Tablet-style computers could be game-changers for colleges, bringing in a new era of classroom collaboration and pushing the adoption of electronic textbooks over a tipping point. Today’s announcement by Apple Inc. of the iPad tablet has education watchers predicting a wave of student purchases, major textbook publishers rejoicing, and at least one college saying it will consider giving them to all incoming students.
But wait — it might be time to take a deep breath to let the excitement of the sales pitch fade. Tablets have been tried before, with similar fanfare, and have fallen flat. And so far e-textbook sales are growing more slowly than expected. And even Apple doesn’t always hit big with new products (the Newton personal organizer being its most famous flop). Even the institution considering a give-away, Abilene Christian University, said it will have to play around with the devices before making a decision. “We didn’t want to jump blindly into something we don’t know about,” said William Rankin, director of educational innovation at the university.
So it’s worth taking a careful look at whether the company will once again create a new category of device that make waves in education — as it did with personal computers, digital music players, and smartphones — or whether the iPad and other tablets might be doomed to remain a niche offering.
First, though, here’s what Apple announced. The iPad looks like an iPhone on steroids. It is about the size of a book, with a 9.7-inch screen, and is just half an inch thick. It weighs just a pound and a half, meaning that it would be easy to throw in a backpack and carry anywhere on campuses. It runs most applications built for the iPhone or iPod Touch, and the interface is much the same as those popular devices. And it is designed as an e-book reader that will compete with Amazon’s Kindle and other e-book devices. Apple announced the creation of its own online bookstore, and an application called iBooks to store and display those titles on the iPad. Prices range from $499 to $829, with more expensive units including cellular modems that give users the option to buy Internet access from AT&T for a monthly fee.
Apple’s leader and chief pitch-man, Steve Jobs, listed plenty of uses for the new gadget at an event announcing the iPad in San Francisco, which some bloggers streamed online — but a vision of their use in education was not explicitly outlined. Mr. Jobs did mention iTunesU twice when listing the kinds of content that could be viewed on the iPad, referring to the company’s partnership with many colleges to offer them free space for multimedia content like lecture recordings. But he otherwise focused on consumer uses — watching movies, viewing photos, sending e-mail messages, and reading novels published by five trade publishers mentioned at the event. That does not mean that the company won’t later promote the iPad’s use on campuses, though, since it waited until after iPods and iPhones were established before beginning to work more heavily with colleges to promote those in education.
Several officials interviewed by The Chronicle this week said that the biggest impact of the iPad would be in the textbook market.
Publishers had hoped this academic year would be a big one for e-textbooks, now that a critical mass of titles are available in electronic form. But according to a recent survey released by the research group Student Monitor, only 2 percent of students said they bought an e-textbook this past fall semester. One reason is that students do not know about the option, said Eric Weil, of Student Monitor. “We still have a relatively low level of awareness that there’s such a thing as the e-textbook,” he said.
So those selling electronic textbooks have taken to unusual steps to market them: Follett Corporation, which operates hundreds of campus bookstores, added a new option to its CafeScribe online textbook store that lets students “try now, buy later” to give them a chance to back out.
“There is this hesitance of, Is this right for me? Is this a good value? and Is my faculty member OK with it?” said Isabella Hinds, director of digital content for Follett.
Ms. Hinds sees Apple’s cachet and “cool” factor as being another lure that will get students to try e-textbooks. “They are market-makers,” she said of Apple. “And higher education is ready for some game-changing.”
Rumors flew earlier in the week that Apple would announce an e-textbook deal, after reports that McGraw Hill had recently spoken with Apple executives, and after an executive from the company talked about the device in an interview on CNBC in which it sounded as if he had seen the device. But there was no such deal, and Rik Kranenburg, the publishing group’s president for higher education, professional, and international publishing, said that McGraw Hill routinely meets with Apple over a longstanding project dealing with content for iTunes. “Some reporters interpreted long-standing relationships as something that’s more specific to this announcement,” he added.
Even without a direct partnership, though, most textbook publishers already make their titles available in a form that could be easily purchased and read on the iPad.
