The 10 Most Common Teacher Complaints Against iBooks

The recently announced update to Apple’s iBooks app has been lauded as an incredible change for education, reinventing the textbook as we know it, and allowing teachers to become content creators like never before. The upgraded app has its fair share of fans, but there are many teachers who just aren’t buying the hype. Common complaints include the cost of investment, closed software, and even the idea that students are in need of a bigger change than just multimedia books. Read on, and we’ll expand on some of the biggest problems teachers are finding with the new iBooks app.

1. The idea that public schools can afford iPads is laughable: To iBooks, many teachers are saying, in much kinder words, "Are you freaking serious? We have to make kids buy their own hand sanitizer. How are we supposed to find room in the budget for iPads?" But seriously, even though the books seem to be a steal at $14.99 or less, the hardware is the killer here. Plenty of schools are laying off teachers because they can’t pay them, so it’s laughable to think they might be able to find million dollar budgets with which they can purchase textbooks. According to CNET, a small school of just 700 students would need a grant of $350,000 just to buy iPads, and in order to fill those iPads with all the necessary books, it would be more like half a million dollars.
2. iPads are entirely too fragile for public schools: Even if schools can somehow find a way to afford iPads for their students, can we realistically believe that students can handle such a fragile device? Even with Gorilla Glass, iPads and other similar consumer electronics are simply too easy to break, a scary thought when distributing them to the masses of young students. Even under close supervision, there’s always the very real possibility that iPads will get dropped or similarly abused, leading to costly repairs and replacement. One reviewer wonders if schools will have to employ maintenance technicians tasked solely with the purpose of fixing broken down iPads, a need that’s already sparked a growing industry.
3. Students today need more than textbooks: Others say that what students need today can’t be found in a textbook, even if it is digitally fancied up. Critics argue that textbooks are not the center of the learning experience, and that the millions of dollars school districts might spend on iPads and iBooks would be much better spent on creating a more interactive learning environment away from the screen.
4. Unless students own an iPad, books can’t go home: As many schools can’t afford an iPad for every single student, we’ll likely see school districts purchasing shared iPads that stay at school. That means the iBooks that live in the iPad will also stay at school, posing a problem when students need to use their textbooks for studying or homework away from school. The same multimedia and text content that makes iBooks so great is simply not available for home computers, and unless students also have access to an iPad at home, they’re not going to be able to use that content away from school.
5. iPads can’t hold all the books students need: It’s safe to assume that most schools will be happy just to afford 16GB iPads for their students, but the reality is that for iBooks to replace textbooks, it’s likely they’ll need to spring for the 32GB model. One teacher points out that with most books coming in at 1 to 2 GB each, a 16 GB will hold eight books and nothing else. That means students may not be able to fit all of the books they need for school on one device, and they won’t be able to take advantage of educational apps on their iPads, either.

Read More...