ScrollMotion, a software company that specializes in translating print media to digital devices, most notably the iPhone and iPod touch, has signed deals with a number of leading educational textbook publishers to bring their textbooks, test-prep, and study guides to the iPad. The Wall Street Journal reports that publishers including McGraw-Hill’s education unit, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education, and Kaplan Inc. have all signed deals with ScrollMotion.
“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,” said Rik Kranenburg, group president of higher education for the education unit of McGraw-Hill. While involved in the project, Kranenburg isn’t yet ready to crown the iPad king of the classroom, saying, “nobody knows what device will take off, or which ‘killer app’ will drive student adaptations.
Today they aren’t reading e-textbooks on their laptops. But ahead we see all kinds of new instruction materials.” According to the report, features of the ScrollMotion deal include applications to let students play video, highlight text, record lectures, take notes, search the text, and take interactive quizzes.
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