Ebooks at Liberal Arts Colleges

"Having built, bought and partnered its way into the textbook distribution business, Chegg is launching a long-promised mobile web version today that lets readers easily read and mark up their textbooks. "

"Stanford's CodeX, also known as the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, and MediaX have been working on a "Print on Demand" system - a new way to lower prices for course materials."

Indiana U's etextbook project

"Following a major e-textbook pilot last year, the California State University System announced Wednesday that it has cut a deal with Cengage Learning that could give students steep discounts on that publisher's e-textbooks."

"Daytona State has not abandoned its e-textbook initiative, but it has tempered its approach. And while Spiwak's departure may have weakened the college's enthusiasm for the transition to digital, a recently completed report on a yearlong pilot at Daytona State, comparing the satisfaction and success of students using all electronic texts with students using all print, has also complicated the picture."

Saylor excitement over Apple announcement, since it provides an authoring environment for open textbooks. Still ome questions about licensing of books produced via iBook Author.

"Logically, e-textbooks should be much cheaper than the print options available to students--but they're not. CT looks at the rationale behind their pricing, and the market factors at play."

"In my research about the work being done to make electronic reading a more organic experience, one that is suitable for the engaged reading required in the study of books, I have found that software designers are beginning to listen to voices like mine. While some are developing ways that active reading can become a social process, others are exploring ways technology can actually improve our ability to interact with and connect texts. Ultimately, technology is valuable in the ways it can move us beyond what we are already capable of doing. We should not embrace technology for technology's sake. After this experience, I feel strongly that the use of electronic versions for the active study of texts still lags behind the advantages of a physical book"

"The new agreement makes it clear that Apple is only claiming sales exclusivity for the .ibooks format. If a user wants to tap iBooks Author to create a PDF version of an eBook, that PDF can be sold in any online bookstore, not just iBooks."

Surveys recent etextbook initiatives, including the open source platform Flow and etextbook Cahcalot, Inkling, Apple's ibooks, Wikibooks

"SUMMARY: What would you say if I told you that there's a new introductory biology textbook being published that is affordable, lightweight and never goes out of date?"

"Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will recommend today at a summit of industry and education officials that states modify the textbook adoption process, allowing K-12 schools to use taxpayer funding once reserved for printed books on iPads, Kindles and the like - as well as software."

"Thanks to a European research council grant (2011-2014) the printed book will be associated with a very original purpose built digital platform allowing for the inquiry summed up in the book to be pursued and modified by interested readers who will act as co-inquirers and co-authors of the final results."

"California State University is running one of the nation's largest pilot studies of e-textbooks, involving thousands of students on five campuses, and one of the biggest findings so far boils down to the cliché the devil is in the details. Whether or not students liked their digital textbooks depended on what rules publishers set on how the digital books could be used."

On IU's etextbook deal w/ 5 publishers

IU's etextbook program: effort at reducing costs, improving learning

"Wheeler believes that Apple's announcements will be a shot in the arm for the kind of digital text programs he supports. "The economics of college textbooks are structurally flawed and are failing students, authors, professors and publishers," Wheeler told Ars. "Different approaches, including free resources and companies trying to restructure the industry-as Apple did for music-are in play.""

Purdue's etextbook authoring platform, embed media, include annotations, HTML5

"Apple's new iBooks textbook market saw lots of activity over the weekend as users downloaded 350,000 copies of books, according to Global Equities Research. If iBooks catches on in a big way, it'll certainly be profitable to Apple. But whether it will be a good deal for authors and publishers has yet to be determined."

On Inkling and the digital textbook market (2010)