I wanted to add something to our discussion from class today about the future of education that I didn't get a chance to say during class time. As far as reading and textbooks go, I really like the idea of something like Apple's iBooks Textbooks and iBooks Author. Using this system, professors could create tailor-made textbooks for class and incorporate images, video, audio, graphs or charts, etc. that could be used as learning tools while students read.
Perhaps one of the most important pluses to something like this is the fact that the textbooks can be easily updated and pushed out to all the students. The professor could go in and add a chapter or some sort of supplement to the reading and the students could easily update their textbooks.
One problem with this approach is making the technology necessary in order to read these textbooks available to everybody. Would everyone have to buy an iDevice if they wanted to read their textbook? That would be more expensive than textbooks today. I think it would work best if Apple opened up the app so that students can access the material from different devices, whether they use iOS or Android or something else entirely.
There may be more to discuss but I just wanted to type this out quickly while I still have time and before I forget.
Interesting idea, I think this could be a great alternative to textbooks. Definitely would take some of the negative opinions away from technology and education that many educational systems have today. I do see the dilemma with everyone having to buy iDevices, and I doubt that Apple (being the proud company they are) would be willing to open up their platform to other devices, especially Android - but it's a great idea in theory! And, who knows, maybe eventually Apple will rule the world and we'll all just become iPeople...
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