CourseSmart, for example, recently released an iPhone app for its store, which sells more than 8,000 titles from the largest textbook publishers.
Frank Lyman, executive vice president at CourseSmart, said he is excited about the iPad and other tablet-style computers because they may fit a student’s lifestyle better than full computers. He said that data from publishers shows that students do not carry their laptops with them to class, even though they are touted as portable. “They might do that with this kind of device because it’s smaller,” he said. “At the end of the day it comes down to not just can I take it with me, but am I happy to take it with me?”
Many colleges are hoping that e-textbooks will catch on, too, because they generally cost half the price of a printed version and can save students money. The City University of New York, for instance, is looking closely at encouraging e-textbooks as part of an effort to lower student costs. “At end of the day, it’s how do you drive savings for our students, who are feeling a great economic impact,” said Brian Cohen, CUNY’s chief information officer.
Mr. Cohen said he hopes the textbook market evolves so that publishers make their works available for any platform, and that more devices like the iPad that can drive awareness of e-books will help.
If students do buy them and begin to carry them around campus, they could be a more powerful educational tool than laptop computers.
That’s the view of Mr. Rankin, of Abilene Christian, which for several years has given free iPhones or iPod Touch devices to every first-year student, so that nearly every student on the campus has one. The iPad offers many of the same features, but with a larger screen that could make more classroom uses possible, he said. “We’re very excited about this device,” he said, because it’s big enough and robust enough to create content, not just consume it.
He said the college is devoted to its mobile project. Officials will test the new devices and are seriously considering giving away iPads rather than iPods in the future, he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
In the short term, the university on Wednesday announced an effort by the student newspaper, The Optimist, to design an edition for the iPad. The plan is to mix audio, video, and text in ways “unseen even since the advent of laptops and smart phones,” according to a news release issued moments after the iPad was announced.
Not every campus technology official is sold on the iPad in education, though.
Jim Groom, an instructional technologist at the University of Mary Washington, expressed weariness with all the hype around the Apple announcement. He said he is concerned about Apple’s policies of requiring all applications to be approved by the company before being allowed in its store, just as it does with the iPhone. And he said that Apple’s strategy is to make the Web more commercial, rather than an open frontier. “It offers a real threat to the Web,” he said.
He also pointed out that several PC manufacturers have sold tablet computers before, which have been tried enthusiastically in classrooms. Their promise is that they make it easy for professors to walk around classrooms while holding the computer, while allowing them to wirelessly project information to a screen at the front of the room. But despite initial hype, very few PC tablets are being used in college classrooms, he said.
Now that Apple’s long-awaited secret is out, the harder questions might be whether the iPad is the long-awaited education computer.
17 Responses to Diagnosing the Tablet Fever in Higher Education
jimgroom - January 27, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Jeff,Just to clarify, I don;t think PC tablets that were the rage five or six years ago didn;t catch on because of they failed to let faculty members walk around and prject wirelessly, which seems more inline with the possibilities of a straight laptop. I think the promise of the stylus to mark up and interact with the screen as if it was paper ultimately grafted the more traditional medium of pen and paper onto the latop, and that was a failure. And to be fair Apple has re-imagined the interface of computing with the touchscreen a la the iPhone quite dramatically. So, I’m pretty sure the iPad will not go the way of the tablet PC. That said, the larger point about Apple’s proprietary logic with all their sevices and software, and the increased commodification of the open web, is far and away the gravest issue that comes out of the app store mentality for accessing the web. A pay-to-play web at every turn is a dangerous future, and the fact that the design of the web is increasignly pushing us away from the openness of a good old fashioned URL is a concern. The death of the URL in applications like iTunesU, the iPhone app frenzy, and internet via a variety of other devices and applications is a hrbinger of a wildly open platofrm like the internet being framed and controlled by a few gateway devices. And that is where frenzy around all things Apple is a bit scary more broadly, but specifically in education when we need to work on making resources and connecting as cheap as possible, if not entirely free. And marrying an approach to teaching and learning through any one device seems ludicrous. It makes for a newsworthy pilot program, but at the end of the day it comes down to open access, affordability, and the freedom to own and control the platform through which we choose to communicate with one another.Finally, on a differnet note, it seems crazy to make readers of the Chronicle register to comment on the blogs, a site is only as powerful as conversation that happens upon it—and adding the extr atep of registering to comment is gonna kill a lot of that conversation. How do commenting numbers on the new site compare to the old Chronicle blogs, where commenting was as simple as putting your name and email address in a couple of fields? I wonder.
