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Leslie Lieman

Apple and the Digital Textbook Counter-Revolution - 3 views

hackeducation.com/...he-textbook-counter-revolution

iPad iPads textbooks iBooks education technology

shared by Leslie Lieman on 28 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Leslie Lieman on 28 Jan 12
     
    I am posting two articles: 1) Apple's recent announcement about getting into digital textbooks (article/link below) and 2) the criticism (this link) by Hack Education blogger Audrey Watters. Education needs to rethink the need for textbooks altogether. Digitizing them is not the answer. She states, "You can disassemble, reassemble, unbundle, disrupt, destroy the textbook. It is truly an irrelevant format."
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Emily Lovell on 30 Jan 12
     
    I thought it was interesting to read Watters's criticism of Apple's textbook plans, although I also thought it felt pretty one-sided. I do have reservations about how Apple is going about this (expecting everyone to own an iPad, requiring textbook authors to surrender rights, etc.) - but I don't think that the overall idea is so unbearable. Digitized textbooks offer many affordances compared to what we're stuck with currently (textbooks that are outdated, heavy, expensive, and limited by static content). Of course, theoretically we could do without textbooks, as Watters suggests in her criticism... but I'm not yet convinced of this in a practical, realistic sense. I suspect that the resources required to realize textbook-free classrooms are beyond what most schools and teachers have access to. (I also realize that iPads are not cheap! But if digitized textbooks were to become popular across a range of platforms, perhaps they would be more accessible to a broader demographic... and it's not as if physical textbooks are cheap either.)
  • Leslie Lieman on 30 Jan 12
     
    Hi Emily - thanks for your thoughts! Bloggers (especially those who use the name Hack in their title) are going to be provocative (one-sided) in their writing... but it helps raise questions about standard practices. I too agree that eTextbooks or iBooks are going to be tremendously more engaging and up-to-date than the ones that weigh down kids bookbags. But now take a look at the other article I posted: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/flow-digital-textbooks that suggests how publishers are not open to new and niche ideas that might be incredibly beneficial to education. The publishing market has a hold on education. Is it possible that the textbooks will not be available across a range of platforms, but only on a few that the publishers agree to work with? Maybe it is time we push for a more open source model... that could also work towards digitizing textbooks... or would innovate other ways for students to access "textbook"" knowledge.
  • Emily Lovell on 30 Jan 12
     
    Thanks for the nudge to read the other article that you posted as well! It was a nice counterpoint to Watters and the FLOW platform seems like a promising stab at digital textbooks from an open-source standpoint.
Tracy Tan

Irish schools make switch to ebooks; Textbooks go hi-tech as students learn on iPads an... - 0 views

Access to the site is by subscription, so I am including the article here: T'S a sad day for doodlers. The dog-eared textbook is on its final chapter in Ireland as schools switch to ebooks. More t...

ipads proliferation

started by Tracy Tan on 29 Feb 12 no follow-up yet
Jennifer Jocz

Textbook Firms Ink E-Deals For iPad - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...3338504575041630390346178.html

iPad e-textbooks

shared by Jennifer Jocz on 04 Feb 10 - Cached
  • a recent Kaplan study showed that students remain big fans of printed books but that they would be more receptive to e-textbooks on portable digital devices.
  • he iPad's lower-than-expected entry-level price of $499 will interest schools, but some of them may not be able to purchase the device right away if they've already purchased netbooks.
  • Jennifer Jocz on 04 Feb 10
     
    Some major textbook publishers are adapting their textbooks and other resources for the iPad and other digital devices.
Leslie Lieman

Digital Textbooks Go Straight From Scientists to Students - 4 views

www.wired.com/...flow-digital-textbooks

interactive technology education learning T545 T565 textbook textbooks science

shared by Leslie Lieman on 29 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Leslie Lieman on 29 Jan 12
     
    An an interactive digital textbook powered by a student-created system called FLOW. "The Cachalot app, powered by FLOW, allows students to take notes, highlight text, tweet at content experts and perform Wolfram|Alpha searches without leaving the screen. (David Johnston/Cachalot)." Also interesting for T565ers about academic project turned down by publishing houses.
Ryan Brown

Michael Levine: Games: A Textbook for Digital Best Practices - 2 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...xtbook-for-digi_b_1285253.html

learning technology education engagement video games digital textbooks

shared by Ryan Brown on 02 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Kiran Patwardhan on 02 Mar 12
     
    Written with Alan Gershenfeld, Founder and President of E-Line Media The White House recently announced two major initiatives in learning and technology -- these "digital seed capital" efforts are "down-payments" to jumpstart innovation and break a two decade long cycle of snail-like reform.
  • Ryan Brown on 04 Mar 12
     
    While this article mostly discusses digital textbooks, there is a section devoted to "The Engagement Challenge" and how quality video games can make education more relevant to children.
Parisa Rouhani

Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...13texas.html

conservative textbooks

shared by Parisa Rouhani on 12 Mar 10 - Cached
  • social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the role of Christianity in American history and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
  • Republicans on the board have passed more than 160 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school.
  • They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • reviewed every decade
  • conservative members maintain that they are trying to correct what they see as a liberal bias among the teachers who proposed the curriculum
Kiran Patwardhan

Education with Augmented Reality: AR textbooks released in Japan - 1 views

www.zdnet.com/...1541

education technology AR

shared by Kiran Patwardhan on 05 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Kiran Patwardhan on 05 Apr 12
     
