Apple has announced the new weapon for education.  They have updated iBooks for the iPad.. The app now includes support for textbooks.

iBooks 2

1. Fullscreen books, Interactive animations, Diagrams, photos, videos
2. Fast Navigation
3. Highlighting and Note Taking
4. Lesson reviews and Study cards

iBooks Author

iBooks Author is a Mac app that permits anyone to create interactive iBooks.  Of course the research and graphics would be made by you.  Using a WYSISYG interface, you can drag images and videos and the app will reformat the documents to create a beautiful ebook textbook.  You can even create interactive glossaries with interactive videos to clarify definitions.  Do you use word to write, it simply drag and drops to create new chapters and sections of the book.

Here is a list of what to expect.

1. Anyone can create interactive books
2. Customizable templates
3. multitouch widgets, photos and videos
4. Extend the capabilities with HTML 5
5. and publish directly to the iBooks Store

Both apps are Free!  Text books are about $14.99 or less!

I don’t know about you but the one problem I had with text books was their editions and how old they were.. now books can be updated and are never old.  Parents can afford the books with means cost to schools decrease.  Of course this means that students would need iPads, and that isn’t the cheapest thing in the world, but its a start.  The books start with high schools

iTunes U

iTunes U has also had its updates.  Classes have been available for a few years to anyone who is interested.  But now you can do the homework assignments and more with the new updates. There are tabs on the right side of the page: Info, Posts, Notes and Materials. Posts, updates from teachers that they can push to students. This includes assignments and a to-do list.  Teachers can create links to videos they made.  Home works can be set up as tasks, once complete you can check it done.

You can add notes to highlights you made.  Link to other apps that are needed to complete assignments. A materials tab, which shows all the books, videos, audio clips, documents and everything you’ll need for the course.

iTunes U will also be extended to K-12 with creation of online courses to anyone for free… homeschool anyone?

The app is also free.