macberry - January 28, 2010 at 12:42 am
All figures are approximate:Here is the REAL cost of liesure books on this devious device:If I were to buy one of these badly designed “iTOUCH on STEREOS” at the mid price point .. it would cost me $$850 [wi-fi and 3G] + $30 (data plan a month) = $1700.Over the first year period the hardware and data will cost $1400 plus HST = $1700 Cdn approximately.One book will cost the reader $1720 with HST.20 books plus hardware would be estimated at ($15 average cost per book) $2100 or $105 per book.100 books is $1700 + 1500 + 200 HST = $3400That is $34 per book if you BUY 100 books … HUH!Anybody who buys thsi as a book reader is just stuffing money into TELCOs + APPLE + PUBLISHERS. But remember they all care about you so taking your money is IMPORTANT to them.THINK TWICE about buying this glare screen “iTOUCH on STEREOS”!Buy a book and pay ONLY the publisher … this leaves out the other money sucking participants … APPLE and TELCOs. No cost to keep it and no need to download . … and oh yes I OWN thre physical bok and can lend it, burn it or give it away!AVERAGE COST FOR 50 books is $68 all in ….. PER BOOK.INSANE! INSANE!
jimgroom - January 28, 2010 at 3:32 am
I love macberry :)
nacs2007 - January 28, 2010 at 9:51 am
According to the National Association of College Stores OnCampus Research 2010 Student Watch survey, 74% of students still prefer print course materials over digital. In addition, of our members that offer the digital textbook option these sales make up between 2-3% of total course material sales.However, we realize that number will shift and we predict that digital could make up to between 10% and 15% of textbook sales by 2012. One of the reasons driving this undoubtedly will be the influx of e-readers. However, from our research, we believe the KEY drivers to more acceptance of e-textbooks to be:1) Students with long-term exposure to technology in the classroom (“digital natives” who are now in junior high and elementary school) progressing into higher ed.2) Whether faculty adapt and adopt digital course materials. Right now the majority of faculty still are most comfortable with what they know, and that’s print copy.3) Content is designed specifically for digital. The majority of current e-textbooks are glorified PDFs, so reading an article oneline or gossip on Facebook is acceptable to many, but reading 5 chapters of Intro to Economics will make your eyes bleed on a screen. Students and faculty want more interactivity to make the switch, since price differential isn’t that large. For example, if a student is reading an astronomy book about the creation of black holes, he/she wants an e-book that they can click on and be taken to a live shot from the Hubble Space Telescope showing that black hole or one forming…or be taken to an interactive game “Create Your Own Black Hole” or something of that nature.BTW: It is my understanding that buying an e-textbook currently is like renting — a student is purchasing ACCESS to the content for a set time. They don’t get to keep it. This is fine for say an engineering major taking a philosophy course to fulfill a Humanities requirement (my apologies to the Philosophy profs out there). However, a Chemistry major will probably need his/her Intro to Organic Chemistry text for reference, not only later in their academic career, but maybe even their professional career as well.– Charlie SchmidtDir. of PR, NACS
frostdavis17 - January 28, 2010 at 10:07 am
I, too, was anxiously awaiting the apple tablet announcement, but what I find most interesting in this blog post is the discussion of e-books. I think they’ve been slow to take off because of the proprietary nature of their delivery mechanism. Books on paper have the great advantage of portability and easy access. I don’t have to be at my computer or carrying around a specific device, like my kindle. I can read during taxi and takeoff or any other time I don’t have internet access or power.In the end, what I really want is an eletronic text that I can access anywhere, with whatever device is handy (something my colleague Bryan Alexander calls an ecology of devices). I attended the e-book discussion at Educause, where the CourseSmart representative argued for the value of a particular delivery mechanism to preserve formatting, graphics, etc. But, as this year’s Horizon report notes, learning happens everywhere. Restricting my access hampers ubiquitious learning. I come closest to this experience with the e-book, when I can read the same text on my kindle and iPhone (with kindle app) and sync to the furthrest page read. (Can I use the kindle app on an iPad?) Of course, since I don’t leave my kindle wireless on (meaning no syncing), this doesn’t really work. E-books that require a certain size screen or ereaders that only give me