Earlier this month and before Apple announced their quarterly earnings that quickly made them once again the most valuable company in the universe, they shared a few new tools designed to improve the textbooks that help us learn. The announcement focused on how students, especially those in high school, would be able to learn more through interactive textbooks that were designed for the iPad.
To support the vision of improved learning through interactive textbooks on the iPad, Apple announced iBook 2 and iBooks Author. iBooks Author is a free application available through the Mac App Store that allows anyone to create their own interactive textbooks. iBooks 2 is an update to iBooks that allows the application to utilize all of the new education focused features that an iBook created with iBooks Author would leverage. With these new tools, Apple has created a way for teachers, professors, and other instructors to create educational material that is directly integrated into their course material.
iBooks Author is a great application with an extremely user friendly interface. Creating instructional documents for the iPad is now as easy as creating a Word document or PowerPoint presentation. And while Apple focused their announcement around using the software and their tablet hardware for creating textbooks, iBooks Author is an ideal solution for training courses for any corporation.
Why Your Corporation Should Create Courses with iBooks Author
The iPad was originally designed as a consumer device but it’s quickly invading the business market. Since it was released, I’ve seen more and more business owners use iPads for note taking, communications, and business use than I ever expected. I recently was traveling and for the first time saw more business travelers using iPads with bluetooth keywords than traditional laptops. Individuals in all different work environments have quickly become familiar with the iPad and enjoy using it in place of more traditional devices.
Smart organizations will leverage the comfort their employees have with the iPad to present material to them that will make them better employees. Custom iBooks created with iBooks Author could be designed to instruct new waiters on the way to approach a table, where to complete orders, the layout of the restaurant, and the process for recommending wine. Experienced managers could learn from custom iBooks of the latest policies related to promotions, bonuses, or employee benefit changes. Skilled staff could take a collection of custom courses offered through iBooks that would allow them to gain new certifications and learn cutting edge technology without having to take days off to attend major training sessions.
iBooks Author allows organizations to create very specific material quickly that will add real value to their employees. Improving the skills, knowledge, and understanding of your employees often has a direct impact on the bottom line.
How To Get Started
Anyone can create their own iBook now with iBooks Author. Download the app from the Mac App Store and start working through their tutorials to get an understanding of how the process works. If you’re interested in integrating iPad based instructions with other elearning solutions than you might want to seek the assistance of a third party that can help you build a larger training strategy.
