Apple's digital textbook initiative

[Laser Jock]

I'm curious to see how those actually pan out. For what it's worth, commercially pressed CDs and DVDs (e.g., music or videos that you buy on discs) are also physically pressed, rather than burned into dye. Those do last longer than burned discs, for sure, but they aren't forever either. (And then, as Fredjikrang pointed out, you need to be able to read the files on them. Plus, you need a working reader too...which, given long enough, is also tricky.)

[Digit]

I wonder what format NASA used for the pictures on the Golden Disc and how long that will last.

[Yellow]

For those who are interested, the EULA on iBooks Author was updated today, and clarifies that it only applies to the actual .ibooks files generated from the app. Apple doesn't claim ownership of the content, and you can still sell PDFs generated from the app, etc.

Anyway, I know it got discussed, so I thought I'd share.

[Fredjikrang]

Thanks for the update Yellow!

As other update, looks like Apple timed it very, very well: http://www.padgadget.com/2012/02/02/u-s ... fit-apple/

[Laser Jock]

What do you guys think of the criticisms raised (both about Apple, and about "digital learning" in general) in this piece from the LA Times?

I'll say that much of my skepticism about all of this has less to do with Apple specifically, and more to do with not being convinced that switching to e-books or other e-learning will have anything like the effect that tech companies claim it will. I thought the author's mention of Edison, a century ago, was awesome, as well as his mention of high expectations for television as well, half a century later.

[Fredjikrang]

I thought it was interesting, but I think that it is an overly negative view of everything. Mainly I feel like the author was trying to say that digital textbooks, like other technologies, will have no effect on the school system. I personally find this idea very flawed.

While I don't believe that something digital is inherently better than some other format, I do believe that a digital textbook can (not that it necessarily will, but that it can) be a better learning tool. Which is to say, a poorly made digital textbook with not be any better than a poorly made normal textbook, but I do believe that a well made digital textbook can be more effective than a well made normal textbook. And there are other advantages as well, and some other disadvantages.

And not only do I find this quote absolutely absurd:

"The media you use make no difference at all to learning," says Richard E. Clark, director of the Center for Cognitive Technology at USC. "Not one dang bit. And the evidence has been around for more than 50 years."

But also very misleading.

The evidence has been around for 50 years, huh? So, show me 50 years of data about the use of computers in the classroom? Or the internet? Or digital textbooks? What, you don't have it?

I'm sorry, but I think that that is one of the dumbest comments that I have seen made on the subject. Of course it matters! And not only that, but that quote reminds me a lot of the lack of foresight of the infamous patent office worker and many others who made predictions about the future and what would happen. I even had a teacher tell a similar story about a professor that he had had. This professor had said that no one would be entering near Earth orbit anytime soon, and then less than a week later Sputnik did just that.

You can not dismiss technologies that have not be invented or tested yet. It is just stupid.

I personally believe that we should be looking at how to better apply all technical advances to education, not saying that they can benefit no one, especially since more and more jobs are technical jobs every year, and if nothing else, early exposure of children to what are the current advances in technology can give them a big head start.

Do I think that digital textbooks are going to "revolutionize" education? No. But I do think that they would make things a whole lot easier for me as a student, and that they can help others as well, and that is why I am in favor of them.