access to a certain set up books limit learning opportunities. Follet is moving in the right direction with allowing the “try now, buy later” option. I certainly love that with the leisure books I read on my kindle. On other hand, with a required textbook, I think what students are trying is the electronic vs. the paper format. But macberry is right; as a cost-saving measure, the current e-reader and e-book market isn’t quite there yet. Instead, the value will come in additional features that open up possibilities beyond books on paper.One advantage the iPad offers for readers–real page numbers. That will make classroom discussions easier, but really they are still just trying to copy that tried and true technology–the codex. I would argue that there is no perfect device and that, indeed, we don’t want one. We understand the possibility of e-texts–they can be anywhere on any device–the platform shouldn’t matter. We also want free information, as Jim points out in his comment above. I want to interact with the information not the delivery mechanism. That’s why we get dissappointed by announcements like the iPad.
11890636 - January 28, 2010 at 10:15 am
“Even the institution considering a give-away, Abilene Christian University, said it will have to play around with the devices before making a decision. ‘We didn’t want to jump blindly into something we don’t know about,’ said William Rankin, director of educational innovation at the university.”This is not a critique of the iPad (or any other new technology). It’s common sense: How could an institution commit to application, support, and integration of a product announced yesterday? Some vendors ameliorate this problem by arranging pilot projects on campuses, under non-disclosure agreements, prior to public announcement. Such pre-release pilots offer advantageous prospects for vendors: (1) feedback during development on any specific higher ed applications or support concerns, which ideally results in more education-friendly released products (2) enthusiastic users to quote during the announcement, (3) earlier deployment on campuses of the released product, which can result in reference sites for new customers. Apple rarely engages in such pre-release pilots, however, preferring to use secrecy to stir worldwide speculation and free publicity for its product announcements — a strategy that has been spectacularly successful. Moreover Apple is fundamentally a consumer products and services company, which for higher education often means that students, faculty, and staff acquire new Apple products even before IT staff have time to test them, to say nothing of the investigation, effort, and resources required to integrate new products into communication, security, and support infrastructure. Apple technology has been the basis for decades of innovative applications in academe, but the company remains a challenging enterprise partner.
cleverclogs - January 28, 2010 at 10:30 am
I think it’s a mistake to think of the iPad as a replacement for tablets; it’s going after the netbook market. As an educator, I’d love it if Apple would add more tablet-like functionality, specifically inking, because tablets from the likes of Fujitsu are crazy expensive, not particularly intuitive and run PC code, which I still find makes them clunky. But that’s not what the iPad is meant to do, clearly. I’m pretty much a mac zealot, but I can’t imagine why educators would adopt this product. And I really can’t understand why educators would be angry at Apple for not catering to their secret desires. The fact that there is no textbook deal underscores the fact that the education market is not that interesting to Apple. If education wants to be a more attractive market for development, educators are going to have to be quicker adopters and more flexible thinkers en masse. I’m also not sure what jimgroom’s point (#1) is. Yes, I understand that Apple is famous for its insular development requirements and the way its devices are locked down. Part of the reason they do that is because bad code exposes the device to security vulnerabilities, and part of their marketing promise is a tight OS that won’t get a zillion viruses. But if you’re talking about access, all webpages cost money – first for the device (any device) and then for the connection, even if you’re running Linux on a machine you made yourself. Apple’s not responsible for the deliterious effects of capitalism. (And by the by, many fine apps are free.)I am all for universities tapping their CompSci departments to make better education software, working on issues of access and creating competitve open source. But if WebCT’s unattractive, inorganic product – and I’m talking about the newest version – is any indication, the interest in creating good education software is non-existent.
