It has been a while coming, but my small iBook is now available on the Apple iTunes Store. The book is titled Introduction to Macroeconomics and is an interactive learning resource, with images, graphs, diagrams, rich data and review questions. Click on the link for a free download. You will need to have access to an iTunes account where iBooks are available (sorry Singapore and NZ) and an iPad.
The process of writing an iBook,with the eventual intention to sell, is fraught to say the least. I will blog about this more at some stage but a few of the highlights were…
- Obtaining a US Tax Number without being in the US.
- Getting an ISBN Number, thankfully they are free in Singapore from the National Library.
- Creating an iTunes Connect Account and using iTunes Producer
- Surviving two attempts at the iBook approval process from Apple and then figuring out how to lock the orientation on a Book to Landscape. The switch from landscape to portrait tends to ruin any customised layouts.
- Learning how to use iBooks Author, which is very easy and intiutive including the widget tools.
Over the next few months, I anticipate publishing the full Macroeconomics chapter as a side project and blogging more about the process. I look forward to a few summer nights to write up the last few sections of this book. I intend to sell this for a small price and hope it will be a good resources for Economics students and this studying for the International Baccalaureate examinations.
Digging a Little Deeper 
The IMF’s Finance & Development magazine has recently published two online compilations of articles that may be useful to your students.
They are rich collections of material that are totally free!!
1. Back to Basics — explaining some fundamental concepts in Economics
2. People in Economics — a collection of profiles of leading economists and policymakers, including 10 Nobel Prize winners.
Go to Back to Basics http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/basics/index.htm
Go to People in Economics http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/people/index.htm
Thanks for writing and posting. My students in Mexico City with iPads have been downloading your book – positive feedback so far!
I’ve been writing a chapter on market failure and externalities with an eye on a larger market structures and environmental economics ‘book’ through iBooks. I agree that it is very intuitive and easy to use but the writing process is still very different from the way I normally do lecture notes and the like.
Thanks again for the free chapters!
Andrew, congratulations on the iBook. Very cool! I began one a while back but quickly felt textbook fatigue and switched my focus to developing the app instead… Let me know if you’d be interested in collaborating on future chapters, perhaps with some video lecture integration!
Hi Andrew,
I am a fellow educator and would very much like to get hold of this ebook.
However, I am unable to get it from the SG iTunes store.
Will have to wait until the Singapore iBook store come online. Rumors are that this will be soon.
Andrew, this iBook is great for learning Macroeconomics. Your website has been insightful and I have learnt a lot on the use of technology in the instruction of Economics.
There’s an iPad App I recently discovered which could be useful to all other teachers. It’s called Oikonopolis and basically educates students on Macroeconomic concepts through game. My students played the role of economic planners, building the cities, altering fiscal and monetary policies and competing with each other to build the best economic powerhouse. In the interim, they were also challenges by crisis events like the credit crisis which they have to react with the right macroeconomic policy. My students found the game engaging and were showing a lot more interests in Macroeconomic topics than before.
The lite version is available on AppStore but the full version is only available for teachers. What I like about it is that we can actually pace the students’ progress through the game by capping the stages through their back-end website. You may want to check it out:
https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/oikonopolis/id583815617?mt=8
I understand that they have an android version as well, but my students were using the iPad version.
Hope fellow teachers will find this helpful.
Thanks for sharing, will have a look. I have long thought about using SimCity to teach some of the fiscal policy concepts, but this could be a good middle ground.