Overhyping Apple’s iBooks Textbooks

Apple held it’s much hyped education event on January 19 in NYC. “Digital destruction of textbooks” and “Garageband for ebooks” were two of the many rumors floating around in the tech blogosphere. Apple announced a simple and easy-to-use tool for ebook creation and a simple distribution system through its iBooks store. The initial products are available only for the school market. Similar to Apple’s other integrated product offerings, will this e-textbook model succeed?

The Good

• The price is the best part – only $15 for a textbook compared to the more common $75
• Interactive (and possibly engaging) content
• Easy-t0-use device (iPad) with a touchscreen that kids love
• Easy to create an ebook using the iBooks Author and distribute an ebook
• Ultra-portable, kids don’t have to carry heavy textbooks
• Tens or even hundreds of books on one device
• Internet connected for easy access to the Web

The Bad

• Public schools buy books in volume and distribute them to the students. The average cost of a book is $75 that they use for about five years. A $15 ebook will be tied to individual student accounts, which means every year, the school has to pay $15 per ebook. The total cost in five years: $75. And an additional $500 for each iPad. Where are the savings? Our public school systems are in disarray. The budgets are cut every year, teachers and staff are laid off, the number of students per teacher increases. Do the schools have enough money for an upfront investment in iPads for every student?
• Book publishers have been developing interactive ebooks for a few years now. Those ebooks can be used on any computer using a Web browser and are not tied to a single device from a single company. Making the same content available on an iPad instead of a laptop is not going to improve learning.
• An iPad might increase engagement in the beginning, but once the novelty wears off, the kids will be more interested in playing Angry Birds. Pedagogy is more important than the device and this initiative doesn’t enhance the pedagogical value of the books.
• The books can easily be created by anyone and distributed through the iBooks store. But schools don’t use books written by anyone. They want books from reputed authors and publishers. It will be a low-margin, high-volume game, and hyper-competitive as well. Creating an interactive ebook means investing more on developing multimedia content. High cost of creation and low margins. Will the publishers come along?
• Nothing is more distracting than an internet connected device, which opens a portal to all kinds of information. Will the kids read the books or surf the Internet, play games, or visit Facebook? Learning is more influenced by people’s motivation than anything else. And the iPad cannot do anything to increase the kids’ motivation to learn. Today’s kids have a thousand other things to do than study, as indicated by the school and college dropout rates and falling behind of the US on PISA tests. The No Child Left Behind Act has made the situation worse.
• The downloadable ebooks will take up about 1 GB each. Which means it can store only a limited number of books. Buying the higher-capacity iPads would cost even more. If the books are not downloaded, they will not always be available, given the state of our broadband connections.

The Ugly

• Apple’s End User License Agreement (EULA) for iBooks states that the authors are free to provide the books on their Web site if its free. However, any ebook created with iBooks Author software that the author wants to sell can be sold only through the iBooks store. And Apple will set  the price and take a cut from the sale. The author works hard but apple limits the market. Apple is not working to improve education. The only things it wants to do is sell more iPads.
• The books must be approved by Apple. This means any book can (and often will) be rejected by Apple for arbitrary and unexplained reasons. What if Apple doesn’t like the content in a history book? It will have the power to alter history. I wonder if schools will allow Apple to set their curriculum.
• If the schools don’t have money to buy iPads for their students, can they make it mandatory for the parents to buy one for their kids? This would immediately lead to a class-action lawsuit against the school. Many people can’t afford an iPad, or in my and several other cases, will not be willing to buy one. How do you create equality in the classroom?
• It’s morally irresponsible. A great book should not be the sole preserve of rich school districts. It might create a 1%-99% situation and increase inequality instead of bridging it.
• A closed system will stifle innovation. An ebook that’s available to everyone on any device opens up a huge market that further incentivizes innovation.
• One drop and the iPad is gone. Who replaces the iPad? The school or the parents?

