students are going to be so thrilled with the costs of these text books now and knowing you can hold on to them for a very long time. That’s just a fabulous way to learn today.
Thanks for sharing more amazing technology with us Carolyn. You come through every time. 🙂
Have a fabulous day!
Hi Adrienne, you’re right, I reported on Inkling in November, who publishes interactive textbooks at the university level. https://wonderoftech.com/2011/11/inkling-the-future-of-textbooks/ When I interviewed the CEO of Inkling I asked him if Inkling had any plans to bring interactive textbooks to K-12 and he said they were going to focus on university level textbooks.
I am thrilled that Apple is bringing these textbooks to K-12 as I believe they will aid in education. I agree with you, Adrienne. These are great tools and I wish they were around when we were in school! 🙂
Hey Carolyn,
This is truly wonderful. Some schools in India has tried to integrate reading on laptops and tablets just to make sure that children have easier accessibility to technology and that reading is much more easier.
I like what Apple is doing here. Education sector needs a lot of innovation… anything progressive is more than appreciated.
Thanks for bringing this to my knowledge!
Hi Hajra, Yes, Apple is being the innovative leader in bringing interactive textbooks to K-12. Textbooks have been available as ebooks, but not as interactive ebooks for K-12. I hope that children worldwide are able to have these books to use for school as the study shows that the students’ performance is improved by having these textbooks. They seem to make learning more fun.
I just finished the Steve Jobs bio and the book discusses at length Jobs’ vision for Apple and the ‘classroom’ being the next frontier. It’s exciting, really. I’ve lugged my daughter’s University bag out of the car and it’s shocking to me that she isn’t doubled over in pain!
Hi Ruth, Yes, Steve Jobs put an emphasis on integrating Apple products in the classrooms. Many schools use Mac computers, which gets the kids used to them and trained on them. It makes good business sense to start them young!
Ruth, your daughter should check out Inkling textbooks, which are interactive iPad textbooks at the university level. I wrote an article about them in November. https://wonderoftech.com/2011/11/inkling-the-future-of-textbooks/
Inkling allows students to purchase textbooks by individual chapters, making those textbooks more affordable for students and lighter to carry as well!
Hey Carolyn, I just wanted to let you know about The Dark Globe’s “February Shoot Off! Photography Competition that will beginning February 1st, and Running Through February 14th… At The Moment We’re Voting on the Themes for the Photos if you’d like to Partake Here http://thedarkglobe.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/february-shoot-off-help-us-choose-the-theme-s/
Also, if you’d like to Submit a Photo, or know people that might want to, be sure to Let them know it will be Starting February First
Thanks
DarkJade-
Hi DarkJade, Thanks for letting us know! Quite a few Wonder of Tech readers are skilled photographers, so I hope they enter. If any Wonder of Tech readers do enter this contest, please let us know so we can support you! 🙂
Sounds Good, Thanks Carolyn
DarkJade-
Wow! This is awesome stuff! I just wish it was in our school district already. My son could really benefit from it. Maybe by high school? The flash cards alone make it such a great study tool.
Hi Carol, Yes, the Study Cards are a great tool for the students to quiz themselves on the terms. They can make their own study cards or use the ones created from the glossary.
The sooner these textbooks are available to students the better. I also think that if your school is using one of the textbooks available on iBooks, you may want to consider purchasing it yourself if your child has an iPad. For $15 you could be providing your child with an educational advantage.
My little kids I believe do not need it now but in 2 years, they will definitely will. I couldn’t imagine that such a gadget will be specially designed for the students:) It is great. They have to learn from young to deal with Apple’s products:)
Hi Anna, I agree, Apple is savvy to introduce their product to children at a young age. Perhaps in two years, these books will be available for your children in school! 🙂
Carolyn,
YES! Of course. Apple is wonderful, in my opinion and of course they would do this. I will definitely be getting one for my little girl. (I’d like one myself) Seriously tough, Bella sees me work all day on my laptop and her older brother on his computer doing his school work, she HAS to have one as well, “to be big like you, Mom”
I can’t wait to explore the iBooks!
Hi Amber-Lee, I hope by the time your Bella is in school she will be using these interactive textbooks. I have a feeling our children’s educational process is bound to be much different than ours was!
