Description: Apple wants Schools to center on Ipads
Source: cnn .com
Date: Jan 17, 2012
Questions for discussion:
- Who are the winners in using this technology to transform the text book industry?
2. Who are the losers in using this technology to transform the text book industry?
dns
The students who get access to the technology of the IPad will benefit the most. It would allow students to be more interactive while learning. They will get a more effective and interesting learning experience because what we imagine in our heads or try to draw out can be displayed and interpreted on an IPad screen. This technology will appeal to younger students who may have a difficult time engaging in their studies. The IPad technology should not be looked as a replacement for textbooks, but rather an enhancement to the education process. It will only be successful if we use this technology for its intended purpose.
With this type of technology, the amount of publishers for textbooks would decline because students would have the option of obtaining their resources and books electronically. Another downfall to this technology would be that students may rely too much on technology to answer all their questions, and to do their work for them. For example, while typing a sentence the computer will automatically highlight if you had made a grammatical or spelling error, and have suggested corrections for you to select. Whereas by hand, a student would edit their work, learn the rules of proper grammar, and grasp spelling techniques.
nelizer
The idea in using technology to transform the textbook industry is way by far from the reality. The use of technology in education will raise the eyebrow from countries or individuals who cant afford to purchase expensive gadget.
This idea will create a huge gap between the different classes in the society. In this case, education will become an opportunity, learning will become limited since not all can afford to buy gadget such as apple products.
The intention of big company such as apple is to reform education and revolutionize the way kids learns. However, this is just the frontline of their propaganda to create public interest. This action is purely a business matter and when the campaign will penetrate to the interest of the consumer, this will be a huge success on their part.
If this campaign will be successful and the demand will be high, the textbook industry will suffer and it’s the start of the deterioration of the industry. This will take more years since owning a gadget is quite expensive and most of the third worlds countries cant afford for it. For now, it’s the parents who are the losers because they will have to work hard in order to get a gadget for their kids.
Mike
If anyone can open this industry Apple can. To me and other students this should be exciting as there is a new form of competition on the market in the text book industry. That new competition is Apple, the largest company out there by market cap, with extra competition this should cut prices across the industry. The innovation Apple has performed on other industries, particularly the music industry, shows that they will be able to revolutionize and develop this industry as well. Unfortunately as is apples model it is limited to their own products, which personally I am not a fan of because of price. I do see this as beneficial for a stagnate industry and I am excited to see where they are able to take it. The costs are an initial investment of a few hundred dollars which I believe will be difficult for most primary and secondary schools to justify. As a post-secondary student I know that a few hundred dollars is standard for one semesters text books. I can definitely see most people in this market adapting to this new technology. I disagree with the CNN article that it will be common in primary schools because of students damaging their Ipad as well as issues with theft. The industry, in my opinion should be targeted to post-secondary students.
Jon
The winners are firstly- Apple. They make a profit if the publisher chooses to adapt their textbook to the iPad. They also will benefit if students decide to buy an iPad. Delving deeper into this, this could cause more jobs in the manufacturing sector (although most of this would be overseas). Students could be winners as they will hopefully get a discount on overpriced textbooks and their investment in the device should pay off. However, this would depend on how many classes they are taking. The part-time students lose, as they would have to buy the device as well as the textbook.
Big losers in this scenario are the middlemen. This would include the textbook printers, and those responsible for shipping the books to various institutions. Paper companies will also lose their business too.
On top of this, losers include the technologically illiterate, as well as those who prefer the hard-copy characteristic that textbook offer. I know that I like to write in textbooks, make notes, highlight certain parts. While this can be done on the iPad, it just isn’t the same.
MAS
Who are the winners here? haha obviously it is the shareholders and the higher ups in Apple. Getting into the education system would mean that students would be forced into getting macs and ipads. That would do very well for the bottom line at Apple don’t you think? Of course, the students may also be winners here. Their quality of education will increase with the implementation of new technology and this may draw more students into going to school and participating in class discussions.
Who are the losers? Well, the losers would be the middle to lower class society whose family incomes cannot purchase ipads for their kids, even if they’re offered a special discounted rate. How will they deal with lost/stolen ipads? How will they keep the kids from playing on their devices rather than doing school work? The rest of the competitors in the tablet industry are losers as well.
