Engage: Apple's New Tools for Interactive Books on iPad | Epicenter | Wired.com: It’s not entirely clear to me that the new and improved iTunes U can become a wholesale replacement to current widely-used learning management systems like the much-reviled Blackboard. I don’t know whether it meets some of the specialized security requirements for handling assignment submissions, grading, and so forth. And again, deploying it as an iOS app rather than a web-based service limits its use to Apple’s proprietary platform. But it is potentially a powerful new tool to add to existing “open education” iTunes U-related initiatives like MIT OpenCourseWare. And it’s exciting to see a company that actually knows how to build software a person would want to use venture into the bone-ugly world of education management systems. Finally, Apple’s lined up a slew of university partners who seem willing to give it a shot. So who knows?