Where are the ebooks for the iPAD?

Here at N.C. State, I am part of the group that is in charge of the K-12 textbook collection. When we first received ebooks with the state adoption, I was excited. The eTextbooks could be placed on ereaders including iPADs. I inserted the cd into my computer. To my surprise, the ebook was a HTML page with an image viewer imbedded. The images were poor scans of pages of the textbook. I was so disappointed that these ebooks were useless. When I was a grad student at East Carolina University, I made ebooks for Palm and Pocket PC devices. We started with .PDB and .LIT files. The ebooks on the CD were poorer in quality the those ebooks of ten years ago. Then, we switched to .PDFs for mobile devices. Using .PDFs, publishers could limit printing, embed watermarks, and other functions to increase the value of the ebook. The one thing the iPADs allow is the ability to collect data from textbooks. It is a shame that publishers have not jumped on this aspect. I am trying to put together a grant to built a software development kit where professors and teachers could work together to built etextbooks that focus what is being taught to the classroom. A teacher probably use between 60-75 % of a standard textbook. Etextbooks need to be able to have interactive homework that tracks attempts to achieve a correct answer to homework, not just that it was completed. If you are a Publisher and you are reading this, please do not release an .ePub or .PDF and call it a day.

Comments

[Carol Ann McAusland, M.Ed. CAES]

Hi Nathan,
We have this problem in California. All CA texts are mandated to provide a computerized version. What they provide is a massively protected copy of the text. We can't use special ed learning accomodations on it (which was the purpose CA made the rule). How do we "unlock" textbooks (besides scanning), so that programs like Wynn and Kurzwiel, and hardware like the iPad can access and use them?
Thanks! Carol Ann

[Kevin Sheppard]

Nathan,
Thank you for the work you are putting into this blog. There is a definite challenge to get the resources needed for teaching on the iPads. I don't have a solution for the textbook component but, if I may, I would like to offer at least one solution for supplemental resources. I am involved in an ebook store that carries over 40,000 titles in PDF format. These can be easily downloaded and used in the iBooks program or the number of other PDF readers and annotation apps available. I apologize for the commercial nature of my post but thought I would pass along the option.
Thanks, Kevin Sheppard
http://estore.keybookshop.com/estore/search/