Wired Educator

I just read a very interesting blog on www.theappleblog.com titled, “e-Textbooks: How Apple Can Dominate the Education Market With the iTablet.  Click >HERE< to read it.

The Apple Blog, agrees that the iTablet will be debuting very soon, and agrees with the current rumors that it in fact will be focusing on eBooks, but The Apple Blog believes the iTablet’s true niche will be the Education Market and eText-Books.

The article sites the Kindle’s difficulties in education due to a clunky keyboard and navigation problems, and how a true touch-screen device would not only remedy these problems but better serve professors in education.

“The problem with the Kindle DX is that interacting with the text requires the use of a small joystick and clunky QWERTY keyboard. A touch enabled tablet device, however, offers a much more natural method for interaction. To add a note just tap on a place in the page. To highlight text just drag your finger across it.

What’s more, a tablet device from Apple will have the benefit of being a multi-use computing platform. With the Kindle DX you create your annotations and then have to export them to your computer or the web to make use of them elsewhere. By contrast, with something like the iTablet you could just tap on the screen and automatically have all of your notes exported to another program, or have all of your highlighted text exported as citations. The device could smartly conver the locations of the text to real page numbers. If you want to share a piece of text with a fellow student or professor you could easily send it via email, instant message or Twitter.”

WiredEducator agrees that an iTablet device could be a great educational tool.  We believe however its entry price will have to compete at least somewhat with NetBooks. Schools are facing hard times and many of the purchases are being determined by people that are only concerned about price. Apple will have to have a competitive price.   We also think a physical keyboard and the ability to draft papers and create presentations will be a must for teachers. For the iTablet to be a true educational device it will need  an iSight camera, iMovie, Pages, Keynote, and a wireless keyboard. Classes are moving toward project-based curriculums, especially with their technology.  Classrooms cannot afford to purchase both a laptop and an iTablet.

Publishers can profit multiple times with the device in our opinion.  The texts could be offered at low costs or even FREE, and students could be given options to purchase complimentary videos, podasts, apps, etc., and teachers could purchase study guides, plans, and more.

The tablet device would also serve multiple roles. It would serve as a interactive response system as well.  The classroom would be getting multiple tools in one device.

There are so many possibilities to consider.  Send us your ideas.

Here’s to hoping a tablet device is truly in the pipeline.