Related Readings
iPad a solid education tool, study reports
Why the iPad Won’t Transform Education — Yet
The Unprecedented Audacity of the iBooks Author EULA

iPad a solid education tool, study reports

Tags: Apple, eBooks, education, iBooks, iBooks Author, IPad, K12, school, Textbook

Cincinnati Is The New Happening Place

Cincinnatus

Five years ago, I’d visited Cincinnati for the first time at night, and it looked marvelous from the bridge connecting Cincinnati with Kentucky. After living in silicon valley for over a year, it felt different. I took up a job in Mason, a sleepy suburb of Cincinnati (CNN Money recently ranked it the 24th best place to live in the US, which is kind of cool), and have stayed in this area ever since. I love it here. Sharon Woods park ( and other beautiful parks), Sawyer Point (my favorite place during summer), Fountain Square, Union Terminal (a collection of three museums and an Omnimax theater), Kings Island, Coney Island, Newport aquarium, the zoo, and a few other attractions make the Cincinnati area a pretty nice place to raise children. But eventually, I got used to this life. And I felt that it’s a boring place with nothing to do during winter and not many career opportunities to explore. The economy is weak too. The Mason school district is awesome, by the way.

To my surprise, Lonely Planet named Cincinnati among it’s top ten tourist destinations in the US for 2012. And here is a detailed explanation by Steve Fuller, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati.

Also, Bloomberg Businessweek named Cincinnati third in the cities with highest growth in the tech jobs.

I’m proud that I live in a happening place .

Related Readings
Travel: Cincinnati’s profile grows
The Geography of Stuck
Stuck, or Content?

Reading List – 2011

A list of books I read last year (2011). Target: 25 . Actual: 30. Not bad.

1. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
2. Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson
3. Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators by Clay Shirky
4. The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins
5. The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common: 8 to Be Great by Richard St John
6. That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
7. The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica
8. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
9. How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, Norman
10. The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out by Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring
11. Committed: A Love Story by Elizabeth Gilbert
12. First Day First Show by Anupama Chopra
13. It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong
14. Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College by Andrew Ferguson
15. 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America by Albert Brooks
16. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
17. Living with Complexity by Donald A. Norman
18. Resources for Student Assessment by M.G.Kelly
19. Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims
20. Poke the Box by Seth Godin
21. Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa
22. Great Wine Made Simple by Andrea Robinson
23. The 17 Day Diet by Mike Moreno
24. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey
25. 10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks-Beale
26. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
27. The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships by Clifford Nass
28. Abs for Life by Neil Frost
29. Who’s Got Your Back by Keith Ferrazzi
30. Eat This Not That! by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding

Best Universities, Most Dropouts

In 2009, President Barack Obama talked about the US losing its competitive edge, and wanted to increase the college graduation rates. The competition, he said, would come from developing countries like China and India. Manufacturing jobs have mostly gone to China and customer service to India and other Asian countries. More and more private companies have been setting up Research and Development centers in emerging economies where they can find cheap and talented workforce.

The public school system are not delivering the results despite the spending (as a percentage of GDP) being higher than other developed countries. Funding to schools are being cut, teachers are being fired, and mediocrity has taken over. The No Child Left Behind Act has also played its part.

• There are about 3 million students graduating from high school each year.
• Approximately 70% (2.1 million) are enrolling in college within two years of graduating from school.
• The total undergraduate enrollment is 17.5 million.
• Only 57% are completing a bachelor’s degree within 6 years.
• 43% students fail to complete a bachelor’s degree in 6 years or are dropping out.

Per a US News report, 6 of the top 10 universities, 13 of the top 20, and  a large proportion of  the world’s best universities are located in the US. If the US has the best universities in the world, why are so many students failing to graduate from college? The dropout rate in the US is the highest among the OECD (also the most developed) countries.

Tags: Bachelor's degree, barack obama, china, Drop out, education, india, No Child Left Behind Act, OECD, United States

College Enrollment and Graduation Rates

Here are some interesting facts about college enrollment and graduation rates.

