Apple has held its media event in New York City today and has announced a new initiative focused upon textbooks in education.
The company today introduced iBooks 2, a sequel to iBooks which will provide a new rich, interactive experience for students using textbooks on the iPad. The new app allows for enhanced interactive features, glossary, definitions and in-app notetaking. The navigation and search capabilities are also improved and enhanced support for interactive animations and diagrams has been included. The new app has been made available today on the iOS App Store.
In addition to the iBooks 2 app, Apple has also added a new textbook category to their iBookstore, enabling students to search for enhanced textbooks with ease. The company, initially starting with High School textbooks, has introduced a number of books priced at $14.99 or less. Three publishers have signed up to the Store, Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and are making 90% of their textbooks available on it.
A new, free, piece of software was also introduced which Mac users can use to develop books for iBooks 2. The software, termed iBooks Author, provides several templates for the creation of a new, interactive book. The new iBooks Author application, obviously taking several style hints from Pages, uses a complex formatting interface allowing simple drag and drop of interactive images in a comprehensive WYSIWYG interface. The app also has a glossary tool for creating comprehensive glossaries for the enhanced textbooks and, once created, users can easily preview the ebooks on an iPad via wireless deployment. The iBooks Author app will be made available today, free, on the Mac App Store.
Apple also introduced what is being described as an iTunes U app to allow teachers to deliver content to students using an iOS device. Essentially, Lecturers could deliver content to students such as papers, assignments and tasks without even seeing the students. The app is also available free on the iOS App Store.
Eventful…
Image via The Verge