Metaliveblogging Apple's Education event in NYC
Welcome to TUAW's coverage of the January 2012 NYC Education event. Apple has invited select media to the Guggenheim to announce new educational directions. TUAW is metaliveblogging the event, bringing you updates, analysis, and insight with our trademark TUAW flair. Please keep refreshing the page. Newer updates will appear first, using reverse chronological order.
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10:58AM Whoa, that went fast.
10:58AM The event has concluded.
10:58AM The lights are up.
10:57AM And we're done.
10:57AM Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks-author/id490152466?mt=12
10:57AM iBooks Author is now live
10:57AM Especially as we're just at the hour mark
10:57AM Hopefully one more thing? Or is that too much to ask for?
10:56AM Summarizing today: iBooks 2, iBooks Author and iTunes U
10:56AM Phil: "We hope that educators are going to look back on today's announcements just as fondly, and even see that they're more profound."
10:56AM Phil references 1982's "Kids Can't Wait" program
10:55AM Engadget: "Apple exists at the intersection of liberal arts and technology, and never has that been more evident... that is true today as it ever has been before."
10:55AM Schiller returns to the stage
10:55AM : MW: Dan Moren: That's a big deal for K-12 schools, and incentivizing those great textbooks we saw before. But it still leaves the problem of acquiring iPads for everyone.
10:55AM Now K-12 schools can sign up for iTunes U as well
10:55AM Pilot programs for using iTunes U app include MIT, Duke, Yale, and Stanford
10:54AM AAPL: $429.83 Up $0.72
10:54AM iTunes U app is free. Books and material are pay.
10:53AM There are a lot of schools committed to supporting iTunes U already
10:53AM iTunes U app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itunes-u/id490217893?mt=8
10:53AM BTW, iTunes is now showing iTunes U Courses and the iTunes U app
10:52AM If you don't own certain materials, you can purchase them through iTunes U
10:52AM Each course has a materials tab. There you'll find all supporting materials including PDFs, keynote presentations, audio, video, and even apps
10:52AM Dave Caolo: "OMG I spy Comic Sans"
10:51AM It's like iBooks 2, but adds iTunes U specific notes as well
10:51AM The notes tab in the iTunes U app collects all the notes from your books and courses in one place.
10:51AM Lex Friedman, MW: "This is a lesson that was created with iBooks Author, and it works just like the textbooks we saw earlier. Can make highlights and notes the same way. When I'm done, I switch back to iTunes U and check off the assignment as complete."
Steven Sande: "And then go drink more beer and smoke some weed"
10:50AM Assignments link directly to iBooks.
10:50AM iTunes U app includes course overview, syllabus, teacher details, info, posts, notes, and materials
10:49AM Steven Sande: "BUT WHAT ABOUT iBOOKS FOR MAC????"
10:49AM Anyone who wants to update iBooks: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8
10:49AM Duke University has a real course there "Core Concepts in Chemistry"
10:49AM The app itself looks similar to iBooks, but with a darker bookshelf. It includes all your courses in one place.
10:48AM Jeff Robbin, VP of iTunes is demoing.
10:48AM Teachers and students have all the tools they need, right on their iPad. Again, the emphasis here is on iPad.
10:47AM There's a new iTunes U, and a new dedicated app
10:47AM They're showing a lively physics demo. We want teachers to do more: create full online courses
10:47AM It's primarily used to date for delivering lectures
10:46AM 700 million downloads, and it's just 4 years old
10:46AM Over 1000 universities already using iTunes U to deliver educational content
10:46AM iTunes U helps deliver content around the world, on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch.
10:45AM Reinventing the Curriculum
10:45AM Reinventing the text book was the first thing to talk about today. Next, iTunes U
10:45AM Eddy Cue is now on stage.
10:45AM Video done.
10:45AM Textbooks now live on iTunes.
10:44AM "They're phenominally going to change the landscape of education."
10:43AM The video continues with the superintendent of the Los Angeles school system.
10:43AM "Buy a cupcake, let a child read."
10:43AM Dave Caolo: "And with that, flyers for bake sales went up in schools across the country."
