On January 19, 2012, Apple announced its iBooks® 2 for iPad®, featuring iBooks textbooks, "an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive."
For almost a decade, educators and learners have used Tablets in schools, starting with the initiative at Bishop Hartley High School in Columbus, OH by Kenneth Collura. He has been demonstrating that students can learn what they want when they want 24/7, including in structured classroom lessons. That learning occurs through text and static as well as increasingly dynamic images.
The Kahn Academy lessons demonstrate that students seek out sources of learning online that supplement and extend school lessons.
The Apple announcement signals a giant step forward in the computer industry's attempt to capture more of the school budget such as that indicated by Bishop Hartley High School and Kahn Academy. All, of course, in the name of helping to educate the next generation of students, who already have access to more smartphones with Internet access than do school based educators with any electronic communication tools.
Yet, with all the dynamic razzle dazzle that lessons on Tablets can provide, it remains an open question: To what extent do lessons for mobile devices increase the measured rate of learning by users?
For almost a decade, educators and learners have used Tablets in schools, starting with the initiative at Bishop Hartley High School in Columbus, OH by Kenneth Collura. He has been demonstrating that students can learn what they want when they want 24/7, including in structured classroom lessons. That learning occurs through text and static as well as increasingly dynamic images.
The Kahn Academy lessons demonstrate that students seek out sources of learning online that supplement and extend school lessons.
The Apple announcement signals a giant step forward in the computer industry's attempt to capture more of the school budget such as that indicated by Bishop Hartley High School and Kahn Academy. All, of course, in the name of helping to educate the next generation of students, who already have access to more smartphones with Internet access than do school based educators with any electronic communication tools.
Yet, with all the dynamic razzle dazzle that lessons on Tablets can provide, it remains an open question: To what extent do lessons for mobile devices increase the measured rate of learning by users?
