CommuniCrossings Software for Mobile Learning and Communication

Trends

• Heavy Backpacks Can Spell Chronic Back Pain for Children 4/23/2012
• A New Crop of Digital Science Books Will Change the Way Students Learn iBooks2; Cachalot; 4/12/2012
• Struggling Young Readers Like Kindles 3/29/2012
• A World without Schoolteachers (homeschooling); 12/26/2011
• Textbooks Finally Take a Big Leap to Digital 11/24/2011
• Many US Schools Adding iPads, Trimming Textbooks 9/3/2011
• Don't burn the books just yet (print books accommodate a wider array of learning styles, and encourage more attentive reading and study); 8/13/2011
• Pros and cons of e-readers vs. textbooks 7/26/2011
• South Korea plans to convert all textbooks to digital, swap backpacks for tablets by 2015 7/3/2011
• Digital Textbooks Slow to Catch On (for no value-added PDF version of the print edition); 6/6/2011
• Study: Kindles Aren’t Quite All That With The Kids On Campus 5/2/2011
• E-Textbooks Get a Lift From Publishers 3/23/2011

Pricing, Rental

• Digital textbooks may save schools $250 per student per year 3/30/2012
• Why Tablets in the Classroom Could Save Schools $3 Billion a Year 3/29/2012
• Can (Chegg) the best-funded company in textbook rental compete in a digital world? 2/13/2012
• Amazon’s New App Lets College Kids Trade In Their Hated Textbooks 8/15/2011
• College students would give up sex to trade textbooks for ebooks 7/28/2011
• How and Where to Rent E-textbooks 7/25/2011
• Amazon lets students rent digital textbooks 7/18/2011
• Beyond Textbooks (rentals): Chegg Adds Course Selection and Homework Help (social); 3/24/2011
• Finding Cheaper Textbooks: 2nd Edition 1/14/2011
• To Save Students Money, Colleges May Force a Switch to E-Textbooks 10/24/2010
• $200 Textbook vs. Free. You Do the Math 8/1/2010

Free; Open Source

• Univ. of Minn. opens up to open source textbooks 4/23/2012
• Open Textbook Startup Sued For Allegedly Copying 'Distinctive Selection, Arrangement, and Presentation' Of Facts From Existing Titles (Boundless Learning uses open sources but'material alignment'); 4/10/2012
• Free Textbooks are part of 'Digital School' Program Poland; 4/3/2012
• New Hope For Open Source Textbooks 2/18/2012
• The World Of Open Textbooks Just Became A Little More Crowded -- And A Little More Open (OpenStax College); 2/9/2012
• Steinberg Proposal Slashes Textbook Costs for California College Students (Open Educational Resources); 12/13/2011
• Washington State Guarantees Cheap And Open Courses & Courseware For Students; opencourselibrary.org 11/3/2011
• Random House Invests In Creative Commons 'Free' Textbook Publisher Flat World Knowledge 4/11/2011
• First All-Digital Science Textbook Will Be Free 10/20/2010
• Saylor Foundation: The Open Textbook Challenge

Apple

• McGraw Hill Thinks New iPad Will Be Ticket To E-Textbook Revolution (discounted iPad2; high resolution; battery life); 3/12/2012
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Touts 20-Point Boost in Student Performance with Textbooks for iPad 1/20/2012
• McGraw-Hill CEO Credits Steve Jobs' Digital Textbook Vision Amid Evidence of Pre-iPad Interest 1/20/2012
• Apple Goes Back to School: iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U 1/19/2012
• Apple Introduces Tools to (Someday) Supplant Print Textbooks 1/19/2012
• A Brief History of Textbooks, or, Why Apple's 'New Textbook Experience' Is Actually Revolutionary 1/19/2012
• Goodbye Textbooks, Hello iPad Students and teachers in grade school through higher education are using the iPad to augment their lessons or to replace textbooks; 12/10/2011
• Schools supe: iPad more important than a book 4/10/2011
• iPads set to replace school textbooks in Georgia state? 2/6/2011
• Replacing a Pile of Textbooks With an iPad 8/23/2010

Examples

• "Life On Earth" by E.O. Wilson free biology Textbook
• Wolfram unveils interactive education portal: education.wolfram.com 1/18/2012
• Making Science Leap From the Page "Principles of Biology"; web-based; dynamic illustrations, short quizzes, video/audio clips; 12/18/2011
• A "post Gutenberg" e-text for biology 101 11/20/2011
• The Elements: A Visual Exploration (iPad; $13.99); background, demo [video; 9:56]
• Al Gore Invents a Showpiece E-Book; Our Choice (iPad; $4.99) 5/5/2011
• Gore, Ex-Apple Engineers Team Up to Blow Up the Book [video; 2:04]; 4/28/2011
• Push Pop Press Acquired by Facebook
• Inkling Debuts Interactive iPad Textbook Experience With Photography App 11/1/2010
• Inkling adapts school textbooks for iPad 8/20/2010
• The Kno Textbook App Hits The iPad 6/4/2011

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