emosterd - January 28, 2010 at 10:37 am
@macberry: I’m not sure if this is an attempt at a troll, or what, but I’ll bite, because your numbers are off. I’m not going to defend the iPad here, as I was a bit underwhelmed, but here we go.As you stated: “If I were to buy one of these badly designed “iTOUCH on STEREOS” at the mid price point .. it would cost me $$850 [wi-fi and 3G] + $30 (data plan a month) = $1700.” Um, no, the model you priced out is the most expensive one 64GB 3G model, not the “mid price point” model, which in the 3G lineup would be $729. That said, you do not even need 3G if you have access to WiFi, which since we are talking about usage in schools, I would assume to be prevalent, so the mid-range is more like $599. Still expensive for an eBook reader, but wait, there’s more.As Mr. Jobs stated, it can connect up to iTunes, so students can download lectures. Sure, a laptop/netbook can do this too, but not your run-of-the-mill eBook reader. Also, you can develop and run presentations off of it, write documents–though given the virtual keyboard, I am not sure just how practical this would be without a physical keyboard–check email, use mobile Safari to go to your LMS/CMS, etc. All on a device that, while being heavier than your typical eBook reader–I believe it is twice as “heavy” as a Nook–is still far more portable than even a Netbook, and it supposedly will have better battery life. We’ll have to see of the ten-hour claim holds up in real use.As for textbook costs, I’m not sure where you came up with $68, but here on campus, that would be cheap for a single book. I’m not sure what the pricing model will be for college textbooks–perhaps twice, or maybe even three times as much as the $14.99 quoted for hardcover best-seller books–but even that would still be a cheaper alternative with significantly less weight and–probably–significantly more interaction. Many of our courses allow students to get either the traditional textbook or an e-text, which is cheaper. More and more are opting for the latter. Also, the Apple “bookstore” app will use the EPUB format, which is an open standard–rather than the proprietary standards of other eBook readers–which could mean we could create our own content for these devices.All of that said, I do not believe the iTab will change education as we know, with respect to published materials, but it is another tool, one which I think will be useful. We’ll have to see how it plays out, but Apple’s strength is not necessarily hardware, it is software and service. This has yet to fully develop, so it will be an interesting next few months to see how this all shakes out.
todgsmith - January 28, 2010 at 4:35 pm
As an educator, the thing I am most interested in is how the technology can help educate rather than giving me another way to read. As Bill Gates said this week on the Daily Show, “in spite of the technology we still haven’t revolutionized how we educate.” (or close to that). This article ends stating, “Now that Apple’s long-awaited secret is out, the harder questions might be whether the iPad is the long-awaited education computer.” We do have the education computer, it is called the lap top. What we don’t have is a way to use it that changes how we learn and educate. That app will be the key.
fchandra - January 28, 2010 at 4:41 pm
I’ll be the first to admit: I am an Apple fan boy. Like many people out there, I have been anticipating the announcement of the tablet for many months. I own every Apple product – and try to find a way to have it fit in higher education.Like many people, I too am a bit underwhelmed at the final product – at this stage. Folks can argue about the hardware specs, and the lack of features … what I want to know is, how will this be used in education?Many of us have discussed the slow adoption rate of ebooks – in their current form they are clunky and hard to use. It’s challenging to take notes, search these notes – and current ereaders are built based on eink screens which cannot support color or video.My feeling is that Apple has something up it’s sleeves here – imagine the iPad, with a textbook store. These textbooks would not be electronic copies of current texts – but instead, a new version. Instead of referring students to a bundled DVD for media, the movie would be embedded in the page, and students would just need to click on it. Current event connected to the content? The book would be smart enough to draw the reader’s attention to YouTube videos or news reports.The killer feature would be the ability to take notes directly on the page, and later search them for patterns. Imagine spotlight search technology for notes – instead of reading through every bit of text a student has taken they can instead focus on a few key sections for a quiz or test. It would be great if the software would allow note sharing via bluetooth or wifi . . .What I’m trying to say here is that this is a first generation product – and I’m sure that Apple and the publishers are finding ways to make this a great device for higher ed.Let’s keep this conversation going!
