Apple iBooks 2 hands on review
New iBooks, old tricks?
Well, not quite. The text and layout may look little different from what's already in schoolkids' satchels, but there are some digital touches. Interactive items are sprinkled throughout the text. These include video clips and graphical sequences showing photosynthesis or digestion, interactive apps that let you test a theory of wave motion, a 3D rotation of a molecule or (most often) just a high res photo. Being able to control the action is a nice novelty but none is complex enough to be more than a momentary distraction from the text itself - which is probably the intention.
Comments
cpwolves
1 year ago
Remember Dorling-Kindersley CD-Rom encyclopaedias? This has a similar feel, and doesn't seem to answer the online textbook problem.
The fact is that hard-copy textbooks generally have accompanying online content which provides a complete learning package, and having the whole text as an ebook doesn't improve matters.
In the US ebook sales have reached a plateau, and I expect the same will happen elsewhere as people realise that they just love to have a book in their hands. Publishers seem to think that just because students are young, they will demand the latest technology, but in fact they just want the most practical solution, which in many cases, is a book.
pozmu
1 year ago
Books may be practical, but carrying few kilos of them everyday to school isn't.
AppleUK
1 year ago
Private schools may be able to afford to buy an ipad for every student but it will never happen in state schools!