I am curious to see what happens in the future. In my opinion ipads, ipods, and iphones are toys. Kids just are not disciplined enough to use something they view as a toy seriously in an educational setting.
IDR
And this is why Apple will dominate the computer market no matter which product they release. I am an Apple user; I have my Ipod, Iphone and my MacBook Pro. My wife and I are even thinking of buying an Apple TV and we are buying the up coming Ipad, with the sole purpose of minimizing the weight we carry in our backpacks. This idea is genius, and I don’t see how anyone would lose. Obviously, the paper suppliers will have to re-evaluate their businesses, but on a positive note we’re going to be saving some trees.
I think that the education world is heading the way of the PDFs, I have been reading ebooks in my laptop for quite a while it’s not a lot different from reading a real book. Apple is certainly leading the change in the way education will be administered in the future. The price will be a little higher for people that don’t have the resources to buy the Ipad, but hopefully government agencies will step up to the parents (or schools) to provide bursaries.
In regard to the publishers, they are going to be forced to change their strategies. But again, business come and go, and if they are not willing to change they will end up disappearing like many others.
JX
Certainly, the first winner in this case is the company – APPLE. If people read the text books on campus by ipad, the sales volume of ipad will increase significant. APPLE will get more gain from sales volume of ipad and sale volume of accessories of ipad. Furthermore, APPLE will occupy the market of tablet computer. It is good for APPLE to have a good hand in competing with other companies in next kind of electronic products. In addition, some students or teachers also are winner. People use ipad as textbook have many advantages such as less weight, convenience of watch videos and less fee on paper textbook. Finally, I think pharmaceutical factory is a kind of winner. I think if we use ipad as textbook, and we read text on ipad at a long time, our eyes will get much damage because of that. Actually, I have a ipad, but I do not like read article at a long time because of the health of my eyes.
A lot of publishers will be the loser. They may not get good profit. Moreover, it is harder to protect the copyright. In addition, I think it is harder to take notes on ipad than real paper textbook, and some student may feel uncomfortable on their eyes, so I think some students are loser too. The last loser is bookstore. They cannot get profit from selling book in store.
KNWE
Three parties win with the use of an iPad to transform the textbook industry: learners through reduced costs of books, trees, and Apple through the profits and market monopolizing they will achieve. However, the use of a tablet should not be the focus for all learning in younger classrooms, and should instead focus only on the interactive side of reading and learning concepts through the use of educational games.
The most obvious losers through the use of tablet/ebook reader technology are book printers and book sellers such as Chapter’s and Borders. If the textbook/book market shifts all the way to electronic access to books, this could create less need for both of these service providers within the book industry. Other people who may lose are those who prefer a hard copy of a book, as availability of books may be limited and prices may increase as a result.
In younger classrooms, the cost outweighs the benefit if you have to purchase one per child so each child can learn equally. Additional educational software or applications would also have to be purchased for children to learn from, further adding to the cost. This raises concerns of where costs can be cut in other areas so that the funds can instead be allocated towards learning. Do you cut the availability of extracurricular activities, the number of teachers, or the quality of cafeteria food? Another consideration is how these re-allocated learning expenses will affect the overall quality of the educational learning environment.
The use of a tablet in a learning environment could has its advantages in supplementing the learning environment in schools and for student textbook use, but the costs are not yet feasible, nor are schools ready for a tablet as a primary teaching method.
Mike
I can see the look on a student’s face when you hand them an iPad instead of their usual stack of books. I can also see the looks on the faces of those who chose to skip out on education for work (not a happy look). The students will think they are the winners and they will benefit from an updated medium for reading. With the increasing sales of eReaders and also anything apple, the combination could be a hit! No more back problems for the poor students and they can feel cool reading at the same time. I think the real winners though are Apple…getting schools all across the country (or world) to buy iPads for their students would be a huge financial boost for Apple (not that they need it). There will be a lot of losers if Apple manages to convince schools to make the switch. The losers will be all the people working for and running text production companies. The only way they will be able to compete is if they cut their textbook prices significantly which could be significantly downsize the industry. The authors of the textbooks may not be in as much trouble as they can still write and get paid for these books but they will have a new medium to concentrate on. Despite books costing less, they may see an increase in profits from increases sales of eTextbooks due to its accessibility and lower prices.