Group items tagged

"In the good-old days when print was the only option, students had plenty of free or cheap ways to get required textbooks. Borrow one from a friend. Check out a copy from the library. Buy a used copy for a fraction of the price. Or rent a copy through one of several companies providing that service. But the latest textbook enhancements, which require individual access codes to get to bonus materials online, threaten to displace all of those alternatives. Most access codes are good only for a limited time, and once they are activated they can't be used by other students."

"The American Library Association (ALA) has just released its 2011 Public Library Funding and Technology Access Survey, and among its findings, 67% of public libraries in the U.S. now offer free access to e-books for their patrons. That's up 30% since 2007. Of course, access to e-books ranges greatly from state-to-state: 100% of Maryland and Utah libraries offer e-books, while only 25% of ilbraries in Mississippi do so, for example."

The following are my notes from the presentation - Born accessible: making e-books fully inclusive from day one - held during the NISO- The E-Book Renaissance Part II: Challenges and Opportunities. Best efforts were made to ensure accuracy.

"The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has accused Educause, a higher education IT association, and technology community Internet2 of ignoring the "accessibility barriers" that are preventing blind and print-disabled students from fully participating in a major e-text pilot initiative being coordinated by both."

Ouch. This happened while NFB was already communicating with Educause and I2?

"OpenStax College, the nonprofit, open-access publisher out of Rice University, announced the launch of its first iBook text Monday, becoming the latest publisher to try to make the free-with-paid-options model sustainable. The interactive, iPad-based version of OpenStax's free-to-read online College Physics text is available through iTunes for $4.99."

"Two universities running Kindle DX pilot programs have rejected the device as a potential textbook replacement, citing a poor feature set and the controversial accessibility issues. Primary among these is the text-to-speech capability."

"ASU, Case Western Reserve, Pace, Reed College agree not to use Kindle"

"Daytona State College, a fifty-three year old former community college, now a state college offering four year degree, has a very seriously embarked upon the task of greatly reducing the cost of higher education via the replacement of traditional textbooks with a number of textbook alternatives, to include e-textbooks. Our faculty and administration are equally as passionate about solving this "student access limiting" issue. Many of the College's students pay more for textbooks than they pay for tuition and fees."

". CSU has announced a three-year deal with Nature Publishing Group for low-cost, interactive, web-based textbooks with access options for disabled students. "

"Part of the answer lies in the fact that the books they need - textbooks at least - are not always available in digital format. Even if some titles are available, many students opt to buy all their books at the same time from the same location (whether that retailer is online or a traditional brick-and-mortar bookstore or a textbook rental company). As different e-readers and e-reader apps have access to different catalogs, there isn't really a seamless shopping experience for digital textbooks."

"Another market where eBooks have a lot of potential is education. It too is at an early stage, but there are many benefits to students accessing their text books electronically. Shared highlights, margin notes, search - to name a few. Surprisingly though, it's not iPad and eReaders that are driving the eTextbook market - but PCs and netbooks. The iPhone and Android are making some in-roads, however. "

"CourseSmart®, the world's largest provider of eTextbooks and digital course materials, today announced a new relationship with Western Governors University (WGU), in which the university will integrate CourseSmart's digital library into its online student portal, creating a comprehensive, single sign-on, platform where students and instructors can access their eTextbooks anytime, anywhere.WGU, a fully-accredited non-profit university with more than 26,000 students, began integrating CourseSmart's eTextbooks into its online learning environment in April 2011. "

"The case for why tablets are ready for the college classroom is pretty simple: they're a great way for students to consume media-rich digital content (the best way out there, in my opinion), they mesh well with students' lifestyles thanks to their small profile and long battery life, and tablets offer access to the world of apps, which includes some of the most innovative educational software around. Like in most other markets, the iPad has so far been the tablet of choice on college campuses. But with today's launch of the Kindle Fire, Apple may have its first viable competitor."

Argues for its timeliness. Accessibility might be the biggest .edu win.

5 publishers involved in Indiana's etextbook initiative: "Here's how it works: Students in a select group of courses are required to pay a materials fee, which gets them access to the assigned electronic textbooks or other readings for the course. The university essentially becomes the broker of the textbook sales, and because it is buying in bulk and guaranteeing a high volume, officials say they can score better prices than can the campus bookstore or other retailers."

Addresses concerns about long term access to ebooks. Suggests ePUB as the least bad option, although DRM is an issue.

Very nice discussion. I'm glad he understands how segmented the market is.

For the 2010 academic year, 50,000 of Ohio's 70,000 Introductory Psychology students have had a low-cost digital option available for the textbook of their instructor's choice. Developed within a University System of Ohio Project framework in collaboration with five leading publishers of psychology textbooks, the Ohio Digital Bookshelf Project emerged from three years of research and within a social network established among faculty, librarians, technologists, and the accessibility community.