I think that it’s great that the textbooks are available on the iPad. Unfortunately none of the textbooks that WT uses are available yet, but I am eagerly awaiting that. I think it will be great not to have to carry heavy books around, and I love the fact that it will have flashcards and animations.
People keep debating whether the schools or parents should be responsible for paying for the iPad itself. I think that it is a bit much for schools to pay for everyone to have an iPad, but I think that they should make it an option. They could make it optional by having the hard back books for people who do not want to have to buy the iPad and then provide the rebate product code that schools can give students to download the textbooks to the iPad that students own themselves. I know one school is making it mandatory. They are making it so kids have to either buy one or lease an iPad from the school at a cheaper cost. I don’t think its asking that much for people to have iPads because now almost every teen asks for a laptop or iPad.
Hi LIz, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you’re excited about iBook textbooks. When the announcement was made, eight textbooks were available in the iTunes Store, today there are nine books available. The number of textbooks will continue to grow.
Great point, leasing iPads could be a very useful solution. Families could rent iPads which could take care of the issue of the devices being upgraded later. But schools and Apple would have to make leasing affordable, especially for families with a lot of children in school.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your very helpful comment, Liz.
I think Phil Schiller have sorted out the best points to replace textbooks to iBooks. It is the bets idea one can implement to adapt with the changing time. Also children would be enthusiastic to learn with iBooks. It is the need of time I think. The capacity of iBook is far more than the textbook. Also instead of carrying different textbooks of different sizes for different subjects, it is more convenient to carry a single iBook for all the subjects. This is truly beneficial in all directions.
Hi Jeo, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I agree with you, there are many benefits to using iPads in the classroom. Students can have all of their books with them at once. No books forgotten or left behind in lockers. The weight of backpacks would be significantly reduced as well. 🙂
I am convinced that the iPad will be more of a distraction and less of a study material. But of course, America is experimenting with the new medium and we will know in the days to come, how this is all going to work out.
Hi Adeline, You very well could be right. If the implementation of interactive textbooks means that students were distracted by the interactive features and lose the ability to learn from a physical book.
Time will tell whether this movement to interactive textbooks will be beneficial for the next generation.
I always thought textbooks were the biggest waste of money. It’s crazy to think that anyone could spend $200 plus on a book they read once just because they HAD TO.
It really wasn’t fair to students, so it’s good to see Apple trying to right that wrong.
I hope this succeeds, it would certainly make sense to me.
Bryce
Hi Bryce, you’re right, textbooks are frightfully expensive and it’s a challenge because you don’t really have a choice in textbooks. You need to get what is required by the course.
If these interactive textbooks can be cheaper than physical textbooks, including the hardware requirements, this development will benefit everyone!
I think this is just the beginning of the “textbook revolution”. Apple’s announcement last week will go down in history as the beginning of a whole new way of learning. I couldn’t be more excited. As with any “new thing”, there are a lot of unanswered questions and blanks to be filled in but this is a marvelous start.
I don’t like to bring this up but nobody in the wonderful world of Windows seemed to worry that MS Access and other programs were not available on Macs. Well now the tables have turned and Apple is holding all the important cards. Some people complained that Apple should have made it available on all platforms. I’ve studied the e-publshing business enough to know how terribly difficult that would be. And in the end Apple would have been spending a lot of resources to provide a free service for their competitors. I don’t think so 🙂
There are major economic issues to contend with. Poor school districts will not be able to afford tablets without major restructuring of their textbook financing systems – meaning a lot of bureaucratic wrangling. But change they will as the industry changes and the economics of printed versus electronic textbooks finally sink in.
Right now, a few publishers and even fewer states control what our children read. That’s all about to change bigtime.
Wow Gary, insightful analysis. I agree with you about the complaints about the content being restricted to Apple platforms. Kindle is very restrictive as well, but there don’t seem to be as many complaints about that platform.
Somehow, Apple needs to make iPads affordable for school districts in all economic levels. Perhaps the revenue from the iBooks textbooks could help fund a program for lower priced iPads for schools.
You’re right, this is a game changer and probably is only the beginning of how the advances in personal technology will affect our education system. Interesting times ahead!
