Apple Textbooks

[Conan71]

Instead of buying textbooks, consider renting them from a service like www.chegg.com. I used Chegg for my last two years at TU and saved probably over $1000. Rent a book for a semester for $15-30 and send it back in a pre-paid envelope. Heck, they even plant a tree for each book you rent.

That sounds better than the depreciation on re-sale.

[dsjeffries]

It was really a lifesaver. Go for it next semester.

[nathanm]

I'm not saying that textbooks on ereaders are an inherently bad idea (unless your students are likely to not have electricity at home!), just that it's a complete waste of money for a school district to buy an iPad over a Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire. Had a school the size of my high school done it, expecting the kids to keep the tablet their entire run, the iPads are an extra $150,000 a year that could go to useful programs that are being cut due to budgetary issues. And that's just the one freakin' school.

Although thinking further about it I'm not sure that it's the best thing in the world for kids to be essentially staring at light bulbs even more than they already are.

Also, it's definitely not the greatest thing in the world to cheapen textbooks even further. It takes literally years for a couple of people to write a good textbook. It's all about sourcing and accuracy, which is rather time consuming.

[Conan71]

I'm not saying that textbooks on ereaders are an inherently bad idea (unless your students are likely to not have electricity at home!), just that it's a complete waste of money for a school district to buy an iPad over a Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire. Had a school the size of my high school done it, expecting the kids to keep the tablet their entire run, the iPads are an extra $150,000 a year that could go to useful programs that are being cut due to budgetary issues. And that's just the one freakin' school.

Although thinking further about it I'm not sure that it's the best thing in the world for kids to be essentially staring at light bulbs even more than they already are.

Also, it's definitely not the greatest thing in the world to cheapen textbooks even further. It takes literally years for a couple of people to write a good textbook. It's all about sourcing and accuracy, which is rather time consuming.

iPads and e-readers don't cheapen the work whatsoever.  You still pay the researchers, writers, and editors what they've always made.  Heck with the variables in printing costs and transportation costs, perhaps they could make more whilst lowering the end user price of a text.  You get rid of a lot of waste and environmental issues created by manufacturing and transporting text books.  

I don't know if you would be old enough to remember it or not, but when they started putting PC's in classrooms, there was a similar reaction in the very early 1980's.  "Those kids don't need to be playing around on a damn computer unless they plan to become a computer programmer!".  Turns out within 10-12 years if you didn't have a PC or know how to use one you were at a serious disadvantage.  Now 30+ years later it's hard to imagine anyone who does not have access to a computer or doesn't know how to operate one in the developed world.  Tablets are the next technology to help manage life, study, and stay in contact.  Ten years from now, they will be considered essential, so I don't really think it's a bad thing to get kids used to the technology.

Finally, Apple makes really good discounts for education.  I was told by a friend who went through the graphics program at OSU tech that they would practically give away the hardware to the schools as they knew if the designers got comfortable using their platform, that's what they would buy when they got out of school.  IOW, a school system may be able to get iPad's for 1/2 of list and the iPad offers more functionality than just a an e-reader.  There is a ton of mark up in an iPhone iPad or Mac.  That's why Apple's profits are so astounding quarter after quarter- basically they have a ton of mark up they can work with on discounting to schools and still make a meager profit on those units without vastly hurting their bottom line.  Students also get better pricing on any Apple product, whether you buy it from Best Buy or the I.T. store on a college campus.  Sort of like free crack for the future customer

/Apple fanboy mode

[Townsend]

You forgot to berate him for lack of posting a link to a source.

I thought he was relating personal experience. 

[Gaspar]

My 6 year old already carries a backpack that weighs about 8 lb.
When I was in high school mine must have weighed well over 25 lb, and I remember the sore shoulders from lugging it around.

If we want to talk about economy for public schools, Conan is right, Apple provides technology at greatly discounted prices.  In many instances they provide a certain number of systems free of cost, because they know that once children are proficient with Apple products, they and their parents are likely to be customers.

Schools spend a great deal of money on the logistics of purchasing, storing, distributing, and recovering text books.  Each district operates warehouses or has devoted real-estate for text book storage.  Transportation is also an issue.  If each student is lugging around a 10-20lb backpack that is the equivalent of adding 560 to 1,120 lb of weight to an average school bus.