10:42AM With both iBooks 2 and Author free, Apple will need to make their money through book sales and hardware
10:41AM MW Lex Friedman: The note taking interface really does look well-implemented, without requiring that you tap extra buttons. Just swipe over text, then tap your highlight to add the note. They will have to make the Note Margin Icon easier to tap, if Roger's demo is any guide (he kept unintentionally turning pages when he tried to tap it).
10:41AM And the video is summarizing iBooks Author now
10:40AM MW: Dan Moren: I'm wondering if the second part of this announcement is going to be to explain how Apple plans on incentivizing educational institutions to invest in iPads. Because as affordable as they are, they're still very expensive for many students to buy on their own.
10:40AM Dave Caolo: "Having worked in education for nearly a decade, where I did tech purchasing, I'm still skeptical that many public schools will be able to buy huge numbers of iPads"
10:40AM The video is showing off kids using iBooks
10:39AM I will personally speak up in defense of some books from the 1950's, especially grammar and math, but I get what they're saying. "There is no reason to assume today that kids need to use the same tools they used in 1950. To do so is to prepare them for a world that's already passed."
10:39AM Books are heavy, expensive, quickly outdated.
10:39AM Speaking as a parent who regularly has to update backpacks due to book weight, the thought of sticking all those books into a single device is made of pure win.
10:38AM This is apparently a much more upbeat video. Teachers explaining why they teach. Less focus on the failure of the education system.
10:38AM Steve Sande: "When Phil Schiller talks, people listen"
10:37AM Now another video
10:37AM Once the rest of the chapters are complete, they'll be sold at an "aggressive" price
10:37AM By the way, that's only the first two chapters of that book
10:36AM Dave Caolo "My kids and I love the DK books. Images are always beautiful."
10:36AM The E.O. Wilson book is free: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/e.o.-wilsons-life-on-earth/id490270998?mt=13
10:36AM DK Publishing - They make books for all different grade levels, four launching today: Dinosaurs, Insects, Mammals, and My First ABC
10:35AM I'm thinking that we may soon be seeing promo codes and gifting of books
10:35AM Steve Sande: "That will make school districts happy, parents less happy"
10:35AM Mike Rose: "How is "pay your own way" for high school textbooks going to work? Will be interesting."
10:35AM McGraw Hill: Hard at work with Algebra 1, Biology, Chemistry, Geom, Physics Used by 3M students.
10:34AM Phil: Here's what Pearson's been doing: They've made Algebra 1, Biology, Environmental Science, and Geometry. Used by 4 million students worldwide. Two available today, the math books coming shortly thereafter.
10:34AM We're wondering how authors push updates to published texts
10:34AM Phil: Together, these three companies account for 90 percent of textbooks sold in the US.
10:33AM Mike Rose: "the instant device preview is going to make so many people so happy"
10:33AM Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
10:33AM Dave Caolo: "Man, makes me wish I were in high school with an iPad."
10:33AM This is very low cost, but will kids have to purchase it themselves? Or will schools buy gift certificates?
10:32AM High School texts will be $14.99 or less
10:32AM Steve: "As with everything Apple, there's going to be a catch in terms of how publishing is actually accomplished..."
10:32AM Steve looked it up and tells me that it's not there yet... We'll update when it goes live
10:31AM Available today!
10:31AM And its...FREEEEEEEEE!
10:31AM HTML5 and Javascript are, of course, the building blocks of the EPUB standard.
10:30AM Phil: Anyone can create stunning, interactive books. From textbooks to cookbooks to travel books to whatever you can imagine. Beautiful templates, multitouch widgets, photos, and videos, extend with HTML5 and JavasScript, and publish to iBookstore.
10:30AM He once again gives the executive summary of what we've just seen.
10:30AM And Phil is back on stage.
10:30AM Steve and I are now outlining our ideas for our new Author epub.
10:29AM And the demo is complete.
10:29AM Steve Sande: It'd better be easier than the existing method... Amazon got rid of that requirement for many books.
10:29AM We're wondering if you still need ISBNs here
10:29AM And publish to the store. (Again, as an author, yay!)
10:28AM You can preview live on a connected iPad
10:28AM "If you've ever been involved in any kind of e-book creation project before you know this is a total miracle in terms of time savings."
10:28AM Select word, click a button, and it's added. Click another button, and enter the definition
10:28AM Glossary creation tool is incredibly strong.
