“AT LONG LAST!”

With last week’s announcement by Apple, I can safely predict that education has taken a giant step forward in the deliverance of better learning to many more students:

NEW YORK—January 19, 2012—Apple® today announced iBooks® 2 for iPad®, featuring iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks textbooks offer iPad users gorgeous, fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more. iBooks textbooks can be kept up to date, don’t weigh down a backpack and never have to be returned.

For more than two decades, education has trailed business and industry in their commitment to technology learning. And now with Apple’s announcement, the many positive results technology training has delivered to the nation’s workforce is about to be enjoyed by our student-learners.

Why did it take so long?!? Why were so many of our educators so blind to the seismic changes that have taken place in the dominant learning culture of our country?

Business knew! America’s manufacturing and process industries knew! The American military knew!

It was no surprise to those entities that in the past half century most of our news and information has been delivered by television. They also saw clearly that retention rates were skyrocketing for those individuals who were enjoying interactive technology instruction along with the newer learning technologies invading the gaming/simulations world.

More than two decades ago, Interactive Laser Videodisc learning saw the earliest increased retention returns, although limited to the very few “early adopters.” However, with the advent of CD-ROM and media-based E-Learning the adoption has quickly spread until today these technology learning choices have become the primary tools for adult learning and increased retention.

If Apple and its book publisher partners can deliver on: “fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation . . . ,“ more and more students are going to see increased retention rates resulting in better learning.

Creating textbooks in the learning culture that our students find most familiar is a sure win!