Hi Carolyn,
Great information on the new textbooks. I can see from your post that there are so many advantages for the students. The cost and possibility of loss are always going to be a factor, but the advantages seem to far outweigh the negatives. I agree with some of your other comments – how nice that would have been to have had ipads when we were students, but at least we can watch our kids and grandkids learn with them.
Hi Cathy, I do believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, as you said. But interestingly, I wonder how much longer it will be before these textbooks are considered “old technology.” What will replace digital textbooks? It’s hard to imagine. What will our grandchildren’s grandchildren use to learn? 😕
Hi Carolyn,
I have just started to explore iBooks, and especially the possibilities in version 2. I have read a few books, but since I prefer my Kindle, that’s the device I have been reading them on. But, with the interactive features and all the possibilities with adding videos and images etc.. to books, I can see how this can be a revolution for education. And, I’m not sure if this is possible in iBooks, but I just love the feature in Kindle where I can see the text that people have highlighted. This is brilliant when it comes to education, because then you’ll see what other students think is important to remember.
Hi Jens, I agree with you, I enjoy seeing what others have highlighted in my Kindle books. (Note to readers, you can turn this feature off in your Kindle.)
Inkling interactive iPad textbooks for university students have that feature, Jens. You can see what others have hightlighted and read their notes as well. You can even interact with professors, authors and other experts through Inkling textbooks.
I find the differences and similarities between Inkling and iBooks textbooks to be fascinating. As you work in a university environment, I would be very interested in your opinion, Jens, about the value of these features. 🙂
I didn’t know that the Inkling interactive iPad textbooks have this feature. To me, it sounds like the perfect books for students. I wish I had this when I attended the University (back in the old days) 🙂
I haven’t tested any interactive books yet, so I can only imagine how cool it must be to use for students. My guess is that they’ll learn a lot more by being able to see what others are doing, and even interact with professors.. that’s just awesome.
Hi Jens, Inkling textbooks provide a chapter free for sampling if you want to download one to see how they work. They are available in the iTunes App Store, but I’m afraid none are available in Norwegian yet! 🙂
Carolyn – I am sure iBook will become popular in these coming days or they already have for what it matters. It has really changed the way the education system was before and students are able to focus on their subjects and get more information in the least amount of time with the help of iPads.
The negative points listed by you are not so very disturbing for me, i would strongly pledge for iPads to be given out to students and help them achieve their goals in a easy manner.
It is really true that Ipod has many features. These features are functions differently from each other. It is really up to the person that will use the gadget on where to use the device. Students can really have great benefits from the device, like the one that is mentioned above, iBooks, this will truly grant educational benefits to students, but if the student who posses the device use it for gaming then the iBooks features will be useless. Supervision is also needed in order to maximize the whole device. That is only my honest opinion.
Thanks!
Hi Travis, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Excellent point, electronic devices can be fantastic tools or a waste of time, depending on how they are used. Something as simple as the telephone can be a useful tool or an annoying distraction, depending on how you use it.
I hope that iPads are used wisely by students so they can make full use of this advanced tool for learning. 🙂
I am a semiretired computer engineer and now work in a non-profit school helping with IT and technology in the classroom. What we, and many other schools, are facing is the increasing cost of technology as related to each individual student. Does the school provide access for a device to each student? If yes, the costs to the school in maintenance and support will break many budgets. What I see becoming more prevalent is what is called “BYOD” initiatives. In the Bring Your Own Device model, the school accepts that students probably have better technology access than the school can provide; however, it also acknowledges that some students will not have devices. Therefore, any programs built around a BYOD model must use sharing and collaboration as a teaching method. In the BYOD model, Apple laptops, iPad, Android Tablets, PCs, smart phones, Kindles can all work as long as application are internet based or in the cloud for collaboration.
Hi Chris, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! It’s great to have you here and sharing with us your perspective as an educator and a computer engineer.
You bring up very interesting points. Some school districts will probably require that students provide their own iPads (perhaps with financial assistance for those who can’t afford them), but other districts will provide the devices for the students. If the iPad textbook is the only one used in the classroom, then sharing may not be a workable alternative.
September may be the time for these questions to be answered. By then the offerings of textbooks in the iTunes iBookstore may be more numerous than they are now. If so, people may be very eager to adopt these textbook for the classroom. Interesting times.