Apple media event . . .

Tomorrow could be a big day in our profession as Apple is holding its first media event of the year with speculation that the focus is on textbooks. If true, it would be aligned with Job’s ideas as described in his biography and shared in this NY Times piece.


Mr. Jobs’s biographer Walter Isaacson says in the book that Mr. Jobs viewed textbooks as the next business he wanted to transform. His idea, according to Mr. Isaacson, was to hire textbook writers to create digital versions of their books for the iPad.

Obviously, this could have a significant impact on a multi-billion dollar industry and on future technology purchases in our school system. Textbooks are very expensive.  The cost is also one of the reasons why we must use them over a period of time even as standards change from year-to-year.

Having access to online texts at a competitive price would be a welcome addition to our work. More importantly, it would allow for regular and timely adjustments to the content something that is very critical with shifting targets and a rapidly changing world. This would be especially welcome as we prepare to move to the Common Core.