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"Finally and I think perhaps more importantly, they introduced the new iBooks Author app. An app which gives educators the power to create their own interactive learning experience for their students, the like of which we have haven't really been able to put together before. The following hits are reasons why iBooks Author tied with iBooks2 is a complete win for schools, particularly in 1:1 type scenarios."

"The Apple announcement this week about iBooks Author - the new app that will allow anyone to create and distribute multimedia interactive books has been a long time coming. The initial introduction of PDF documents and then ePub documents into iBooks was always a stop gap measure because of the limitations of each of the individual formats. Anyone could produce these documents but they did not really live up to the promise of what we knew was possible. I knew what we could create in Pages but I was unable to reproduce this in an interactive format to distribute to my students on iBooks."

"Sometimes we focus on what an app can't do and forget to look at what it can. That's been the case with iBooks Author, Apple's e-book creation platform released nearly a year ago. Part of the problem was Apple's own hyperbolic statements about its "disruptive" nature to the textbook publishing industry. It failed to live up to the hype for a variety of well-documented reasons. But this post is about what it is, not what it isn't."

Four open questions about iBooks Author by Lex Friedman, Macworld.com Jan 20, 2012 1:15 pm iBooks Author is an intriguing app and a a big deal for publishers. But while the app is obviously very new, some aspects of the software give me pause. Here are my questions for Apple about the iBooks Author. (And yes, I've sent them all Apple's way, though I haven't heard back just yet.) "

"Apple has set the stage for a textbook revolution with the new iBooks 2 and free iBooks Author software, but as it turns out, that was only the first of the company's plans to unveil in New York City today -- Cupertino is also introducing a new iTunes U app for allowing colleges and universities to share their knowledge with the world."

"Despite all the recent buzz about iBooks Author, teachers and students looking for an intuitive, easy-to-use app need look no further than Book Creator for iPad."

"Learn how to setup, use and moderate content on a classroom blog to improve student writing skills. A moderated classroom blog is the ideal platform to use to share announcements, classroom news, and student work for a public audience. In this workshop we'll use several free blogging and learning management tools. These will include KidBlog (powered by WordPress), My Big Campus, and Edmodo. We'll also explore how free Posterous.com sites can be used to share rich media including images, audio and video files from iPads including "cart-based" iPads using a shared student "sending" email account. In addition, we'll learn how to create enhanced/multimedia eBooks including digital text, hyperlinks, images, and embedded videos using iPad apps as well as other software programs. These will include Book Creator for iPad, iBooks Author software, Apple Pages software (part of iWork), and Calibre software (free and cross-platform). Digital Show and Tell from Day 2"

"This week, we completed our 10th Annual Summer Teaching with Technology Workshop Series. During that time, we taught five iPad workshops ranging from Leveraging iPads, Laptops, and other Digital Tools to Create Differentiated Learning Environments to The iPad Classroom to iPads, ePubs, & iBooks Author. We often say that we learn as much from our participants as they learn from us. To prove it, we've compiled a Top 10 List of what we learned this summer."