iBooks Author, Hypercard for the 21st Century?
Apple announced iBooks author today, http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/. It is essentially a version of Apple’s Keynote software but it allows anyone to create iBooks with hyperlinks and embedded media.
One of Apple’s strengths in education in the 90′s was the product Hypercard and later Hyperstudio. It was software that allowed children to create multimedia experiences as a project based approach to learning. It represented the kind of constructivist classrooms that brought the Mac into the heart of US education. Hernandez Ramos in 2005 (If not here where?) found a link between teachers with constructivist beliefs and effectively using technology in the classroom.
Let’s hope iBook Author enables teachers (with Macs) to create project based learnng opportunities. (What makes a good project?)
