Today Apple unveiled a free iBooks 2 application for the iPad that brings interactive textbooks to the popular tablet computer. According to Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, “Education is deep in Apple’s DNA,” which is confusing to me since texbooks are a major component of an education that has been flawed since the late Middle Ages, and one would think that Apple’s DNA would recognize that schooling and education are sometimes at odds with each other.
“With iBooks 2 for iPad, students have a more dynamic, engaging and truly interactive way to read and learn.” This quote is pure and utter garbage. What is new about canned content from Pearson and the other companies drooling at the prospects of finding new ways to view children as bodies with wallets, and education as the memorization of mindless material that, most likely, can be found in better form in ten minutes with a well-crafted Google search?
He said the iPad is “rapidly being adopted by schools across the US and around the world” and 1.5 million iPads are already being used in educational institutions. This should make us cry. Apple has clearly lost its soul.
Back in the early days when Apple really cared about education, a variety of creative ideas were encouraged both inside and outside the company all centered on the idea that computers let us do things we simply couldn’t do before at all. Languages like Logo were supported, along with other creative tools such as Hyperstudio, and some internal projects as well (especially Cocoa which spun off and became Stagecast Creator).
Then along comes the iPad – a potential game changer being driven into schools by the students themselves. Scratch, an amazing programming environment for kids (and grownups) developed by Mitch Resnick’s group at the MIT Medialab, was REMOVED from the iTunes store. And now, the offerings of the old guard publishers will be featured. The message is clear – “school is fine the way it has always been – now buy some new toys that require no changes in the system at all.”
This didn’t happen by accident. Careful thought went into Apple’s perspective on how tablets should be used by children. Today they decided that the iPad should be a costly version of the Amazon Kindle Fire. while this may be a lucrative move on Apple’s part, it destroys any semblance of Apple caring one whit about real learning. It is as if Dewey, Piaget, Papert and other giants in the field had never been born.
The bright spot is that the MIT folks are currently working on bringing some of their creative projects for kids to the Android platform, so this is not a condemnation of tablet strategies in general, only of Apple’s astounding march to the 19th century (as so aptly put by my friend and colleague, Gary Stager).
I bear no ill will toward Apple, only sadness in their decision to sell out the nation’s youth to curry favor with the very publishers that have done everything in their power to hold education to the past – at any cost.
This is a sad day indeed.
thornburgthoughts 
My personal concern is that the authoring tool will only help to devalue textbooks, who have their place and use, even in a Google/Wikipedia age. Where will the filtering happen? Who will fact check and edit text? How much intellectual currency will the role of author have in educational terms in a year’s time?
Some issues, sure – like getting the $500 ipad into kids’ hands. But a littler early to totally dis on this
David, thanks for sharing the specifics of Apple’s “plan” for i-pad use in school settings. So sad! I remember several years ago being excited about the idea of interactive electronic textbooks; I was sorely disappointed when I previewed several and saw the exact same content as a typical print textbook on a screen. Technology has so many capabilities, but many schools are so reluctant to use it in any way that’s truly innovative.
While I agree with your general stance on textbooks (the ones in my classrooms are mostly used as counterweights for building projects) you are missing a big point. I just downloaded iBooks Author and plan on giving it to my students to write and publish books they can share with each other and the world.
I know my boss’ bosses, and their bosses, will never leave the textbook world and will keep throwing money away to Pearson and the like. Fine. If it makes them buy iPads for all kids to serve them up I will do what I (and many, but not enough other teachers) have always done. Take their technology and find ways for my students to use them for deeper, project based learning.
Many of the things Apple has banned from the iPads are disappointing – Scratch and other programming languages most of all in my opinion. There are still plenty of creative, interesting, and student-centered uses for iPads though. I’m not ready to write them, or Apple, off yet.
Meh. You gonna blame Frigidaire for crappy food products? I would like to accept my first dissertation as an Apple ibook authored text, including video or audio clips from interview or observational data collection, where appropriate. I’d like to see an Ibook-authored stat text in which the graphs are dynamic, interactive widgets embedded in explanatory text. I guess I’m not seeing the evil some of you see. It’s not Apple’s job to kill Pearson, and providing a friendly authoring tool isn’t so much different from providing a friendly programming environment for kids. Authoring, like programming, is a constructive activity. If Pearson and others just simply port the old schlock onto the ipad, yah, that’s pretty lame. But if they can learn to take advantage of interactivity, I say good for them and us.
I think the the announcement of iBooks author for the Mac is excellent. For years I have wanted an easy way to bring my class resources into a portable device so the students can continue to work on the bus for example. This new software makes it very easy for me. For teachers to be able to create their own very professional learning resources is amazing.
