Apple for the Teacher

Thursday, January 19^th, Apple hit “The Big Apple” with a Guggenheim Museum presentation of revolutionary new educational apps.  It wasn’t that many years ago that electronics were forbidden in the classroom.  Now – if Apple has anything to say about it – they’ll be a requirement and a way to enhance the average student’s educational experience.

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Phil Schiller, unveiled three, new, free apps:  the iTunes U, iBooks Author, and iBooks 2.  Each one of these applications promises to take a big step toward revolutionizing education – a vision that was important to Apple’s late co-founder and chairman, Steve Jobs.

The iTunes U platform could be the best “apple” ever given to a teacher, allowing educators the ability to share course materials, resources, and other information with ease never before known.  Change the date of a test, share a link to a website that ties into course material, add an assignment – it’s all handled instantly and easily, with students receiving all the information on their iPads.  iTunes U even allows teachers to upload books from iBooks Author – the next app on Schiller’s educational agenda.

iBooks Author is designed to make it simple for anyone to write, design, and publish their own e-book.  The advantage to teachers wanting to create custom textbooks for their students is obvious.  Apple is famous for their intuitive programs, and iBooks Author promises to be no different.  The application scans text from whatever word processing program you are working in, and formats it intelligently in sections.  Pictures and even video are easily incorporated with the app’s drag-and-drop interface, and you can preview the whole project right on your iPad.  Once previewed, if you like what you see, use the app to publish your creation directly to the iBookstore.

The app with the most practical implications for students, however, may be the new iBooks 2, billed as a new “textbook experience” for the iPad.  Schiller explained that this app was carefully designed to address all of the shortcomings and failings of the traditional textbook.

So what’s wrong with old-school textbooks?

To begin with, they’re heavy.  It doesn’t take a genius to realize that carrying one iPad is a lot easier on the back than lugging numerous, weighty texts.  Next – they become quickly outdated.  Information changes – traditional text books don’t – and, so, they become obsolete within a few short years.  That’s expensive, inefficient, and kills a lot of trees.  Finally, actual books aren’t interactive – and today’s students are accustomed to using different methods to search for information.  Search tools aside, the iBooks 2 helps the learning process in a number of ways.  You can highlight text with the touch of a finger to the screen – and, what’s more, iBooks 2 will automatically create study cards for you out of that highlighted text.  (How cool – and practical – is that!)  iPads have proven successful in all grades, and schools have invested heavily in them.  iBooks 2 promises to capitalize and expand upon that, with a textbook app that is as practical as it is fun to use.

Phil Schiller stressed in his presentation that students today are falling behind not because they lack intelligence or ability – but because they’re uninspired.  Apple hopes to change that with these exciting new tools.

iTunes U, iBooks Author, and iBooks 2 can be downloaded for free, right now, at the App Store.