教科書革命 — AppleのDNAが快走する

Appleが2012年1月19日にiBooks 2、iBooks Author、iTunes Uの三つの教育ソリューションを発表した。教育はAppleのDNAに深く刻まれているという。創業初期から計画されていた教育事業がついに表舞台で走り始めることとなった。
　本稿では新しいデジタル教科書のサンプル『Life on Earth』のDNAに関する描写部分などを取り上げ、新しい教科書で何ができるのかを実際に体験し、考察する。
　iBooks 2とiPadにより実現された新しいデジタル教科書は、教科書の進化から見れば革命的ではあるが、まだ緒についたばかりでもある。今後の成否はコンテンツに左右されるところも大きいが、少なくとも、従来の紙の教科書に付随していた多くの問題の解決が見えてきた。これからさらに教育環境をどのように変えることができるのか、今後の動向が注目される。

“Education is deep in Apple’s DNA,” said Apple in a press event on January 19, 2012, introducing three leading-edge educational applications: 'iBooks 2', 'iBooks Author', and ‘iTunes U'. Since its inception, Apple has been focused on education as an important market, and now, finally, it is making headway in this area. Amongst these three applications, iBooks 2, available on iPad, enables use of new dynamic and interactive digital textbooks, which allows users to highlight text, take notes, create study cards, and a wide range of other convenient uses. It has also dramatically improved the presentation of textbooks. Photos, movies, 3D images and various other media are integrated into the textbooks to provide information rich and enhanced presentation capabilities, with the added ease of using Multi-Touch gestures to aid navigation throughout the platform. In terms of capacity, an iPad can pack and store several such textbooks offering great convenience and a vast wealth of information.
The following report introduces the latest generation of digital textbooks, taking a closer look at presentations on the subject of DNA in the sample content “Life on Earth,” and discusses the capability and potentiality of this new type of textbook. Although still in its infancy as a technology, the digital textbooks realized by iBooks 2 and iPad are breakthroughs in the evolution of the concept of what constitutes a textbook. The future success of such new formats will largely depend on the quality and usability of their contents, but at least they can be considered as possible solutions to many of the problems associated with conventional paper textbooks. It will be well worth our attention to see how they can further transform the realm of education.