The top 10 higher-ed tech stories of 2010: No. 1


The iPad sparked an eReader price war as it threatened to shake up the eBook market.

With a large touch screen that can display electronic texts in color, Apple’s iPad was greeted with huge enthusiasm by many ed-tech advocates when it debuted earlier this year. The device also inspired a host of competitors and sparked an eReader price war as it threatened to shake up the eBook market.

“I think this changes the picture for eBooks considerably,” said Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium, after Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad in January. “This has a lot of potential for higher education. … [Apple] has really seemed to think through the book experience.”

Johnson’s remarks were prophetic, as the iPad has had a huge impact on ed tech in just its first year of existence. Seton Hill University was among the many schools to give iPads to incoming students this fall, and Abilene Christian University made its students newspaper available for iPads. The device has even changed medical school, where first-year med students at Stanford University are finding several ways to use the iPad to help them learn.

Not everything has gone smoothly, as technology officials at a handful of universities warned that the iPad might not be compatible with school networks or could overwhelm campus bandwidth capabilities. Others expressed concerns about the iPad’s inability to print—a deficiency that Apple resolved in November with a new operating system for the device.

Despite the iPad’s promise as a multifunction eReader device, college students are still tepid about the use of eBooks for school, a new survey suggests: Just one in 10 college students said they have bought an electronic book in the past three months.

Related links:

Educators intrigued by Apple’s iPad

‘Kindle killer’ might not be iPad, but Blio

Textbook firms ink e-deals for iPad

eBook sellers face a battle to win iPad customers

Pa. university to give all students iPads

iPad App Store has wide selection of education options

ACU makes its student newspaper available to iPad users

After ballyhooed debut, some schools see problems with iPad

iPad tablet’s popularity has rivals scrambling to roll out competing devices

Go to college, get a free iPad

Are standalone eBook readers doomed?

iPad pilots launching in higher ed this fall

Sony cuts eReader price to stay competitive

All-digital newsstand coming to college stores

iPad is changing what’s in a campus store

In price war, new Kindle sells for $139

Apple offers app store discounts to schools

Replacing a pile of textbooks with an iPad

Early iPad adopter to use art application this fall

How schools are putting the iPad to work

Samsung takes on Apple with iPad rival

iPad competitors lining up

How the iPad is changing med school

eTextbooks expected to grow with iPad on campus

Google promises Docs editing for iPad

RIM readies its answer to iPad

‘Enhanced eBooks’ could entice a new generation of readers

University of Minnesota to provide free iPads for research

Kno, a tablet for college, to debut at $599

Survey suggests college students still tepid on eBooks

Multitasking, wireless printing come to iPad

Google’s new eBook store: One store, any device

How online reading habits have changed over 2010

Microsoft to announce new slates aimed at the iPad

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