The most rapid developments in the world of e-books have taken place in the popular market for fiction and non-fiction monographs. However, with the development of new standards such as EPUB 3 that support multimedia and the improvements in reading devices, the penetration of electronic versions of trade books has advanced quite rapidly. The market for digital textbooks, however, has grown at a more modest rate for a variety of reasons. The electronic textbook marketplace is still working through some very complex technological and business model issues.
This two-part webinar series will explore the nascent world of electronic textbooks and how publishers, students, and librarians are dealing with these new products.
In Part 1, we will explore the notion of just what an electronic textbook is. Are e-textbooks an interactive "courseware" website, an application for mobile devices and tablets, or self-contained digital files? Or is there a place for all of these and if so, how do they fit together and combine with a course syllabus?
Click here to view the full agenda for Part Two.
With traditional college-level textbooks cost rising at 4 times the rate of annual inflation, students are increasingly opting out of purchasing textbooks that faculty and course instructors require. This is creating a very uneven landscape in the higher education environment, and the need for affordable textbooks is crucial. Nicole Allen, director of open education for SPARC, will help give context to the issue of textbook affordability and why change is necessary to help mitigate the ever increasing costs of acquiring a 2- or 4-year degree.
During this session the presenter will explain how to motivate students to use their e-textbooks to learn the content. One of the main challenges is to get students to open their book. Another challenge is to get students to use the book effectively. With the help of Cengage's MindTap, the presenter will explain how he adds video, presentations, and guided notes to an interactive eTextbook. By combining these learning tools and the etext into one integrated online learning program, students will engage with the textbook as they complete required assignments and effectively learn the major concepts of the course.
New textbook with Access Card to MindTap - $200.95. Please keep in mind that this is book is used in 2 courses. $100 per semester for this bundle is a great deal.Here's a link to the bundle price (textbook and MindTap): http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/isbn/978-1-305-59688-7
There is currently not an App. Students access the course using web browser. To access MindTap, students must have an access code, which can either be acquired by purchasing bundle package in bookstore or just the access to MindTap with eText on website.
I develop the Discussion Questions and modify textbook PowerPoints. The assignments (quizzes/tests) in MindTap can be modified by the instructor.
Videos can be created and stored in MindTap using an app called Kaltura. I also post videos on YouTube and share them in MindTap.
I have not used the sharing notes feature yet, but it looks very interesting.
The University of South Florida (USF) participated in a national e-textbook initiative with Internet2/EDUCAUSE that spanned three semesters. Using content from major textbook publishers, students and faculty received their e-textbooks at no cost. The presenter will summarize USF’s perspective on the purpose behind the pilots, the work involved, the reaction from students and faculty, and uncertain next steps.
It would be distributed to the Library where we would make payment on the content and e-textbook platform. There would be a period of time before the money is dispersed to the Library from Academic Affairs, possibly 2-3 weeks.
This pilot was focused on commercially produced etextbooks from McGraw-Hill, Elsevier, Macmillan HE and others. We were however able to add open access ebooks during the three pilots. To my knowledge, only Cornell and USF included locally produced course material, including etextbooks. University of South Florida (USF) is now rolling out a pilot for the creation of open access textbooks by USF faculty. We had other faculty at USF with open access content that did not want to go to the “trouble” of moving their content to Courseload for one semester. They had no way of knowing that we would re-up for two more pilots.
After the three pilots, the Library, General Counsel, the Provost’s Office, and the Bookstore developed an amendment to our contract that not only permitted the Libraries to engage in future pilots or production initiatives for e-textbooks but allowed for open access e-textbooks and other course materials as well.
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