10:28AM "If you can write code in Javascript and HTML, basically you can create your own completely custom widgets."
10:27AM Can use Dashcode to write interactive experiences in iBooks Author. Dashcode is the software app, part of the SDK, that facilitates Dashboard widget development
10:27AM MTR: The next person to say "you can create animations in Keynote!" gets hip-checked into Keynote's non-expanding left pasteboard margin
10:26AM Lex: What if you want to go even more custom? Say, something that uses the Internet to hit a db, or uses mathematical stuff.
10:26AM Behold the magic of cross-app XML!
10:26AM He dragged a Keynote presentation into Author, and it just works
10:26AM Steve: AHA, using Keynote animations to bring in Interactivity
10:26AM There's an Interaction option in the design tools that merges into the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) layout options
10:25AM Mike Rose: "The important thing here is that Author is creating implicit structure in these documents, even when the source files don't include it"
10:24AM Now that they've demonstrated basic layout. It's time to move onto interactivity
10:24AM Thank you Apple. Speaking as an author, thank you.
10:24AM Use a Word file from Finder, and it automagically builds sections, headers, and lays out pages
10:23AM You can drag images into place holders, click to set titles, drag in a movie
10:23AM It's all drag and drop here.
10:23AM We're all discussing how much this will cost. Steve says $9.99. Mike is going for $29
10:23AM This is similar to Pages' templates
10:22AM Tap to get started with standard lorem ipsum filler text
10:22AM You can get started with a number of templates
10:22AM Mike Rose: "Time to buy stock in Mac mini futures"
10:21AM Mac application
10:21AM Sorry for the delay: I was squee-ing with happiness. iBooks Author.
10:21AM Download today, go and learn stuff.
10:21AM Download today, go and learn stuff.
10:20AM iBooks 2 is free, available today
10:20AM Phil is now back on stage.
10:19AM Of course, what I personally want to know is whether Apple is going to give us the authoring tools for these textbooks.
10:19AM You can now shop for textbooks as a separate category in the iBooks store.
10:19AM You can also shuffle those cards.
10:18AM Glossary terms can also be used for study cards -- terms on front, definitions on back
10:18AM Your "study card" option transforms highlights into a virtual index card set
10:18AM Notes appear in the left margin, and you can review all your notes and highlights in one place.
10:18AM You can, as expected, also add highlights and notes to your iBooks
10:17AM These visual interactive Q&A sections help reinforce covered material, and test the student.
10:17AM iBooks is offering lots of options for layouts and types of questions,not just multiple choice
10:17AM You get immediate feedback on your review answer, as to whether or not you're right.
10:16AM Digital textbook review materials now include a summary and multiple-choice question with image answers.
10:16AM Dave Caolo asks "What school is able to purchase and deploy this many iPads? Just curious"
10:16AM MW's Dan Moren: The index for iBooks 2 seems a little more staid than the original iBooks. Looks a bit more like Keynote or Pages than the faux book UI of the first version.
10:15AM The results are fast, clean, and fluid
10:15AM You can also search for a page number, e.g. "go to page 128"
10:15AM You get a list of every place your term appears, with context
10:14AM While searching, iBooks auto-suggests completions, results are shown in-context.
10:14AM Definitions expand beyond simple text, including photos and videos
10:13AM Realtime glossary definitions. Tap a word to get its definition, another tap takes you to the full glossary
10:13AM MW's Dan Moren: The portrait view looks a lot more manageable for reading to me. It also looks much more like a traditional text book in that mode.
10:13AM The right side of the screen is similar to reader mode
10:13AM To focus on text, they switch to portrait. This re-lays out the book. Pinch the page to get back to the table of contents
10:13AM AAPL still hovering around its opening value, no big moves yet
10:12AM Works in both landscape and portrait
10:12AM And bugs -- visual model with thorax, abdomen, etc.
10:12AM Now they're demoing a cross-section of a cell, with a slider to adjust visual density
10:12AM The Verge: :The interactivity is great — kids will eat this up. If they can actually get their hands on it. That's going to be the challenge."
10:12AM MW: A 3-D model in the middle of a book page, which he can rotate with his finges.
10:11AM Authors can make amazing interactive experiences
10:11AM With a tap, get an animated 3D model of structures. (Demoing DNA structures)
10:11AM You can pinch into any photo
10:11AM Rosner: "These are gorgeous, gorgeous books. They're really in a class by themselves."
