Oct 31, 2012

Got Interactive (Multimedia) Textbooks Inside Your iPad or Tablet? Lots of Resources!

If you live in the US, and haven't yet heard, the U.S. government is encouraging K-12 schools to adopt interactive digital textbooks within the next five years.  Are we ready?  I don't think so.  There is a battle of the tablets going on as I type this post.  

Traditional, "old-school" textbook publishers appear to be key players in this game, but I am not sure if they have the know-how to create interactive content that is fresh, "touchable", engaging, and meaningful to young people.  A boring textbook, tweaked tweaked for a bit of interactivity and multimedia content will not suffice.

Feel free to take your time and visit the links I've shared so far. I'm still reflecting on what I've learned so far and will share more of my thoughts in future related posts.

Leaders Discuss Transition to Digital Textbooks
The LEAD commission 

Nation's Digital Learning Report Card (Interactive map)
Digital Learning Now!

US FCC: Digital Textbook Playbook (website)

Digital Textbook Playbook (pdf)
The Digital Textbook Collaborative, 2/1/12


Slide PresentationCharting our Transition to "Interactive Digital Textbooks"  (pdf)
FCC LEAD Commission (Leading Education by Advancing Digital)
Video: Remarks by (FCC) Chairman Genachowski and Digital Education Leaders on National Adoption of Digital Textbooks

Key players: 
Dan Caton, McGraw-Hill
Will Ethridge, Pearson
Jose Ferreira, Knewton
Bill Goodwyn, Discovery Education
Joel Klein, News Corp
Matt MacInnis, Inkling
Osman Rashid, Kno
Dan Rosenweig, Chegg 
Linda Zecher, Houghton Mifflin 
Harcourt


Arne Duncan Calls for Textbooks To Become Obsolete in Favor of Digital  
Josh Lederman, Huff Post Education 10/2/12


Kno Interactive Textbooks App Now Available for Google Nexus Tablet and Google Play 
Business Wire, 10/29/12  Kno

Teaching with tablets: Will our children be using electronic textbooks to learn?  
Jamie Carter, 10/19/12

In digital textbook transition, device availability is just the beginning
Ki Mae Heusser, Gigaom, 10/22/12

Amazon challenges Apple in education with Whispercast
Ki Mae Heussner, Gigaom, 10/17/12

To empower students, let's bring interactive learning tools into the classroom  
Troy Williams (President of Macmillan New Ventures) Venture Beat, 10/30/12

Press Release: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Launches New High School iBooks Textbooks Digital Book Wire, 10/25/12

South Korea Classrooms to go fully Digital by 2015
Ben Gruber, Reuters, 10/5/12


South Africa: Launch of OS-Agnostic Digital Textbook Publishing Platform 
All Africa, 10/23/12

Whitepaper: From Paper to Pixel: Digital Textbooks and Florida Schools (pdf) 
Marcia Mardis, Nancy Everhart, Daniella Smith, Janice Newsum, Sheila Baker, Florida State University PALM Center, 2010

Whitepaper:  The Digital World of Young Children: Imact on Emergent Literacy (pdf))  Jay Blanchard, Terry More, Arizona State University, 2010 (Includes demographics about digital media survey data in selected developing and least developed nations.)

Apple Pushes Interactive Textbooks on iPads  
NPR Staff and Wires, 1/19/12
"Forrester Research said e-books accounted for only 2.8 percent of the $8 billion U.S. textbook market in 2010."

Engage: Apples New Tools for Interactive Books on iPad  
Tim Carmody, Wired, 1/19/12

Inkling Reinvents Textbooks as Interactive, Multimedia Learning Tools on the Tablet  David Weir, 7x7 SF, 7/1/11
Inkling

iBooks Author (free app)  -Apple

What's New in iBooks Author 2.0 -Apple

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Press Release: Student Math Scores Jump 20 Percent with HMH Algebra Curriculum for Apple iPAd; App Transforms Classroom Education1/20/12HMH Fuse Pilot Program (Website)

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Digital Book World (Website)
MediaShift: Your Guide to the Digital Media Revolution (PBS website)
The Transition to Digital Journalism  Paul Grabowicz, Knight Digital Media Center, Berkeley, 10/26/12
How to make BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) work for your schools Laura Dvaney, eSchool News, 10/29/12
BLOG: Mind/Shift: How we will learn (KQED)
iBooks Author

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