Apple Kills the Textbook with iBooks 2, iBooks Author

[usrname]

84. Lesson plans vs textbooks

I think the point of the Apple presentation today is to say that a static textbook is irrelevant. A lesson plan that incorporates a 21st century iTextbook (or whatever it's called) utilizing multi-media and dynamic search and linking within and beyond the "book" will become a much more effective teaching and learning medium.

Read Cathy Davidson's recent book, "Now You See It" to understand what she did at Duke University and nearby elementary schools in developing new teaching methods, addressing how people learn (from a physiological perspective) and how to incorporate new ideas into teaching and learning. Duke was the instigator of the novel "free iPod for every freshmen" in 2005 where educators all over derided the idea, saying that it's money down the drain. Instead, that idea formed the basis for iTunes U! Podcasting lectures became the new thing and look at where we are. I'm right now downloading lectures from Stanford to learn iOS programming. For free.

I would love to add my 2¢ in by publishing an iBook textbook. It looks easy and doesn't require that much upfront fee or even need an agent to talk to publishers. For $15 a copy and Apple takes 30% or whatever, it would be a nice income generator. Of course, to keep it current, I would need to keep maintaining it, which could be a PITA.