Graduation Rates
High school graduates per year                                  3 million
High school graduates enrolling in college            70% (2.1 million)
Bachelor’s degree graduates (in 2008-09)              1.6 million

Undergraduate enrollment rates
Total                           17.5 million
Male                            45%
Female                       55%
Full-time                   11 million
Part-time                  6.5 million

College/University
Public                                          13.5 million
Private (not-for-profit)        2.5 million
Private (for profit)                 1.5 million

4-year                                          10 million
Full time: 8 million / Part time: 2 million
Public: 6.2 million / Private: 3.8 million

2-year                                          7.5 million
Full time: 3.2 million / Part time 4.3 million
Public: 7.1 million / Private: 0.4 million

Income Level
Low income                        55%
Middle income                  67%
High income                       84%

Race/Ethnicity
Asian                90%
White                71%
Black                 63%
Hispanic          62%

Gender
Male             45%
Female        55%

Completion Rates
Completed a bachelor’s degree in 6 years    57%
White                                     57%
Hispanic                               44%
Black                                       39%
Public                                    55%
Private not-for-profit     65%
Private forprofit                22%

Tags: Bachelor's degree, education, Graduation, High school, Part-time, United States

TEDx Women Talk By Dr. Piya Sorcar On World AIDS Day

This TEDx Women talk was given by my friend and founder of TeachAIDS.org, Dr. Piya Sorcar. We were in the same master’s program at Stanford University. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technology Design and is committed to improving the lives of millions of people around the world with the innovative use of technology.

From the TEDx Women page:
Named to MIT Technology Review’s TR35 list of the top 35 innovators in the world under 35 in 2011, Dr. Sorcar is the founder and CEO of TeachAIDS, a nonprofit social venture founded at Stanford, which creates breakthrough software used in over 50 countries. Funded by UNICEF, Barclay’s, Google, Yahoo, and other organizations, the TeachAIDS software addresses numerous persistent problems in HIV prevention, and provides the most effective HIV education tools to schools, governments, and NGOs worldwide – for free.

Dr. Sorcar began the research to develop TeachAIDS in 2005 as part of her graduate work. Today, she leads a team of world experts in medicine, public health, communications, and education, to develop versions of the software for new languages and cultures. She is the author of numerous articles and has been an invited speaker at many universities, including Caltech, Columbia, Tsinghua, Utrecht and Yale. She holds degrees in Economics, Business and Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and an M.A. in Education and Ph.D. in Learning Sciences & Technology Design from Stanford University.

Tags: HIV, Piya Sorcar, TeachAIDS, TEDx

A Standardized Test is Crap If You Fail to Nail It

I’m not a huge fan of standardized tests, but tests are the oldest and most popular method of assessing learning. To some extent, standardized tests do a decent job – they assess if students possess a basic level of knowledge of math, science, and other subjects. Whether applicable in real life or not, these are the rudimentary skills everybody must have.

An “educated” Florida school board member with two master’s degrees scored poorly on a math test, and a professor at Union College in Schenectady, NY defended the test. Interesting read.

By the way, I answered all questions correctly .

When an adult took standardized tests forced on kids
The Innumeracy of Educators, or Mark Twain Was Right

Tags: education, Mark Twain, Standardized test

Learning With Technology And A Human Touch

Many are going crazy with the notion that online learning, especially learning with videos, is the answer we have been looking for all these years to address the issues associated with students. Students do not want to study and spend a lot of time in other activities such as video games, TV, and instant messenger/Facebook. If we give them options to learn anytime, anywhere, they will be more likely to study.

Videos are like teachers with a rewind button. The students can review the concepts any number of times until they get it. The Khan Academy is doing a great job of providing these videos at no cost to the users. These videos are a wonderful resource for poor students and also to schools for saving money. However, a videos-based online learning solution might not be the answer because they do not take into account how people learn.

Human beings are social by nature. And that’s the reason kids go to schools and colleges and adults go to offices. The once overhyped concept of telecommuting or virtual teams has not been successful. In one of my blog posts, I’d written:

• There is no social context with these videos. What if someone has a question? What if someone is perceiving the instruction in a different way than intended? How do we know if, when, and how much they are learning?
• The videos can be used to complement a teacher. The teacher teaches in class, then asks the students to watch a few videos for some time, and then do exercises, all under the teacher’s supervision who is always present to answer questions and guide the students.

