Hopes for a revolution in digital textbooks have been strengthened with a new version of Apple's iBooks reader app. When iBooks 2 was recently announced, our education consultant Rob Williams downloaded it to see how the new features would benefit the classroom...

The main new improvement in iBooks 2 is the ability to add meaningful annotations to documents, including coloured highlighters and margin notes. The iBooks Author tool for your Mac then lets you create your own textbooks, adding movie clips, 3D models and other interactive elements which can be manipulated with simple finger gestures for engaging, interactive learning.

Using iBooks Author also makes it easy for teachers to turn a document like a Microsoft Word file into something formatted specifically for use on iPad, as Rob found out. "When you're creating a new textbook in iBooks Author, it's as easy as dragging and dropping. Teachers needn't worry about fonts, spacing or headers, because they're all automatically formatted by the app. You can even connect an iPad to your Mac as you're editing for instant previews of the pages as you're creating them," he said.

"Apple have been pushing eBooks for a while," Rob added, "and while initially unsure about them, teachers have now started coming round to the idea. If you think digital textbooks are the way forward, then iBooks 2 is definitely the strongest case I've seen yet for getting onboard with them. And best of all, the app's free!"

Managing your devices

Rolling out a load of new technology in your school doesn't have to be difficult, with solutions available to help manage and track your iPads from one place. Software like Absolute Manage lets you push content and apps to your devices and standardise software across the lot so you can make sure everything's up to date. To find out more about managing your mobile devices with Absolute Manage, mobilEcho and MobileIron, get in touch.

Call our Education team for more info on 03332 409 300 or email learning@Jigsaw24.com. For more news on technology in Education, follow @Jigsaw24Edu on Twitter.

- Browse our full range of iPads with AppleCare protection here.

Tags: Apple