Observers Skeptical Of Apple E-Textbook Technology

Jason Tomassini writes at the Education Week (3/8) "Marketplace K-12" blog about the recent e-textbook partnership between McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Apple Computer, noting that "on Tuesday, Mike Evans, a senior vice president at Pearson, gave attendees at the South by Southwest education conference (SXSWedu) in Austin, Texas, a closer look of how the textbooks actually work." However, "the audience seemed to leave with more questions than answers about the e-textbooks, seen as a leading example of education innovation by members of the media, bloggers and, oh yeah, the US Secretary of Education." Tomassini describes a number of complaints related about the technology by observers, concluding, "If the price tag for iPads and e-textbooks ends up being too costly and districts aren't seeing much of a different from their print past, meeting Arne Duncan's digital textbook goals may be tough."