Per a recent New York Times article, it appears that a few schools are using the Khan Academy videos in classrooms and using the analytics to gauge student learning. This is great news and makes my very happy. This is not to say that similar products will have to be used the same way. Older kids and teenagers have longer attention span and realize the importance of learning; however, it’s not going to work for everyone. For students who are motivated to learn, a video-based product or a product with interactive elements may be the right answer we’ve all been looking for. There will always be skeptics (which is a very good thing) but we have to keep moving.

Related readings:
Khan Academy Pilot Program a Success in California

Tags: education, Human, Khan Academy, learning, Salman Khan, Student, Teacher

High School And College Readiness

In their seminal book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, the authors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa analyzed data for more than 2300 students and concluded that the undergraduate students are not learning much in the first two years of college. Their critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills do not show a significant improvement for almost 50% of students as measured by the CLA (Collegiate Learning Assessment). They have presented several reasons including lower socio-economic status of some families, low expectations of instructors, lower standards of teaching and assessment, and on-campus activities.

Another major factor for the low performance in college is that their schools didn’t prepare them well for college. The academic requirements progressively get rigorous in college and critical thinking, reasoning, and writing skills become very important in every field of study. In the article Destined to Fail on The Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, the author presents evidence that the schools are not preparing their students for success in college as indicated by the ACT and SAT scores of high school seniors.

I’m not a big fan of ACT, SAT, or any standardized test, but ACT, in their benchmark studies, have identified certain test areas (english composition, algebra, and biology) on which a good score is an indicator of their success in similar courses in college. Sounds plausible.

“The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 2.2 million freshmen started college in the United States last fall.  If recent trends continue, more than a third of them will not have a diploma six years later—and few of those will ever complete college.”

This is a shocking statistic. The preparation for college should start in schools, which is not happening. There could be myriad of reasons, but as the blue collar jobs vanish, it is of utmost importance that we prepare our kids in school so that they succeed in college and life.

Related readings
ACT Scores Show Most Students Aren’t Ready for College
Debating the Value of College in America

Tags: Academically Adrift, ACT Inc, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Collegiate Learning Assessment, Critical thinking, Josipa Roksa, Richard Arum, SAT, Standardized test

Driven To Succeed

Last week, I read the book Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins. The author follows eight high schoolers over a course of a few weeks and tells the story of their achievements, struggles, aspirations, and more. These kids, belonging to a high performing school in Maryland, struggle to cope with the stress of school, homework, extracurricular activities, and peer and parental pressure, primarily to build a resume that would help them get into prestigious universities. It’s a sad commentary on the state of our education system and the hypercompetitive admissions process that overemphasizes the SAT scores, GPAs, and the amount of extracurricular activities. We can’t really blame the universities because there has to be some mechanism for selecting incoming students. Many people blame the US News college rankings for this mad rush to get into a top-ranked college without realizing that it might not be the best fit for a kid.

I understand this struggle because I’ve been part of a similar experience in India. India has a system of entrance exams whrein the kids’ physics, chemistry, biology, and math skills are tested. Any extra-curricular activities are not taken into account that leads to engineers and doctors who are brilliant but not innovators or sportspersons or community servers.

There are many kids driven by an immense desire to succeed in every field and eventually burn out. They sacrifice their childhood to get accepted to a selective university. Research has shown that a large majority is depressed and many attempt suicide. Even if they succeed, they are not happy. Because achievement doesn’t always correlate to happiness.

Stanford School of Education professor and psychologist, William Damon says today’s young people miss a sense of purpose, a feeling of meaningful existence that should be our main concern (full report here: Getting Off The Treadmill).

I don’t know how to make my kids’ lives meaningful without getting into this race, but I’ll be thinking about it. A lot.

Tags: Alexandra Robbins, Extracurricular activity, Grade (education), High school, india, Maryland, Overachiever, SAT, William Damon