Before we get all misty-eyed at Apple’s largess, note the following paragraph from the agreement required with all iBooks authors in the educational arena:
“6. Textbooks and Apple Software. If Content is for use in education and includes elements such as interactive diagrams, 3D models and/or photo galleries, rather than primarily text for reading, then such eBooks shall be considered an “eTextbook.” eTextbooks must (i) comply with any Apple Guidelines that may be made available by Apple, as may be modified from time to time, (ii) be developed using proprietary Apple Software licensed from Apple and made available under separate terms, and (iii) be approved as a compliant eTextbook by Apple for distribution on the Online Store. In order to take full advantage of the functionality provided by some eTextbooks (and eBooks made with such Apple Software, e.g., interactive travel books or cookbooks), end users may be required to use certain applications from Apple.”
Did you catch the “licensed from Apple” phrase? Do you think Apple supports developers for free?
I’m a huge fan of student-created media. If Apple wants to define what this means in their platform, that is their right. But their insistence on using a closed platform without allowing other amazing tools to be made available (e.g., Scratch) is simply awful and antithetical to the idea that “Education is in Apple’s DNA,” unless it is part of a recessive gene.
Part of the future danger is this kind of thought process:
“I just downloaded iBooks Author and plan on giving it to my students to write and publish books they can share with each other and the world.”
While I don’t doubt good intentions, I can see the term ‘text book’ being reduced to the same sort of quality filter as a YouTube clip i.e. none.
iBooks Author is also not free, but rather, free if you are running the latest OS. For some, that may mean upgrading.
I genuinely do like the concept, and love many of Apple’s products, but think we should have a little caution to this new launch. After all, Powerpoint was designed to make presentations better, and look where that got us!
My school tech committee just decided to spend a large sum on a cart of 20 iPads -in spite of my protestations that, 1) The iPad is NOT a tool for content creation and 2) The OS on the iPad 2 will be obsolete in less than two years! Everyone loves the “apps” for edutainment -great, but they can play on their phones be they iPhones or Andriods. I want my students to have the ability and freedom to create anything their beautiful little minds can imagine or hearts desire. The iPad does not offer them that opportunity.
my response:
http://holtthink.tumblr.com/post/16238066331/ibooks-author-eua-much-ado-about-nothing
Tim, your response has virtually no bearing on the thesis of David’s piece above;
Apple’s “…decision to sell out the nation’s youth to curry favor with the very publishers that have done everything in their power to hold education to the past – at any cost.”
It ‘s about the kids and their education that so many of us have been trying to bring into the 21st century. The tool is only as good as what they can do with it and the iPad is not a tool for creation.
Have you seen the work-around that Pearson is using to sell ebooks at an outlandish price from their own book store. Check out the app Pearson eText, a free app on iTunes, then follow the link on the link. You will see that it leads to Pearson where you MUST have a school district code that is sent to the head of the school district in order to download any ebooks. By doing a little research you will find that the prices that Pearson is charging for eBooks is not $14.95, but rather at least half of the price of the hard covered textbook. The prices of these texts are unbelievable, come in the range of $100 to $200 per eBook, yes I did say eBook and all are purchased throughout the Pearson book store. What’s up with that Apple?
The other thing that you should look at is the Application License Agreement, an agreement that has nothing to do with Apple but with Pearson Publishing. Check out this app thru that iTunes store via your computer to be able to read this License Agreement, one that you can not print out, nor copy or paste. A screen shot is the only way to capture it that I know of.
I thought Apple was clear on work-arounds and that all purchases must be through them. Apparently this is not the case here. Would like to know why this is being allowed.
David – your anti-Apple sentiment is growing old and tired. The iPad is the absolute best device out there. I have used the Kindle Fire, Lenovo and Samsung Android devices and nothing comes close to being as user friendly as the iPad. You have some valid points but Apple doesn’t want to kill education. Your post is over-the-top dramatic. Apple’s job isn’t to kill education or reform it. It is to make money. Innovative students and educators are figuring out to how to learn with this device. Come on…
Madeline,
I have a lot of tablets, including the iPad. You are right that there are great apps for it. That said, Apple treats kids like wallets with bodies, and that bothers me.
My school has nearly total iPads from grade 5-12 and has banned textbooks, teacher chronicles and student diaries. If you want one of these in hard copy you have to buy it yourself. Email is the preferred method of communication and even calculators are now off the book list. Can I just say that initially it was a nightmare, the first year was one problem after another, parents, broken iPads, they are not very durable, and games, games and more bl…..dy games!
The upside is that the teachers got skilled up, the students got used to it, iBooks Author was everywhere and it forced the school to improve its network system. More subjects now had more ICT incorporated and the sky still remained intact, despite all the chicken littles predictions!
I agree that Apple should be ashamed of the way it has handled education and I am concerned that Apple will have far too much influence on learning and pedagogy based on the hip pocket, but it cannot take away the most important aspect and that is a good teacher will always trump any new technology if it is used for what it is intended for, to enhance learning, not become the focus of learning in itself.