Sorry, been away for a while trying to get through yet another hectic end to a school year.
I ran across this editorial from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh questioning whether tablets will overtake textbooks. Really? It not a question of whether or not, but rather when. With over 600 school districts issuing iPads to their high school students, the wave is building and will inevitably wash right over the textbook industry. While pointing out the disadvantages of iPads, the Advance-Titan Staff did not mention the drawbacks to traditional print materials. Besides those hated paper cuts, every text I have in my school is outdated before it even arrives in my building. Come on U of W - wake up and smell the gorilla glass. Thoughts?
I agree that textbooks will eventually be filed right along side your favorite 8-tracks and if the rumors are true about an iPad-mini we will be one step closer because that is even more economical for struggling schools. The biggest hangup is the initial cost of the devices. Administration can educate themselves by reading Personal Learning Network by William Richardson he breaks down that by going 1:1 the technology ends up paying for themselves. My personal thoughts is the SMART boards are not far behind the textbook. Give me an iPad and an AppleTV and we are more interactive then ever. (Especially when HTML5 is picking up steam) Again the only thing holding them back is the cost of better products, although I must give them props for having a SMART app in development for ios devices.
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