In cursul acestei dupa-amieze, compania Apple a facut un anunt important pentru elevii si studentii romani, precum si pentru cei din alte cateva zeci de tari din jurul lumii. Mai exact, compania americana a anuntat, prin intermediul unui comunicat de presa ca extinde disponibilitatea continutului educational – adica a Manualelor iBooks (iBooks Textbooks) si a iTunes U Course Manager – in noi piete din intreaga lume. Incepand de astazi cele doua componente ale iTunes vor fi disponibile in pietele din Asia, America Latina, Europa, precum si in alte cateva tari din lumea intreaga. Conform Apple, studentii din 51 de tari, printre care si Romania, Brazilia, Japonia si Italia vor avea acces la manualele iBooks, iar profesorii din 70 de tari, printre care si Romania, Rusia, Thailanda si Malaezia vor putea distribui in clase sau public prin aplicatia gratuita iTunes U materiale educationale ce vor putea fi descarcate gratuit de catre toti elevii care detin iPhone, iPad sau iPod touch.

Manualele iBooks au fost introduse in anul 2012 in aplicatia iBooks fiind disponibile pe orice iPad sau Mac (cu OS X Mavericks) si ofera studentilor acces la informatiile disponibile si pana acum in clasicele – si invechitele, daca vorbim despre institutiile de invatamant romanesti – manuale, continand animatii interactive, grafice 3D rotative, galerii cu imagini si clipuri video care vor transforma invatatul intr-un lucru minunat pentru orice elev. Mai mult decat atat, Manualele iBooks pot fi actualizate, ceea ce inseamna ca elevii si studentii vor avea in permanenta ultimele informatii in manuale. Orice profesor roman care detine un Mac va putea descarca, gratuit, din App Store, aplicatia iBooks Author prin intermediul careia isi va putea crea propriul manual scolar pe care il va putea publica ulterior in iBooks Store, in format gratuit sau contra cost.

• iBooks Author – Gratuit – Descarca acum

iTunes U este o aplicatie disponibila de cativa ani in App Store, inclusiv in magazinul virtual cu aplicatii din Romania, care ofera elevilor si studentilor posibilitatea de a descarca materiale educationale create de institutiile de invatamant la care studiaza sau de la orice alta institutie care a publicat cursuri in catalogul iTunes U. iTunes U Course Manager ofera personalului calificat din universitati si licee toate uneltele de care au nevoie pentru a publica materialele educationale in magazinul de cursuri pentru ca, in functie de ceea ce aleg, numai elevii si studentii institutiei lor sau oricine sa poata descarca materialele pe dispozitive. iTunes U accepta nu doar documente clasice, ci si fisiere PDF sau clipuri video, toate putand fi adaugate de profesori in catalogul aplicatiei. De asemenea, profesorii vor putea adauga datele, conform programei scolare, pana la care elevii trebuie sa citeasca si invete cursurile, acestia vor fi notificati inaintea termenului limita, iar in final cu totii vor putea fi multumiti; elevii ca nu au uitat de teme, iar profesorii ca au distribuit toate materialele de care elevii lor au nevoie pentru a invata. Cursurile publicate in iTunes U vor putea fi actualizate mereu de profesori, pentru a include lectii noi, acestia putand opta pentru publicarea treptata a lectiilor in functie de programa scolara. Pentru a trimite cursuri in catalogul iTunes U va trebui sa va inscrieti in programul iTunes U Course Manager accesand acest link.

Aplicatia iTunes U este disponibila in App Store Romania sub forma unei aplicatii universale pentru iPhone, iPad si iPod touch si poate fi descarcata urmand linkul de mai jos:

• iTunes U pentru iPhone si iPad – Gratuit – Descarca acum

Sunt curios sa vad cat va dura pana cand institutiile de invatamant din Romania vor decide sa publice materialele educationale in iTunes U sau cand va aparea primul manual iBooks in iBooks Store. In cazul in care sunteti un cadru didactic, va recomand sa publicati in iBooks Store manuale sau sa creati cursuri pentru iTunes U pentru a va usura atat viata dvs., cat si a elevilor.

Din pacate in Romania mult prea putine institutii de invatamant ofera tablete elevilor, cele care ofera dispun de tablete ieftine, greu de utilizat, cu manuale digitale gandite la fel ca si manualele clasice care nu au mai evoluat in ultimii cativa zeci de ani.

Cititi intregul comunicat de presa trimis de catre Apple:

Apple Expands Worldwide Access to Educational Content

iBooks Textbooks & iTunes U Course Manager Now Available in Over 50 Countries

CUPERTINO, California—January 21, 2014—Apple® today announced iBooks® Textbooks and iTunes U® Course Manager are expanding into new markets across Asia, Latin America, Europe and elsewhere around the world. iBooks Textbooks bring Multi-Touch™ textbooks with dynamic, current and interactive content to teachers and students in 51 countries now including Brazil, Italy and Japan; and iTunes U Course Manager, available in 70 countries now including Russia, Thailand and Malaysia, allows educators to create and distribute courses for their own classrooms, or share them publicly, on the iTunes U app.“The incredible content and tools available for iPad provide teachers with new ways to customize learning unlike ever before,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We can’t wait to see how teachers in even more countries will create their new lesson plans with interactive textbooks, apps and rich digital content.”

iBooks Textbooks offer iPad® users gorgeous, fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, rotating 3D diagrams, flick-through photo galleries and tap-to-play videos. iBooks Textbooks don’t weigh down a backpack, can be updated as events unfold and don’t need to be returned. With nearly 25,000 educational titles created by independent publishers, teachers and leading education services companies, including new educational content from Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Hodder Education, iBooks Textbooks now cover 100 percent of US high school core curriculum and the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) core curriculum in the UK.

“Oxford University Press is using iBooks Author for Headway, Oxford’s all-time best-selling English language series, to create engaging iBooks Textbooks for iPad,” said Peter Marshall, Managing Director, ELT Division at Oxford University Press. “In releasing 13 new iBooks Textbooks, including ‘Headway Pre-Intermediate,’ the best-selling level in the series, we are enriching the language learning experience for students around the world.”

“We believe resources like iBooks Textbooks represent a monumental shift in learning because they engage multiple capacities of each individual student,” said Miguel Dominguez, Marketing Director of Imaxina Novas Tecnoloxias in Spain, an independent educational content developer and publisher of iBooks Textbooks, including “The Senses,” which incorporates interactive elements such as video and animated images of the human eye and ear to illustrate how the body works.

With iTunes U Course Manager educators can quickly and easily share their knowledge and resources directly with their class or to a global audience on iTunes U. This free iOS app gives millions of learners access to the world’s largest online catalog of free educational content from top schools, leading universities and prominent institutions. iTunes U Course manager also gives teachers the ability to integrate their own documents as part of course curriculum, as well as content from the Internet, hundreds of thousands of books on the iBooks Store, over 750,000 materials from existing iTunes U collections, or any of the more than one million iOS apps available on the revolutionary App Store℠.

“iPad is so much more than just a textbook or just a notepad for students—it’s a powerful educational tool, a study partner, a window into the past and a glimpse of the future,” said Sophie Post, fourth grade history teacher at UK’s Falkner House school. “Teaching history was once a static timeline of events. In leveraging the entire educational ecosystem of iPad, creating my own iBooks Textbooks and iTunes U courses, and pulling in apps like History: Maps of the World, studying history has suddenly become a creative, dynamic and truly transformative experience for my pupils.”

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Sursa: Apple