10:10AM Engadget: The main view is for the chapter. Swipe left to right to go from one to the other. Swipe below to go through the various pages. "These are gorgeous, gorgeous books. They're really in a class by themselves."
10:10AM Demoing the navigation right now.
10:10AM Engadget: E.O. Wilson in the audience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson
10:10AM The stage is set up with a big bookstand, a biology book, and a video intro by E.O. Wilson.
10:09AM AAPL $428.95
10:09AM Roger Rosner, VP for Productivity Software is on the stage doing a demo
10:09AM It introduces a new textbook experience for iPad
10:09AM Phil: These are beautiful books, interactive, fun, gorgeous, engaging—kids are gonna love to learn with textbooks in iBooks (2).'
10:09AM Introducing iBooks 2
10:08AM Durable, that is, for definitions of "durable" that do not involve a three foot drop to a hard floor. Ask Dave Caolo.
10:08AM Durable, that is, for definitions of "durable" that do not involve a three foot drop to a hard floor. Ask Dave Caolo.
10:08AM The iPad is more portable and durable, etc. etc.
10:08AM Books are not portable, durable, or interactive. They can't be searched or updated. (Well, they can be with a pen and highlighter, but that's not what Phil is getting at.)
10:07AM Textbooks wear out -- yet the content is amazing. (Phil clearly is not referring to the textbooks *I* remember from High School.)
10:07AM AAPL down $0.73 at 428.34
10:07AM Books are heavy. They get stacked up in your backpack
10:06AM "We love books"
10:06AM Phil will introduce two initiatives today. The first is to reinvent the textbook
10:06AM Teachers are excited, so is Apple. 1.5 million iPads already in use in edu programs
10:05AM The Verge: Phil: ""There are 20k education applications built specifically for the iPad."
10:05AM Phil is showing off some of the best eduapps including frog disection, solar system
10:05AM The iPad is thin and light, powerful, offers instant-on access, an all-day battery life and is affordable
10:04AM Verge: "It's not a big surprise that kids get excited learning on iPad. It's the #1 device on teen wishlists this past holiday season."
10:04AM These teachers need help. And Apple can help with engagement
10:04AM "What can Apple do to improve the situation?"
10:03AM Teacher: "Kids are just bored". And now Phil returns
10:03AM Classrooms don't have the textbooks -- or the technology -- they need
10:03AM Low levels of engagement, students having trouble with reading, writing.
10:02AM Class sizes are 40+, buildings in disrepair
10:02AM They are currently showing a video.
10:02AM Schiller states that the US is not on top of industrialized nations in regard to education, especially higher education. "In general, education is in the dark ages."
10:01AM It's worse in certain areas
10:01AM There are many educational challenges. In High School, freshmen have only a 70% chance of graduating
10:00AM AAPL down a hair at 429.07
10:00AM Macworld: (Schiller) -Apple's entire education business is based on teaching, learning, and student achievement. Try to bring the same passion they bring to every product into education business, too.
10:00AM I wonder if we'll get any hardware announcements today
10:00AM In high school, or K-6 students with special needs. The iPad communicates with the world.
10:00AM The iPad.
9:59AM Something profound is starting to happen, something remarkable.
9:59AM Engadget: "We try to bring the same energy and passion we've put into every product we make into our education business as well."
9:59AM Phil Schiller is welcoming everyone and announces today's event is about education
9:58AM Lights are going down
9:57AM Lex Friedman: There are a couple large iMacs up on the stage, and a large white Apple projected onto the screen. We are listening to Adele, if The Loop's Peter Cohen can be trusted.
9:57AM AllThingsD reports McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw has been spotted at the Apple event
9:56AM Right now, Adele is playing over the speakers.
9:55AM Steve predicts a revised Pages with new tools for ePub3 output. He adds, "I have no basis for that prediction." None of us do, Steve.
9:51AM As we wait, we're sharing our predictions with each other. Dave Caolo is looking forward to update to iWork featuring Pages with the Power of ebook creation. I want new iPad(s), iWork, new authoring tools for epub.
9:46AM We'll be starting at the top of the hour, so please join us at 10AM ET for our live meta coverage.
