Pearson Partners with Apple to Launch Interactive Textbooks for iPad

In accordance with Apple’s education event held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City yesterday, Pearson has confirmed the release of a new suite of multimedia textbooks and reference titles for Apple’s iPad.

“Pearson is publishing its first suite of new books to coincide with the launch of Apple’s iBooks textbooks,” the company said in a press release.

The works include full-color books designed for preschoolers, as well as for school students and learners of all ages, from  Pearson North America and illustrated reference publisher DK (both owned by Pearson).

Available immediately through a new section in the iBookstore dedicated entirely to education, the titles feature video, audio, assessment, interactive images and 3D animations.

The new titles include Miller & Levine Biology, Algebra 1 and Environmental Science: Your World, Your Turn. Other textbooks, such as Chemistry, Geometry and Algebra 2, will soon be released as well.

Four DK titles have also been released in the iBookstore: My first ABC; Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life; DK Natural History: Mammals-Carnivores; and DK Natural History: Insects.

Pearson says that this first wave of books comprises roughly 7,000 pages of learning material. The books offer 1,000 interactive widgets (including 3D animations and Keynote presentations), more than 100 videos, and about 5,000 test questions in total.

Commenting on their new foray into digital education, Genevieve Shore, Pearson’s CIO and director of digital strategy, said: “These books break new ground in digital and mobile publishing. If you open one of these books, you will discover how a three-year-old learns his first words, how his heart beats, how you solve equations and how dinosaurs lived.”

“We’re delighted with the results and we hope that readers, students, teachers and parents are too. We see enormous potential to create these kinds of programs for more subjects, more stages of learning and more geographic markets,” added Shore.