Steve Jobs wanted to do for educational activity what he did for medicine , phones and pad of paper computing machine . Apple ’s new textbooks was his Next Big matter ( or one of them ) .
With their newfangled iBooks 2 and iTunes U app ’s digital courses , Apple desire to change the way students access Education Department fabric and assist them instruct and analyse . But have they succeeded ?
Is it really an education revolution?
On this front they have succeeded . iBooks 2 is majuscule , especially if you have the iPad 2 ( on the iPad 1 they can get deadening sometimes ) .
Apple ’s new iBooks are as impressive as they said in the introduction . They are beautifully crafted . Their use of video recording , timeline , animations , implant presentations , integrate recapitulation interrogative sentence and quiz and their highlight and study card organization are extremely upright . They work and they are enjoyable .
Unfortunately , they are not thoroughgoing . The lack of sharing characteristic is a major killer with literal schooltime work , in which coaction is a must .
correctly now there ’s no way to portion out your highlighted text with others . you’re able to only divvy up your note . I ca n’t export it all to a filing cabinet so I can work from my notes and play up textbook in the reckoner , something that would be useful to everyone , not only students . All my digital books are highlighted and have notes , so I really need to have this feature .
Key features
All the iBook 2 feature are going to be uncommitted to every book , not just textbooks . This is probably the best news show of this promulgation . Here are the key feature :
Thumbnail index : You ’re able to go through books using a optical forefinger , with thumbnails marking the sections of the book , along with a text line - up .
This is not peculiarly necessary , but it ’s a dear way to present subject . you could easy go through chapters and sections sweeping with your finger on the master index page . I wish there was a more detailed indicator page , however ( my guess is that more complex books will utilize them ) .
Built - in telecasting : The video support is straightforward . come home and dally . textual matter run around them as if they were images , completely integrate in the layout .
You only call for to tapdance on them or cabbage out to expand them into full screen . This is especially satisfying , as you whizz along in and out of them as you would do with simulacrum in the picture record album software program .
These brio exercise like the videos and images : you may expand them easily by pinching out on them or just tapping on them . They are marked as animations as you tap on them the first clip . On this image you may see how it look as I pinch to zoom .
Study cards : This is another really orderly feature , perhaps one of the better . The iBooks app will mechanically turn over your highlights and notation into study cards . The carte will also admit must - lear words from the gloss .
They play along a paper metaphor , complete with a 3D effect ( shown in the first image ) . Their objective lens is to make these wit feel like actual library scorecard .
Like genuine cards , you have a canonic construct on the front and expanded notes on the back . Like every other element in the iBooks app , sail your finger will go through all of them . you may also flip them around easy , by clicking on the scurvy corner .
It ’s a good translation of the tangible existence , a drug user experience that is both useful and looks elegant . It will also be utile for any kinds of research , if it ’s available for every leger through the iBooks 2 app program .
Custom gloss : They also include a feature like to the current iBook ’s dictionary , in which you will access each textbook ’s custom glossary by highlighting words .
The glossary is always accessible from the top of the screen , one snap away . It ’s well direct , very clean and without any adorns or clutter . you could navigate using the alphabet on the left side of the cover or just scrolling down . As you would anticipate , you could jump to any part of the book where the word is mentioned .
Quizzes and look back interrogation : Another nerveless feature article that I ’m certain pupil will love are the inst quizzes build - in into the textbooks .
The quiz and review questions are ramp up flop into each book , at the end of each chapter . They are pretty straightforward questions with multiple - choice answers . Pick the one you remember it ’s correct and cluck on the reveal solvent button to see if you were right . There is no scoring , however . It would be neat to have some scoring arrangement on more complex quiz and built - in exams , fix by the teacher .
There are already eight free Word on the store , but the single coming from the big publication ship’s company will be $ 15 “ or less ” each . They are cultivate with Pearson , McGraw - Hill , Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , DK publication — which is set out with four Kyd book — and the E.O Wilson Biodiversity Foundation . The latter has made usable the first chapter of Life on Earth for liberal , and they will be summate new chapters for “ a low terms . ”
How to make them
It work like the Apple iWorks program — which is not a surprise , knowing that iWork ’s chief Roger Rosner is in charge of this . It fundamentally pay back any content that iWork would take on , which includes text edition , shapes , art , TV and even entire Keynote presentations , which are full animated . The app is compatible with Word too , which is a must in a humankind dominate by Office .
This seems like it could be a winner for everyone , not only big publication companies . The app will be free , and it ’s useable today at the Mac App Store .
A great first version that is not perfect
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