Dateline: 19 January 2012, the Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Apple has unveiled a new version of its iBooks software that allows publishers to create interactive textbooks for the iPad. This initial launch is for the US market where Apple has struck deals with publishers such as McGraw-Hill and Pearson.
Walter Isacsson, Steve Jobs’ biographer, highlights that the great man himself spent his last years looking at how to shake up the textbook market. “These are beautiful books. Interactive, gorgeous, fun engaging,” said Apple senior VP of world-wide marketing, Philip Schiller. More usefully, descriptions of functionality include images that turn into slideshows, text hyperlinks to glossaries, and instantly assessed multiple choice tests.
This clearly signifies the acceleration of education towards a digital and online future. Anything that helps to improve learning is a valuable and welcome addition to the education market, and this complements the all-around capability and management features of a web portal like Scholaris.
Apple’s move looks to be the opening shot in a tussle over the textbook market with Amazon. Frequently, in the fight for control of a competitive market, corporate and shareholder interests are prioritised, and big business drivers often compromise nobler social interests.
Let’s hope that fairness, equal opportunity and the achievement of learners is not a casualty here.