Tuesday, September 13, 2011

An idea

I'm considering trying to create an iPad app, which will be basically a framework for an electronic casebook. The app will have a student interface and a professor's interface.

On the student side, they see the e-book with a robust note-taking function (basically a scrap of lined "paper" that can be called up with a double-tap on a line of text, or the like); a video function (professor can record or upload video commentary to go with the reading); a web-search function (student can get the Wikipedia entry for "security interest", or whatever); a print function permitting the student to print the chapter with notes.

On the professor side, the user gets a template for creating his own e-casebook. She can upload video, powerpoints, text documents; record or type in commentary to go along with materials; insert "ticklers" for updating with new materials (if, for example, professor knows of litigation or legislation that may be completed during the semester); print the e-book for sale to those students who don't want to invest in the iPad.

The idea would be that a student might be able to use just the iPad for all classes -- of course, there are network efficiencies that would need to be realized for that to work.

What do others think? Would something like this be useful? And, if so, what functionality have I not described that you might like? And, anybody know how to program an iPad app?

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