iBooks Textbooks a Solution?

For five and a half years, I’ve been encouraging teachers at our school to promote and support etextbook use among their students. Yes, there are essentially PDF versions and require a relatively large screen to view. These etextbook versions really offer no more of a benefit to students than not having to haul around fifteen pound biology textbooks.

But, finally, doing what they did for music and tablets, Apple is now revolutionizing textbooks, and with it the education and learning field.

And while I’m excited by this powerful technology I can’t help but feel saddened by the news. Is it because I know that our school district, like the vast majority of jurisdictions in BC, we don’t see adopting this technology any time soon? Cost prohibitive tools make it difficult and only serve to (and pardon this dated reference) increase the ‘digital divide’.

If Apple really does want to save education I think that seriously dropping the bottom line in the name of ‘pure altruistic reasons’ is really the only sincere option.