sirswindon - January 28, 2010 at 5:37 pm
I have tried all of the previous “reading devices” and none can compare with my 10″ X 6″ SONY VIAO Laptop PC. (HP has one as well.) My VIAO is much more than a reading device. I take my mini-PC with me whereever I go. I can download eBooks and not only read them in any light, I can zoom in, underline, highlight, abtract, add notes, you name it. I can get on to the Internet, I have a CD Player in it. My cellphone tethers to it so I can get on the Internet whereever I am. If I am near a hot-spot I can use that to get on the Internet. Apple will sell a lot of these iPads but not to me.
saurilio - January 28, 2010 at 6:43 pm
The difference between an iPad and a laptop is with the former you can really only consume and with the latter you can create. I agree with others who talked about preserving device-independent activities and the openness/accessibility/affordability of the web. It’s utterly ludicrous to even suggest that a middle-class family consider paying monthly fees for one such device. And I’m a Mac person. Like Jim, I’m more concerned about the larger issues, the privatization of the public sphere and the participatory gap between the connected and less connected.I’m happy there’s a sober conversation here about it here; the tech hysteria and hype gets old. #calgontakemeaway
koonoo - January 29, 2010 at 12:28 am
I completely echo todgsmith”Many colleges are hoping that e-textbooks will catch on, too, because they generally cost half the price of a printed version and can save students money.”"Many colleges are hoping that e-textbooks will catch on, too, because they generally cost half the price of a printed version and can save students money.”And …”At end of the day, it’s how do you drive savings for our students, who are feeling a great economic impact,”I find the above statements are really funny!At the end of the day, we know that students have learned more and are happier and morelikely to contribute more to whoever…
tacman - January 29, 2010 at 9:31 am
Regarding the claim, “most textbook publishers already make their titles available in a form that could be easily purchased and read on the iPad,” please specify the form. Do you mean PDF? HTML? Thanks.
optimysticynic - January 29, 2010 at 10:09 am
Bnadwidth problems, bandwidth problems, bandwidth problems!
timebandit - January 29, 2010 at 2:20 pm
The physical act of underlining and writing notes helps me to remember things. Until we get this plus real page numbers in an ebook, I’m not going to be very impressed. (Also, I prefer a stylus to fingers. My fingers stopped being good for notetaking after kindergarten.) The tablet/book thing does have one advantage to my non-mac laptop though – by being able to to turn it sideways, you get aroung the huge inconvenience of scroll-up, scroll-down, repeat that is required for on-screen reading multiple-column articles in PDF. Give me notes and I might be a customer, otherwise, meh.
coloradodan - January 29, 2010 at 3:23 pm
If Apple and/or AT&T (as well as any other carrier that will get access to the iPhone in the next year or so) allow tethering so they can go off campus and not have to pay for an additional data plan on top of the one they may have with the phone they text on…if students can find a workable portable keyboard to enter notes…if they can print…if they can access their online supplements…the iPad could have potential as a standardizing tool for many college students BECAUSE it has all of the entertainment options. How likely are up and coming students to want to separate their personal and educational lives, let alone their media? Especially if it’s linked with their content on iTunes and ?As for e-books, Apple was smart incorporating epub and if they don’t let their DRM get in the way of personal choice for accessing books, people will buy the content…as soon as they have disposable income. (How many of us bought for-fun reading as a student?) If I could get a throw away book online as an institutionally licensed “lease” for less than the bottom line cost for paper after I resell or recycle the 97th ed. of my text book, I’d consider it.