Elementary school text books average from $40-$100+, so each student is carrying up to $400 +/- worth of paper.  When you add the expense of warehousing, logistics, and distribution, that cost goes up.  There is no reason to be a Luddite on this subject, especially when the technology also offers a vast number of capabilities not available through a static wood pulp product.

This also provides poor children, that may not be able to afford a home computer, the ability to participate in a digital world.  When I was a child, IBM supplied schools with typewriters.  When I went to college Apple had begun to provide schools and universities with IIe microcomputers.  I was lucky, my Dad and I had already built a Heathkit in 1980, and graduated through the TRS80s and so on, but without exposure to those old Apple IIes, many of my fellow students would never have had any computer experience during their youth.

I remember when Jenks tossed the IBM Selectrics for PCs the year my little sister graduated.  There was outrage among many parents because they though it would lead to children not being able to use a typewriter.

[Conan71]

...because they know that once children are proficient with Apple products, they and their parents are likely to be customers.

I remember when Jenks tossed the IBM Selectrics for PCs the year my little sister graduated.  There was outrage among many parents because they though it would lead to children not being able to use a typewriter.

Guess who had the first Apple product in my house?  My older daughter.  It's metastasized since then.  Now I need to get FMC on the Apple cart.

Typewriter?  What's that?

[AquaMan]

Two things come to mind. How many of you still have your zip disks? What is the lifespan of the Ipad or Kindles?

And, though creatives and enlightened love their Apple products, it is still poorly accepted among most businesses isn't it?

I considered sending one of my children to a private middle school (MetroC) back in the mid nineties, but when I talked to their technology instructor, she expressed contempt for any platform other than PC. She bragged that they were total PC because there was no business future for toys like Apple produced. Alas, that attitude still exists in the business world.

[Townsend]

Alas, that attitude still exists in the business world.

Not in my business.

Apple mobile products are tracked and are very strong.  How many iPhones were activated this last Christmas?

[AquaMan]

I often see requirements in job descriptions for PC type software experience. Lately I have seen an increase in GUI type software requirements including off the shelf stuff, but not necessarily Apple/Mac platform experience unless it is a graphics type position. I guess it doesn't matter if its used just as a research source. Just noting the bias.

I mostly worry about compatibility, lifespan, designed obsolescence and virus issues. Books may burn but its usually not all the books in a short period of time. You also don't need to keep updating, transferring and backing them up all at extra cost. I love it that I still have books from college and occasionally refer to them. And lastly, unless we all forget how to read and turn pages they still are stored and work the same way they have since Gutenberg.

[Conan71]

I often see requirements in job descriptions for PC type software experience. Lately I have seen an increase in GUI type software requirements including off the shelf stuff, but not necessarily Apple/Mac platform experience unless it is a graphics type position. I guess it doesn't matter if its used just as a research source. Just noting the bias.

I mostly worry about compatibility, lifespan, designed obsolescence and virus issues. Books may burn but its usually not all the books in a short period of time. You also don't need to keep updating, transferring and backing them up all at extra cost. I love it that I still have books from college and occasionally refer to them. And lastly, unless we all forget how to read and turn pages they still are stored and work the same way they have since Gutenberg.

Yet one more Apple advantage: no viruses.

It took awhile to get used to the nuances of my Mac, but everything I produce on it for work will open and read just fine in anyone else's PC here at work.  I also like the availability of useful apps in the app store. 

Even if someone must use a PC at work, there's a growing number of people who are going Apple for all their personal computing and communication needs.

[Red Arrow]

When I was in high school mine must have weighed well over 25 lb, and I remember the sore shoulders from lugging it around.

You had backpacks?  We had to lug our books around using our arms.

I remember when Jenks tossed the IBM Selectrics for PCs the year my little sister graduated.  There was outrage among many parents because they though it would lead to children not being able to use a typewriter.

Before that, parents probably complained about electric typewriters since you didn't have to strike the keys with any gusto as was required with the manual typewriters.

[Red Arrow]

Two things come to mind. How many of you still have your zip disks? What is the lifespan of the Ipad or Kindles?

Can you say 5-1/4 FDD?

[Townsend]

Two things come to mind. How many of you still have your zip disks? What is the lifespan of the Ipad or Kindles?

Do you think the technology will go away in a few years?

[AquaMan]

"Book of Eli" a couple of years ago with Denzel Washington. Good movie and an interesting premise.