What would the cost be? The rental of the ePubs plus 499.00 for an iPad for 4 years. In the end would the cost be cheaper just buying the regular books or the iPad and the ePubs?
The bigger question is what happens if you lose your iPad or it gets stolen?
Will the iPad last 4 years or will you have to buy a new one at the beginning of year 4?
Some of this is already available.
We have been discussing this in another thread (iPads for Students)
With one of our members who is active duty military overseas using
Coursesmart.
He says:
- He is able to get most texts he needs right now.
- The texts are cheaper. (He just bought books for 2 new courses, at $65/$55, instead of $120/$135)
- So a few courses, will PAY for the iPad.
- Also, being overseas, ordering hardcopy texts can take months to receive. He was a month into one of his classes before he got that text.
- The digital texts arrive instantly.
I have been talking to one professor locally, who has received a grant to work on making texts and lectures, and other course materials, available over the internet.
I know there are others around the country, and around the world, working on the same purposes.
(Check out all the podcasts available already on iTunes, in the iTunes U category. Hundreds of Thousands already, it looks like.)
Coursesmart, and other similar, do already have some of the ability to add highlighting and notes, and improvements are happening all the time.
It has already begun.
.