Responses to Apple's Education Announcement

Apple declared that it is officially in the ring regarding educational material—notably digital textbooks and an expansion of online class offerings—and the media is buzzing about what this means for the future of school resources as we know them.

With iBooks 2, iTunes U and perhaps most significantly, iBooks Author, Apple wants to shift the educational landscape from analog books and physical classrooms to the digital world of interactive learning and online classes. (For the record, online classes and resources in iTunes U aren’t new, but the app has been updated and will benefit greatly from resources created in iBooks Author.)

So what are people saying about all of this? Well, the potential is huge, and reactions have varied, since it’s still early. These are the responses I found most insightful and indicative of what this transition could mean to society and education as a whole:

“Apple’s product is big on promise and will, in the end, kill the sale of paper textbooks … How long it takes is the million dollar question today, but knowing the speed at which Apple forces the paradigm to shift, I doubt the textbook publishers will survive much longer just selling dead tree product.” -John Biggs, TechCrunch

“I was able to recreate a feature spread from the January issue of Macworld in iBooks Author in less than an hour.” -Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

“Giving the teacher an Apple just got a whole new meaning.” -Jason Gilbert, Huffington Post

“iBooks 2 is no doubt a powerful tool—I wish I had it in college. This isn’t a luddite rant against the cotton gin, as I fully appreciate the positive impact that digital textbooks could have on learning. But I’m more fearful that the amount of pure learning and knowledge retention will be replaced by flashy videos and loud graphics.” -Matt Burns, TechCrunch

“Movies load quickly, page turns are smooth, and embedded animations work without a hitch. Images are particularly engaging, as most go full-screen with a tap, and also contain a number of other related images to swipe through as well.” -Nathan Ingraham, The Verge

“Make no mistake, this is a game changer. The real effects may take time to realize but Apple has just made it easy for anyone to publish. Before iBooks 2, you needed to find or generate content and then develop your own app, now all you need is the content.” -Jeff Cohen, The Textbook Guru

“I was with him in June this past year, and we were talking about some of the benchmarks, and some of the things that we were trying to do together … This was his vision, this was his idea, and it all had to do with the iPad.” -Terry McGraw, CEO, McGraw-Hill via c|net

What are your thoughts on what all of this means? Is it too crazy to think that an iPad would replace a physical textbook? Is it time for us to take our luddite thinking and move into the 21st century?