Healthcare and public education are the least functional parts of our economy for one reason. In neither is the person receiving the treatment the one actually paying the bill.
58% of college students prefer digital over print for textbook reading.
According to a new survey from the Pearson Foundation, the majority of U.S. college students now prefer digital formats whether they’re reading textbooks or “fun” books.
Apple’s new iBooks 2 initiative has the potential to vastly improve the K-12 learning experience. They will offer attractive digital textbooks with interactive features like videos, animations, definitions, flashcards, and quizzes. But, with the proprietary nature of the software it means that publishers, parents, and schools will be locked into Apple’s ecosystem.
Apple reinvents the textbook by way of an update to its iBooks app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch on Thursday. The iBooks 2 app offers a new experience for students and teachers.
A sophomore at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass checks out his iPad.
At western Connecticut’s suburban Brookfield High School, incoming freshman will soon be tossing out the heavy textbooks. They will soon be flipping electronic pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer.
Some schools are already using textbooks displayed on notebook computers.
All of South Korea’s elementary-level educational materials will be digitized by 2014. And by 2015, the entire school-age curriculum will be delivered on an array of computers, smart phones and tablets. South Korea’s education ministry is yet to announce the make or model of the devices it will purchase, it has revealed it will spend $2.4 billion buying the requisite tablets and digitizing material for them.