    Although the idea of an iPad for every student may struggle to come to fruition for a few years, Augmented Reality textbooks are paving the way for a smooth transition. Japanese publishing company Tokyo Shoseki is producing textbooks that support AR apps on smartphones, bringing characters to life for students to listen to.
Leslie Lieman

Live from Apple's education event at the Guggenheim - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Tech - 1 views

tech.fortune.cnn.com/...ve-from-apples-education-event

iPad iPads textbooks iBooks education technology interactive

shared by Leslie Lieman on 28 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Leslie Lieman on 28 Jan 12
     
    I am posting two articles: 1) Apple's recent announcement (here) and 2) the criticism (above) by Hack Education blogger Audrey Watters This article is about Apple's announcement to "reinvent the textbook" around the iPad. "The message: it's going to be a lot easier in the future for publishers and educators to create a new generation of interactive textbooks."
Chris McEnroe

Lighten that backpack: Obama administration challenges schools to embrace digital textb... - 1 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...gIQA0dKNiQ_story.html

shared by Chris McEnroe on 01 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Ryan Brown on 01 Feb 12
     
    Another article on digital textbooks. The author describes how students in Joplin, MO, went digital after the tornado destroyed their schools. Mixed results.
  • Chris McEnroe on 02 Feb 12
     
    With the Secretary calling for digital books, how does he envision teacher training programs to be transformed?
Uche Amaechi

CourseSmart E-Textbooks Track Students' Progress for Teachers - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...nts-progress-for-teachers.html

shared by Uche Amaechi on 10 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • Maurice Joyce on 10 Apr 13
     
    Interesting though scary. As Dede points out in the article, it is concerning that faculty may use these "engagement indices" as a form of evaluation.
Chris McEnroe

Hyping classroom technology helps tech firms, not students - latimes.com - 1 views

www.latimes.com/...ltzik-20120205,0,639053.column

shared by Chris McEnroe on 05 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • "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."
  • "does not automatically inspire teachers to rethink their teaching or students to adopt new modes of learning."
  • The app is free, and plainly can help users create visually striking textbooks. But buried in the user license is a rule that if you sell a product created with iBooks Author, you can sell it only through Apple's iBookstore, and Apple will keep 30% of the purchase price. (Also, your full-featured iBook will be readable only on an Apple device such as an iPad.)
  • Chris McEnroe on 05 Feb 12
     
    This article is a bit snarky but it raises some worthwhile cautions around the buzz of tech in education, particularly Apple.
  • Leslie Lieman on 05 Feb 12
     
    It is amazing to me that Apple and technology can take center stage in the education conversation without a word of professional development, best practices, learning outcomes... As I have stated before, I/we are an Apple family... but I am worried about the prospect that Apple's role in the textbook industry will eliminate other platforms and in-turn will limit access to many.
Jackie Iger

iPad Textbooks: Reality Less Revolutionary Than Hardware | Wired Science | Wired.com - 2 views

www.wired.com/...ipad-textbooks-learning

technology education iBooks etextbooks

shared by Jackie Iger on 13 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Jackie Iger on 13 Feb 12
     
    An interesting article that explores the question of whether kids will learn more and better on tablets.
  • Katerina Manoff on 13 Feb 12
     
    Thanks for sharing! I think many of the strongest proponents of "tablets for all" would benefit from this more balanced perspective.
Chris Dede

Bypassing the Textbook: Video Games Transform Social Studies Curriculcum | MindShift - 1 views

blogs.kqed.org/...ames-as-social-studies-content

social studies videogames

shared by Chris Dede on 20 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • Chris Dede on 20 Jan 14
     
    Social studies teacher using entertainment videogames
Chris McEnroe

Broken STEM: A failure to teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Math | The Connect... - 3 views

www.ctmirror.org/...ngineering-and-math-hurting-us

shared by Chris McEnroe on 04 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • “It suddenly occurred to me that every idea I had memorized or learned or thought I understood in a textbook was actually the result of scientific investigation,
  • “What was missing that it took me so long?”
  • She thinks science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields aren’t taught the right way in the United States
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “the U.S. tends to have a curriculum that repeats the same topics over and over
  • Data show that American students actually do well in math and science in the early years (http://nces.ed.gov/timss/results07_math07.asp). By 12th grade, however, their performance has plummeted (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/c1/fig01-08.htm).
  • Stephanie Fitzgerald on 04 Mar 12
     
    Thanks for sharing this, Chris. It's both interesting and relevant to my project for this course. A comment at the bottom suggested that really the companies need to change their unrealistic minimum criteria for job candidates. I've heard that argument before, and sometimes I do wonder when I see complaints from companies looking only for people with 5+ years of STEM work experience railing on the state of STEM education. What do you think?
  • Lauren Farrar on 12 Mar 12
     
    Thanks for sharing Chris! I can totally relate to this. I remember having to sit through those "weed out" intro biology and chemistry courses in undergrad. They were the antithesis of motivating but I pushed through because I knew without them I couldn't do the "cool science" I wanted to. I remember at the time thinking these courses were weeding out people who were entertaining the idea of a STEM career but just didn't want to put up with the cut throat nature of these courses. It seemed to me the classes were more concerned about weeding out people than by providing an environment that really fostered learning.
Jerald Cole

Obama wants schools to speed digital transition - 2 views

www.usatoday.com/...1

technology education ebooks change

shared by Jerald Cole on 09 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Jerald Cole on 09 Feb 12
     
    An ebook reader in every student's hand by 2017.
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