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  • iSlate / iTunesU / Higher Ed

    By Joshua Kim January 4, 2010 9:43 pm EST

    Since everyone is going crazy about the possible/maybe upcoming Apple iSlate tablet, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and add to the hype. But … with a higher ed. angle.

    The iSlate in combination with iTunesU will deliver all the media and materials associated with a given course. A course will be packaged in iTunesU to include all the course readings and course videos. The built-in reading application (simple page advance, annotation, sharing etc. etc.) will finally offer a better reading experience then paper. Course video and readings will be organized into one download (wireless), easily allowing navigation through the curriculum. The portability and light-weight form factor of the iSlate will make it convenient to bring the device everywhere, effortlessly shifting between course related materials and any other entertainment content the student wishes to download and consume.

    Bundling all course materials into one download on iTunesU, and having the consumption of the materials offer a great experience on the iSlate, will mean that a cloud-based, disagregated, open educational experience is one step closer to challenging the traditional campus experience. The game changer will not only be the aggregation and form factor of the content, but the ability to use the iSlate to interact and collaborate around the content. The iSlate's communication software will make it easy to share your thoughts and questions about the curricular materials you are reading or viewing. The built-in camera and microphone will make it a simple matter to record and upload video questions and reactions to the materials. Eventually, this communication around the educational content (again all organized and searchable in iTunesU) will form a value-add around the learning content - bringing community to the course materials.

    Before the integration of the iSlate and iTunesU it was never possible to bring all the course and learning materials to one device. Course readings and video delivered through the browser were often difficult to navigate, and the reading experience was relatively poor. But with the iSlate and iTunesU it will be possible to download all the course related materials, hosting them locally for easy viewing and reading. At the same time, the browser experience in the iSlate will keep what is good about a Web based learning system - the ability to interact and communicate. Combining both the reading/viewing experience (not browser based), with the collaboration/communication experience (browser based) will converge these activities into one device.

    Once students begin to experience the advantages of consuming course materials and interacting with the content and other learners through the iSlate the incentives to upload course materials to iTuneU will only grown. Schools will want to have an iTunesU presence because their existing students will demand it, and the platform will be a wonderful way to gift learning materials to the world and communicate all the wonderful teaching and scholarship being offered on campus. Like iTunes and the iPod, the combination of iTunesU and the iSlate will mutually support and reinforce each other. Publishers will have incentives to make sure that their textbooks and other books used for courses are available for sale in an iTunesU course bundle. The market for journal articles and other copyrighted works (such as book chapters) will also develop around the iSlate and iTunesU ecosystem - insuring a great user experience and opening up new avenues to monetize publisher content.

    Phew … was this hyperbolic enough for you? Did I adequately live up to the iSlate hype? What do you think…..is this a plausible story?

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Comments on iSlate / iTunesU / Higher Ed

  • Errr... mundane facts, please
  • Posted by Sherman Dorn , Professor at University of South Florida on January 5, 2010 at 4:45am EST

  • Some basics on whatever an Apple tablet might be: (a) Apple has an historical edge (comparatively) in education; (b) loads of K-12 and higher-ed teachers currently need and lack a way to carry student papers around and comment on them on devices that are about as large as the original paper (whether 8.5x11 or A4); (c) creating a device that allows commenting on PDFs or documents in a regular-paper-sized format would also attract others; and (d) building in an OS akin to an iPhone, with a "tablet app store," would build on the existing iPhone app development community. Who needs Utopia when a competently-constructed tablet would get me to shell out money for an Apple machine when I never have before?

  • Too much hype
  • Posted by Dr. Pepper , Academic-in-training at Northeast on January 5, 2010 at 9:45am EST

  • I think there is way too much hype here. I love the apple marketing machine, it's great! Every company should be like them (if they can) because the RDF (reality distortion field) does wonders on the consumer's mind. A number of years ago I learned to take these press events with a grain of salt. Yes, we want the tablet to be the best thing since sliced bread (well, not quite, the best thing since the Apple Newton), but one device is not a panacea. Let's wait and see what it is, how it works, and how it can fit into pedagogy.
    I like the idea of having interactive texts, however I really dislike the idea of non-portability. Apple can do a lot with the current base of technologies (iTunes U, iTunes LP, h.264, AAC, Webkit, etc.) but is it portable? Can I take the content that I buy for an apple tablet and move it to my Dell at work? Or the HP at my sister's house? Or (gasp) the Kindle? Can I send the content to a service like Lulu to get a paper copy if I want? You might make the claim that Apps aren't portable - true enough, but apps are apps. They are not books. I like my books to be portable (just like I can photocopy my paperback if I want).
    Finally - and I may sound like an idiot for pointing this out - but please look up the difference between the words "then" and "than". You keep writing "then" when you should be using "than" :-)

  • yeah, right.
  • Posted by Mark on January 5, 2010 at 10:15am EST

  • Yes, hyperbolic enough. No, not plausible. Apple has only slight interest in the higher ed market. And most of the functions you describe are available via laptops today, but your technology-centric vision hasn't happened there yet. iTunes is designed around advertising and selling popular music, movies, TV shows, apps, etc. It's not a great way to find or deliver many educational materials, and Apple's much-vaunted usability is more hype than reality for many users (note: I am a happy Macbook/iPhone user, but I'm also a usability specialist). An iSlate will doubtless be a primo entertainment device, and to the extent that education becomes entertainment, the iTunesU/iSlate ecosystem will work fine.

  • In an Ideal World
  • Posted by AndreaGenevieve , Semester in Washington at GWU on January 6, 2010 at 6:00pm EST

  • In an ideal world this would come to reality and take off in classroom and on college campuses all across the US! Sadly, we have to face reality and know that no matter what we all hope, adoption of technology is only slowly making its way into time-honored traditional classroom settings. I'm with you Sherman- I wish it could be true!

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