Physical therapy students who are tired of paying exorbitant prices for their instantly-outdated health textbooks (and then having to haul the weighty books around!) will be glad to see that electronic textbooks are taking a major step closer to becoming reality.
Therapy Textbooks Evolve
Just recently, major medical textbook publishers -- including Random House, McGraw-Hill, Perseus, Wiley and Kaplan -- struck a deal with app developer ScrollMotion to adapt their products for the iPad electronic page.
Rik Kranenburg, an executive with McGraw-Hill Co., was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as declaring:
"People have been talking about the impact of technology on education for 25 years. It feels like it is really going to happen in 2010.”
Publishers have certainly embraced the idea in theory, because electronic versions of their medical textbooks save them time and money in production, printing and storage, as well as enabling them to update the books virtually, rather than having to publish new print editions.
However, in practice, publishers have tended to produce online versions of medical journals, product manuals, study guides and the like, rather than actual health textbooks – partly because the technology has not been available that makes e-books attractive to students. (Though their unique features -- such as instant access to particular references; and brighter, more lifelike graphics -- can make electronic books quite useful, these products have not been as interactive as needed for students in physical therapy programs and elsewhere.)
But the recent release of the highly-anticipated Apple iPad is a game-changer. ScrollMotion’s development deal with publishers includes iPad applications to let users, such as occupational therapy students play videos, highlight text, record lectures, take printed notes, search the text, and participate in interactive quizzes.
As of now, the iPad seems to be lacking many such features. For instance, there’s no capability to let users play Flash-based videos downloaded from the Web; there’s no camera for video-conferences or virtual study groups; and there’s no handwriting recognition for taking notes. Also, the current iPad does not allow for multitasking.
All of these drawbacks come at a hefty price: $499, plus at least $30 per month in utility charges, not to mention the cost of the e-books. Thus, other competing technologies on the market, such as cheaper netbooks, or Amazon’s Kindle DX, may end up being the e-book devices of choice for students. Or, it very well could be the next generation of the iPad that physical therapy students find themselves hauling around.
Stay tuned!
