iPad Textbooks: Reality Less Revolutionary Than Hardware

Much as tablet computers went mainstream in the iPad’s wake, Apple’s latest educational project heralds an age of tablet-based schoolbooks.

That, at least, is the hope and hype surrounding iBooks textbooks, launched Jan. 19 at a promotional gala held in the Guggenheim Museum and advertised in terms as glowing as an iPad’s screen.

In coming years, schools worldwide will grapple with whether to adopt tablet-based materials, on the iPad or on other platforms. They’ll consider many factors — including cost, intellectual property issues and logistics — that may ultimately prove as important as the textbooks’ contents. But as learning is the ultimate purpose, the question remains: Will kids really learn more and better on tablets than existing media?

That’s far from clear now, and the reality may prove less revolutionary than the hardware. 

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/ipad-textbooks-learning/